Owner: Twinfinite Chaos URL:http://www.paulnlaura.com/mommy Join Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:29:54 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I'm a stay-at-home mommy of five kids - a tween, and 2 sets of toddler-age twins. (Eeek!) Life is crazy, but we love it. Site statistics:Click here
I think I’m ready for a nappy, too! 2007-04-11 22:14:33 YAWN.
My sister and I just got home with all the kids. We planned to go to the zoo today, since it seemed like it was going to be fairly decent outside. I packed a big picnic lunch and we drove across town to the zoo. We got as far as parking, getting all the kids out, and walking halfway to the admission stand when we realized the icy wind was cutting right through us and it was going to be a MISERABLE day. So, we ditched that plan! We headed right back to the car, got everyone re-buckled in their carseats (”That was just the practice run, kids - you did great!”) and we went to the Downtown Aquarium instead! Kim had never been there, so it was a lot of fun.
The kids were super well-behaved, too! We had a couple of instances where they wanted to run ahead, but for the most part - super day; super kids. Pablo was particularly interested in the animatronic orangutan. He also really liked all the fish, but you’ll never guess what fascinated him the most: the signs on ea Read more:think
, ready
Stop bugging us! 2007-04-11 22:08:29 I’m sort of annoyed with the bank that has our mortgage - it was just sold to them by another bank, and they’ve been all up in our business for the past couple of days! The phone rang last night and it was an automated message, instructing me to call an 800 number so they could ask some questions. And earlier in the day, Paul said he got a call on his cell phone, and the first thing they said after identifying themselves was, “Can I verify your full name and social security number?” Paul was like, “Uh, NO! I didn’t place this call; I’m not giving you my social!” and the lady got an attitude with him! What day and age is this, where a mortgage company, or any company for that matter, would call up a customer and ask for their social? You can’t turn on the TV or open a magazine without hearing all about identity theft!
I’m thinking maybe the payment date is different with this bank or something, because there’s really no
Casey. 2007-04-11 17:04:18 I wanted to show you something I think is just so cool! This is my nephew, Casey
- we haven’t seen him since he was up here in December, but he made it over here for a few hours to see his mom. Yay!
Anyway, he was showing us all his snowboarding pictures on his camera (I’m still kicking myself for not snagging them all off his memory card, because they were AWESOME and I’d LOVE to show them off!) and he mentioned that he was in a snowboarding video! There are a couple of teaser clips on their MySpace page…check it out:
This is one full of falls and stuff - check out my nephew falling on his back - ouch!
Looks like so much fun, huh? I just love that kid.
Credit cards. 2007-04-11 16:55:43 Yesterday, my sister was paying for her pedicure with her credit card and while she was signing the slip, she mentioned being happy that the card went through - she said when she was at Penney’s, buying a birthday gift for my nephew, her card was denied and she had to pay cash! She doesn’t have a whole wallet full of credit cards, so if her one gets denied, it’s too bad, so sad. I was telling her that credit cards seem so wonky anymore. Just last week, my own card was denied when my webhost tried to run it, and consequently my site was down for a few hours! I was SO annoyed. I emailed them and asked them to please re-run it, and it went right through. And then yesterday at the Mexican restaurant we were at, we each paid with our credit cards and hers was denied again. Ugh! Love the convenience; hate the hassle. And Paul is a complete freak about paying our bill on time or even early, so I know we weren’t late with a payment or anything. It’s frustrating si
One down, one to go. 2007-04-11 16:47:05 My sister and I took our brother to the bus station late last night, so he could make the long, boring trip back up to Wyoming and get back to his life up there. It sure was great to spend some time together! We were all at my folks’ house last night, and they were actually a little emotional when it was time for us to go! We see Dave so rarely, I always wonder in my mind exactly where we’re going to be and what’s going to be happening the next time we get together. Hell, last time he was here, Kayley was just a tiny little first-grader, and Troy and I were still married!
So, today, Kim and I are going to do something fun with the kids. Probably either the zoo or the aquarium. Then she’s spending the day tomorrow with my mom, and then she goes back to Oklahoma on Friday! This has been such a super time, though. We’ve done some fun stuff, and some boring stuff, and it’s all been good, just hanging out and catching up. Loves it.
Somebody’s watching me… 2007-04-11 16:40:25 My sister and I were having a couple of margaritas yesterday after we had matching pedicures (which was the most awesome sister time we’ve spent together, thankyouverymuch!) and we started talking about ghosts and spirits and weird stuff we encountered in the little town we lived in while we were growing up. I told her about one night here just a few months ago when I swear, I felt all the hair on my neck stand up and I got the creepiest feeling like someone was watching me! It was about 8 at night, and Paul was out with his friends - I think it must have been a Friday night - and I actually called him and told him to get home right away, because I was so scared - I was sure someone was lurking outside the window, watching us! I’m usually not such a chicken, either - that was out of character for me - so Paul came right home. I think it may have been a raccoon or something. Ha!
That’s one thing that sort of sucks about not having any blinds on our downstairs windows Read more:Somebody
, hellip
No snow? 2007-04-13 17:46:24 For days, the weather forecasters were saying we’d have 6 to 12 inches of snow today. Paul was planning to take the day off, and we figured Kayley would be out of school, too - because we wouldn’t want to drive her down there in that weather! Kim was freaking out hearing about flights being canceled - she’s freaked enough about flying home on Friday the 13th! So, to wake up this morning to nary a flake was a real nice surprise! Kayley was MAD, though. Hehe! She stayed up until after 11 playing her Gameboy. I TOLD her to go to sleep! Paul went to work; Kim got through airport security just fine, and the kids and I are just sitting here, looking out at the gray (but not snowy) day!
I can’t believe a week ago at this time, I was freaking out about my family all coming to town and running around all crazy, trying to complete my 3-page to do list and get my house all spic-and-span. It feels like that was a month ago! This morning feels bittersweet. The gray weather
Loves it. 2007-04-13 07:58:10 This is my most favorite picture I’ve taken of my sister this week. I took it tonight right before we all went to bed. The kids were all having a drink of water and cuddled up with Auntie Kim on the couch. So sweet!
Quietness. 2007-04-13 07:32:50 Kayley’s “asleep” - she’s actually playing her Gameboy under the covers; I just checked. All the little ones are asleep. Paul is snoring just a few feet away. And my sister is asleep one floor up, in the attic. But she’ll be landing in Oklahoma City in just about 12 hours. It’s been such a wonderful visit. I know she’s ready to get back home. I’m ready to shut down the Casa de Chaos Bed & Breakfast and get back to my normal life. But I really, really wish she didn’t live 459 miles away.
Times change. 2007-04-11 16:46:30 Can I just whine about something for a minute here? I hate that newer neighborhoods all seem to have the big block of apartment style mailboxes that are way out on the main street, far away from the houses. It completely annoys me. I was just thinking the other day about how nice it was at my old house, where I could just glance outside and see the mailman walking down the street and walk down the driveway a few minutes later to get my mail! I mean, I guess the security of locked mailboxes is a good thing, but, yeah. Annoying.
Read more:Times
Frugal! 2007-04-11 07:43:02 Paul was getting on to me the other day about sending him text messages, saying, “Thanks, babe, since you didn’t want to interrupt me at lunch, now we get to pay another quarter to Verizon!” I can’t believe how he goes through the bill item by item each month. He practically does a telecom audit of each statement. And honestly, I don’t know how I snuck it by him that I downloaded a new ringtone a couple of months ago! Sneaky ol’ me.
Read more:Frugal
Who’s your daddy? 2007-04-11 07:00:35 My mother-in-law has been glued to the TV, waiting for them to announce the results of the paternity test so we can find out who Anna Nicole Smith’s baby daddy is. It’s actually a little annoying: why has it taken weeks and weeks for this to happen? You know if this were the Maury Povich show, he’d have that manila folder in his hand by the next commercial break. And actually? Why are we all so interested in this??
I hate builder white! 2007-04-10 07:12:41 I was actually sort of hoping I’d get to paint my formal living room/dining room before all my family showed up to visit. I didn’t really expect for it to happen or anything - I don’t have money to spend on paint, I don’t have time to spend painting, and for that matter, I don’t even have the ambition to get it done! Sure would be nice to snap my fingers and have a beautiful, warm, cozy room, though. I spoke to a guy at the home and garden show who had just bought into a painting franchise. His business card advertised a painted room for $100. That is an incredible deal! Thinking more about it, though, it can’t possibly include the cost of paint. Still, though - it would probably be worth it for me not to have to stand at the sink cleaning a brush!
Music Monday 2007-04-16 08:01:14
Sorry I missed last week! I was busy hanging out with my family. SUCH a splendid week it was. But, I’m back. And here’s your MusicMonday
selection!
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
Right click and save as, please! File will disappear soon.
Hi! It’s Sunday. 2007-04-16 01:41:23 I have a headache. But I’m enjoying my nice, quiet house. Paul is off on his first motorcycle ride of the season. I always love when he goes on a weekend ride, because then I get to screw around all afternoon. Ha! Usually, weekend days are spent doing all kinds of stuff around the house, but I just don’t even feel like doing any of that today. It’s CRAZY windy outside, and I went out and put away all the patio chairs (after I retrieved them from the shrubbery and the yard) and put away the cushions, because they just didn’t want to stay put in all this wind. And then when I came upstairs and put the kids down for a nap, I forgot that I had left our bedroom window open for some fresh air, and that crazyass wind blew my curtains down. Yeah. I hope Paul is able to keep himself upright on his bike. Hehe.
Yesterday, Paul and I spent half the day in the backyard with all the kids. First, we moved every piece of playground equipment onto the grass and the patio, and Pa Read more:Sunday
Not at all what I expected. 2007-04-17 23:59:38 I was just checking out a site called PaydayLoanLowdown.com, thinking it was yet another place where you can take out personal loans when you’re in a bind. I opened the page and thought…hmmm, nice looking site - it seems to be, huh? A blog? Um, okay. I’m thinking it’s one of those affiliate sites that snatches up a catchy URL people will stumble upon while searching for info on the net, and posts links and ads to all kinds of different places. Hey, whatever’s clever.
I was particularly tickled to see the Carnival of Budgeting post. I’ve participated in so many of those blog carnivals, where you submit a blog post of your own on a specific topic. It’s such a great way to find out lots of different viewpoints and experiences from different people, and I’ve found lots of cool sites in the process, too. This particular carnival was no different. My favorite post listed there was the one on 27 Fun Ways to Destroy Your Credit Card. Teehee!
I
Blah. 2007-04-17 19:19:02 Today is chilly and overcast and drizzly, and my kids all seem to be in a whinyass, foul mood because of it! I swear, they are driving me CRAZY today! I’m so sick of all the fighting and whining and SCREAMING. I swear, I have never seen any noisier kids in my life! How do I get them to shut up once in awhile? All they do all day long is scream at each other - whether they’re happy or sad, or singing a song, or laughing, it’s always SO LOUD. They inherited that from daddy, for sure!!
We ran out and grocery shopped for the few things we didn’t get yesterday. I’m about to put a big pot of carnitas on the stove for dinner. I’m praying that the dark weather will lull my kids into taking a really good nap! While they’re napping, I’m going to vacuum and fold laundry and then sit on the couch with soft music playing and read for awhile. It’s just that kinda day!
I love you, Jenny McCarthy! 2007-04-17 02:59:45
Dear JennyMcCarthy
:
I love you, and I want to be your new best friend! I loved reading your books about pregnancy and motherhood - you’re so witty and funny! So many times while I was reading it, I thought, “Oh my God, totally. It’s exactly like that.” Particularly the topics like pooping during delivery and looking at your scary post-partum cottage cheese ass in the mirror.
But I don’t just love you for your creative mind, I love you for your body, too. Well - my husband is more into your Playboy pictures; but I am in love with your cute hairdo. Oh, how I wish I’d known you had the exact haircut I wanted before I went to the salon and had my hair all butchered! If I’d known you had such an extreme angled bob, way short and stacked in the back, longer in the front, I would have tracked down thirty-seven pictures of you to take with me. Now I just have to wait until my lameass mushroom hairdo grows out a little so I can have Jenny McCarthy
h
I prefer baths. 2007-04-17 02:25:08 My sister and I were going through a bunch of pictures from my wedding while she was here. I really loved our non-traditional, simple backyard wedding - truly I did - and I wouldn’t change a single detail about it (except perhaps to have had my sister and brother there!) but part of me wishes I could have had a fancy shower, like some of the *cough* younger, more traditional brides. I mean, when you’re in your thirties and you’ve been married before and you already have kids, it’s not like you need people to buy you towels and toasters.
Still, though, just looking at these adorable bridal shower invitations makes me wish I could have had some fancy little party where I could be the center of attention! I didn’t really even have a shower the first time I got married, either. My ex’s aunt was in charge of planning my “shower” which turned out to be really just a bachelorette party - and a lame one, at that.
I wonder if my soon-to-be-marri
This was fun. 2007-04-17 01:58:04 You know how you always see all those photo slideshows and stuff on MySpace? Well, I was just checking out something sort of similar at a site called HeartVault - it’s actually an Online Scrapbook where you upload your pictures and then you make little scrapbook pages, complete with embellishments like stickers and tags and frames and all that. You can change the backgrounds and fonts and add music, too, although I didn’t figure out how to the music thing.
Actually, I found the site to be a little wonky - I think they still have a few bugs to work out. I got a runtime error on a couple of pages, and when I added text to my page, I couldn’t figure out how to move the text box later, so it was just stuck in the middle of the page. Still, though - it’s pretty cute, and fun to play around with! Give it a try. It only takes a few minutes. Here’s mine - I only have one page done!
Kinda neat, huh?
Nobody likes buying cars! 2007-04-17 00:37:03 A couple of weeks ago (actually, the day before my birthday) my mom and I went to lunch and then I drove her to the dealership where her car was being repaired. Somehow, her car wasn’t recognizing that the transmission was in park, so it wouldn’t let her remove the key. Annoying! So, just last week, while my sister and brother were here, my mom’s car started acting up again! We were at the mall, and my dad actually came over and tracked us down, because my mom’s car leaked a bunch of…well, something…in their garage and all down the street and was leaking a huge puddle in the mall’s parking lot. So they ran it back over to the dealership, and it had a blown head gasket. Ugh! My mom drives one of those *cough*ugly!*cough* Pontiac Azteks, but she literally drives from her house to her job at the mall five days a week, about five miles each way, and that’s pretty much it. Her car is six years old, and has only twenty thousand miles on it! I Read more:Nobody
WTH? 2007-04-17 00:08:08 I keep hearing about that shooting in Virginia, and the death toll just keeps going up and up! What is WITH people?? What is this new trend of offing yourself, and taking as many innocent people with you as possible? It’s just sad and sickening, this world we’re living in. What was going on with that shooter? His family must be mortified. I can’t even imagine being on the other side of it, where your loved one not only killed themselves, but other people in the process. Just sick.
Tech stuff. 2007-04-16 23:53:10 The computer in the kitchen just scared the crap out of me. The kids are napping, and it’s nice and quiet down here, and I was just cleaning up a little bit in here when the computer said, “Virus database has been updated!” Ack! Uh, thanks for letting me know, but you don’t have to speak this information out loud and startle me half to death. We’ve been using a free antivirus software Paul’s dad recommended. Since we started using it, we haven’t had any of the issues we used to have with Norton and Macafee! Amazing.
I’m so lucky to have my own tech support guy in the family! My father-in-law is a network administrator and he does all the maintenance and fix-it stuff
for all of our computers. I can’t even tell you how many times he and Paul have spent hours trying to get one of our machines to do this or that! One of the buggiest machines we had was my old Compaq Presario - that thing had problems right when I BOUGHT it, and it cause
Good Monday Morning! 2007-04-16 17:45:45 It’s a beautiful day in my neighborhood! Pablo & Mallory don’t have school today; it’s an inservice. Paul’s back at work, Kayley’s at school - this is my first day in AGES that I’ve woken up to an empty house. I mean, empty except for me and four toddlers! I’m actually really excited about this! I don’t know what we’re going to do - maybe play in the basement? Do some crafts? Watch Caillou all day long via OnDemand? So many options! Or maybe we should go somewhere? McD’s? The park? The mall? Grandma’s house? Hmmmm.
I think I’m so tickled by the thought of having NOTHING to do today because I THOUGHT I had to go to court this morning. I stressed about it all weekend long! I got a ticket last month that I don’t think I deserved, so I decided to go to court and fight it. Now that the time has come for me to go and do that, I’m all nervous and scared! Paul keeps giving me little pep talks about how the Read more:Monday
, Morning
My Boring Day. 2007-04-19 01:40:52 I’m participating in a Blog Carnival/Meme of Boring Day
pictures. Some friends of mine on a message board used to always do this, and I thought it was so much fun. I took these pictures yesterday, but there are a few time periods missing where I didn’t have my camera with me or I was just over taking pictures. So, here they are…I put the rest after the cut…warning: image heavy! I did try to condense them all, but…yeah. Okay, here we go.
IVF 2007-04-18 23:24:22 You all know I’m up to my armpits in small children. But even on the worst days, when they’re all fighting and screaming and driving me to drink, I’m thankful to have them. Having two sets of twins is truly a blessing, and we recognize how lucky we are. I have lots of friends in my twin club who have kids with serious disabilities, mostly due to being born too early. That’s pretty common with multiples - and again, I count my blessings and I know how lucky I was to carry both my twin pregnancies to term! I also have at least half a dozen friends through the club who had major fertility problems, and in fact, that’s how they ended up with multiples! Many times after our meetings, a bunch of us will gather somewhere and have some drinks, and that’s when the stories all get told. It is simply amazing to me the torture we will endure just to have children. The stories about the anguish of infertility treatments in particular always make my head spin. It&
It’s like a friggin aviary in here! 2007-04-18 22:04:33 Hey, I’m sure I’ve mentioned a billion or so times that the road behind my house is closed and has been closed for about 9 months now, while they’ve done work widening it and putting in new drainage and all that? Well, it’s getting close to completion! They’ve been paving for about a week now. I’m so excited! Y’know what, though? Now, we have water running in the creekbed behind our house, which was previously a dry creek, except for rare periods where we’d get, like, 5 inches of rain in an hour or something. Now we have water running through it all the time. You can actually hear it tinkling around down there really well at night, when the windows are open. It’s kind of relaxing, I guess. Except all of a sudden, we have about a dozen new varieties of birds hanging around here. They seem to be attracted to the water; I keep seeing them dive down into it. I’ve been sitting here with the sliding glass door open for an hour or so
Ha! 2007-04-18 17:46:07 My sister and I took pictures of each other drinking margaritas last week - it was such a fun day! Anyway, we cracked up when we looked at the pictures! Look at my hair!! It looks like I have a Lexi-inspired ponytail going on, huh?? There’s a dried flower thing on that wall behind me, but it’s placed so perfectly, it looks like it’s part of my hair. Teehee!
Big Baby. 2007-04-18 06:20:40 I was just sitting on the floor in the dark in Pablo’s room. For some reason, that always seems to be the place I end up thinking really hard about things and even praying for guidance. I’m usually only sitting in there late at night for one reason - Pablo’s not sleeping and having a fit about something. When we put him down tonight, he was really upset about a toy or something - it doesn’t even matter what it is, he just can’t seem to calm himself down. He is doing a bazillion times better than he was a year ago or even a few months ago, but it’s still hard. I keep reminding myself that it’s not the autism here - it’s the fact that he’s a stubborn little 3-year-old boy! I know lots of people with kids the same age as mine, and it seems like we’re all in the same boat.
Anyway. I was just sitting on the floor in the dark, and thinking to myself, I hate my blog template. Weird thing to think about right at that moment, huh? It&
All the pictures. 2007-04-18 05:58:59 I finally got around to getting all my pictures off my camera and uploaded to Flickr from Easter/The Big Family Weekend, so if you want to see them, yay! Your wait is now over. Pictures are right here. You can see what a big bunch of dorks we really are!
I miss my sister already. We just emailed a couple of times yesterday and it made me feel so happy that I got to spend some time with her. It really did feel like old times. We were SO close growing up, and we really lost that over the years. Thank God we’re in a better place now!
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