Indigo Girl

Brownie Dip and Home Movies

It was a really busy week at work with a few people on vacations, so I ended up working some overtime (15 hour shift on Wednesday - do not recommend) and took Friday off to regroup. A and I went to the Honors Assembly that morning to see E and L receive their honor roll certificates and were surprised to find out that L was student of the month! We were supposed to see E get her math medallion for passing all her timed multiplication tests, but they delayed those awards for the next assembly. Boo. Especially since I have to work on the day of the next assembly.

I left the assembly and went grocery shopping, but was interrupted by a call from school to come get a sick E. Or, I should say, a "sick" E. She did have a snotty nose, but was absolutely convinced that she had a fever (she didn't) and needed to be home. I think it was the disappointment from not getting her math medallion plus a substitute teacher who doesn't know she is an occasional malingerer. I brought her home and we vegged out on the couch until it was time to go back to school for the other two. 

There is a dress that L used to have and love but has since outgrown. The replacement was 30% off at Meijer this week, so I bought her another one. She passed the smaller dress down to C. E had expressed desire for the same dress, so now despite my years of dressing them differently, they ended up looking like this. I think it's sweet when it's their choice. They all wore their dresses in 25 degree weather and made up some game involving fairies and veils. 

I made brinner that night: blueberry pancakes, banana muffins, home fries, and fruit salad (pineapple and strawberries). We devoured it. I'm using this as a mental note to make this exact meal more often.

Sometime last week, A's sister posted this picture of us on Twitter: 

We are 18 and 20 years old there (maybe 19 and 21?), but may as well be FETUSES (feti?) for how young we look.

Saturday I made brownie dip and cookie dough dip to bring over to Karen's house where we met up with other people and watched/mocked the last Twilight movie. It is definitely a movie to be seen in someone's house so you can mix it up Mystery Science Theater 3000 style. 

We took some time this afternoon and interviewed each kid. I've been wanting to do this for a while. The girls love looking at the few videos we have of them at younger ages (I am not great at taking home movies) and I know that as big as they all seem right now, they are going to get BIGGER (I KNOW!) and I'm going to wish I could hear their little voices again. We asked them a bunch of different questions: who are your friends? what do you want to be when you grow up? what are you afraid of? what do you like to do for fun? what's your first memory? what book are you reading now? etc. I am going to try to do it every year. L declared, decisively, "We will do this every Palm Sunday." Thus she spake. 

A Date With C

I went out for lunch with C today. This doesn't feel as special as when I take E or L out separately. Not that she isn't great to hang out with, but we had several years together when E and L were in school, so I feel like she's gotten a lot of my attention. E and L have had to share from day 1. However, she managed to cut me off at the knees after lunch. Conversation:

Listening to the Pinkalicious CD in the car. Pinkalicious is a spoiled brat, but the music from the play is great. She has a younger brother who is basically ignored through the whole play because he has not turned pink from eating pink foods. Also, he seems like a pretty nice kid.

C: "They don't listen to Peter because he's the littlest."

Me [hemorrhaging onto the floor from the knife to my chest]: "Do you think we don't listen to you because you're the littlest?"

C, simply, like she's stating a fact, not whining or complaining: "Yes."

GAH. The thing is, I was the littlest and I felt the same way. So I am QUITE AWARE of her and try so hard to make sure I hear her thoughts, the ones that are not as mature or well thought out as her older sisters so they tend to get lost in the flow of family conversation. But it doesn't really matter what I do if her perception is that she is not heard. *sigh*

I did not flop onto the floor of the car, lamenting my incompetent parenting although I kind of wanted to. I did tell her that I want to listen to her and if she feels like I'm not, please say, "Mama, will you please listen to me?" or something similar. And I will redouble my efforts to hear her without her asking.

Other than that (and, frankly, that is one of the main reasons we've been trying to take the kids out for one-on-one time), we had a great time. We ate lunch at The Olive Garden (her choice) and got frozen yogurt afterward. We picked up a new family member and ran a couple errands because I cannot resist the urge to be efficient. It was fun and as I was giving her a bath later, she said, "I had a fun time on our date today!" 

P.S. Speaking of E, I used a bun maker on E and it turned out so cute! I think I'm finally get the hang of fancy hair. Not that I could do it on myself, of course.

My Legs Hurt

I have had such a week at work. Part of it was great and part of it was horrible and I am all done processing it. The thought of summing it up again makes me tired, so please forgive me for being cryptic. I'm glad it's over.

After all that, I knew I had to run today and I ran the farthest I've run since getting plantar fasciitis: 7.7 miles! (I really want to round up to 8 miles, but it's not quite close enough, and I don't want to round down to 7.5 miles because I ran MORE than that and I want credit for it.) Aside from the 3-5 seconds I stopped for a red light and traffic, I ran the entire time - no walk breaks. My foot feels fine today and if it feels okay tomorrow, I'm going to continue to increase my distance. My legs and butt hurt, but it's a good kind of hurt. I hope I can walk tomorrow. 

I picked the girls up from school today and we got shamrock shakes from McDonald's. They are so delicious (please don't tell me what's in them - I already had to record the calorie count in My Fitness Pal) and I figured it was about time to introduce my children to them. Then we went to the school skating party which was about as fun for me as you'd expect.

If you use Google Reader then you know they are retiring it for some reason on July 1. I haven't read anything about why they are no longer offering a popular service, so I don't know the business behind the decision. If you use another RSS reader that will work on a computer and a phone AND you like it, please make your recommendation.

Relaxing Day

All the girls are off from school today for parent-teacher conferences, so I brought them to the Y with me for my step class. E and L were the oldest kids in the kids area and were sad when I picked them up because they were in charge of groups of little kids for a letter building contest (I didn't understand either, but whatever). I waited for the contests to be done and then let them lift weights for a little while. 

We picked up this book at the library. I heard the author on NPR and I want to read it, but I'm also afraid of reading it because I think I won't be able to eat any food EVER AGAIN when I'm finished. 

I didn't feel like making an official lunch, so we ate fruit and yogurt parfaits for lunch and later made no-bake cookies to round out the meal. Never mind the two cups of sugar in those - oatmeal is a healthy food! Seriously, I like to have fun meals like this - L reminded me the other day about when I let them eat ice cream and fruit for dinner one hot summer night. File this under "Making Memories."

It was shower day (these older kids! They are getting so stinky so fast lately!), so everyone rotated through a bath. We usually do showers, but all three kids prefer a bath when we have time. I moved the coffee table and they spent a while alternating between playing Just Dance 4 and lounging on the floor in sleeping bags and reading. E and L's class earned a reading/pj day at school, so yesterday they wore pjs to school, brought their sleeping bags, and got to spend the whole afternoon reading. They wanted to recreate this at home.

It was all moving along happily until I came downstairs and found E almost asleep. Do you know what an unexpected nap will do to an 8yo? It's ugly. In my desperation, I turned on Netflix and introduced them to Power Rangers. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING EITHER. Anyway, they were transfixed. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than H2O. Who can tell me about iCarley? Is that an acceptable show? Maybe I can refocus them before it's too late.

I made roasted red pepper risotto and garlicky chicken thighs for dinner and we discussed cannibalism and the Donner party. (L offered the idea that cannibalism is tiered - eating a raw human being is grosser than eating a cooked human. Should I be worried?) Then we piled in the car and went to parent-teacher conferences. They were lovely and boring. Everyone is working hard. 

C knows all her kindergarten sight words. Her teacher was going through the first grade ones with her, but she apparently got tired, turned to Mrs. B, and suggested, "I think we should stop now." She also got marked down for not knowing her phone number. When I heard that, I turned to her and said, "C, what's my phone number?" and she rattled it off. Her only areas to work on are 1. don't talk when she's not supposed to be talking and 2. follow through to the end of a project. Those sort of seem like normal things for a kindergartener.

E and L are both at or above grade level and rocked the state standardized test. Their issue is THIRD GRADE GIRL DRAMA. Their teacher says it's all developmentally normal and nothing has been serious enough to call us about. This particular class isn't as bad as others, she says, but she sees cliques forming and drama happening. Ugh. 

Getting It All Done

Lately I have been having non-working days where I have no choice but to get everything done. I am looking forward to some down time this weekend, but until then, I forage on.

Our fridge stopped working last weekend. It's been making sad futile noises for a week now, so I was not surprised to find melted ice cubes in the freezer. We made do with a cooler on the deck (it's a high of 30, low of 10 here right now) but that's less than ideal. It keeps the milk from spoiling but wrecks the texture of the lunch meat.

This morning, after I sent the kids and A off to school/work, I went to the scratch and dent store where I had bought our non-working fridge almost exactly ten years ago. I followed the exact same procedure: scouted out the black/stainless fridges (there were four) and chose the one with the dent that would be covered by my calendar. When they asked when I'd like it delivered, I requested meekly, "Today?" and held my breath. By supreme coincidence, they were delivering an appliance to our neighbor at 10 am and could they drop off my fridge at 11, LESS THAN THREE HOURS FROM THEN? HELL YES. Sorry, I just couldn't believe my luck. Woo! 

I picked up our wet dry vacuum (loose gasket) from the vacuum repair shop and the cat meds from the vet, then zipped back home to push the fridge out of the way and clean the wall and floor. I finished just in time to make my class at the Y. I got my butt kicked and was pulling into my driveway as the delivery guys finished with my neighbor and waved to me. Timing, baby.

I spent the next two hours throwing out the spoiled food, moving all the magnets/pictures to the new fridge, and figuring out what I needed to replace. I went grocery shopping and then to World Market for coffee syrup. They are having a "Moving! Everything Must Go!" sale, so the coffee syrup was almost gone. I picked up C from school and we got cat/dog food and looked at the animals to kill time while E and L were at Girls on the Run. We went back to get them a little early and she read her book to me as I knitted. E and L came out brimming with excitement that they had run half a mile today (cute!) and we picked up pizza on the way home.

We got home, ate, and I unloaded the groceries and put everything away. C colored while E and L did their homework and thankfully needed minimal supervision from me today. I packed lunches for tomorrow, bathed everyone, and put away laundry with L's help and encouragement. (Me, despairingly:"I don't WANT to put away laundry AGAIN." Her, comfortingly:"It's okay, Mom. I'll help!" and she did most of it.) I read stories and Harry Potter and tucked them all in. Now I am done and going to bed. 5:30 comes early.

Only Sometimes Overwhelmed

It was a wild and crazy Friday night as I watched hair videos on You Tube to get ideas for L's hair. I found out how to do that twisty braid-like thing and did E's hair like that. I followed this tutorial to do a bun for L and it turned out well even though I didn't have the cute flower hair clip to accessorize (mental note: buy a cute flower hair clip!). That girl in the video has the most beautiful hair. I did this updo this morning based on this tutorial, even accessorizing it with a bow we already had! I'm feeling quite successful for being such a non-hairstyle person my whole life. 

E and L started Girls on the Run this week and like it thus far. They run after school twice a week in preparation to run a 5K at the end of May.

C made this sign about herself and my SIL suggested that world peace could be achieved if everyone did this.

The children have made a cardboard house/rocket that Roland seems to think belongs to him.

I am having that overwhelmed I'LL NEVER GET EVERYTHING DONE feeling as I think about having a realtor come, look at our house, and make suggestions about getting our house in shape to put on the market (this year or next). Then I think about the regular day-to-day things of dinner and homework and laundry and I start to hyperventilate. Friday morning I was lolling about thinking, "Why bother? I'll never get everything done" but decided to do SOMETHING, so I:

• started the laundry
• ran 6 miles
• took down that Christmas decoration that I had forgotten about and brought it and next year's Christmas pjs that I had bought on sale in January to the basement.
• made three phone calls
• returned a library book
• meal planned, made a grocery list, and grocery shopped
• spent 15 minutes in the new Goodwill by the grocery store to see if its worth frequenting
• picked up the kids, got home thinking that I would have over an hour to get dinner ready and then realized that I had forgotten to pick up the cat medicine from the vet. Piled all the kids back into the car and drove to the vet. Got home, realized they had shortchanged me a lot of pills, called them, got it straightened out, and made plans to pick it up on my next day off (Tuesday). 
• Made everyone dinner and brought them all back to school with sleeping bags and pillows for a movie night (Hotel Transylvania) in the gym.

I find the days I work to be overwhelming and then I DON'T want to be doing a million things on my days off, but I'm not sure there is any alternative. I have so much sympathy for people with long commutes and full or more than full-time jobs. On my work days, I'm out the door at 6:30 and - ideally - leaving work at 5:15-5:30. By the time I pick up my kids and we're home, it's an hour later. We eat whatever I've got in the crockpot and are doing bedtime stuff by 7:15. A and I are coming back downstairs to pick up, pack lunches, etc by 8. I am in bed by 9 or 9:30 to get up at 5:30 the next day. There isn't a lot of extra time.

We had a great Saturday yesterday even though I was on call and was called in to place an internal defibrillator. I went to my step aerobics class and A went for a run when I got home. Just before 11, I went into work, but was home by 1:30 (two hours of overtime pay! Thank you!). A took E out for lunch and frozen yogurt while L and I put away laundry, cleaned the fish tank, and baked cookies. In the evening, we popped popcorn and watched The Gruffalo and a few more episodes of The Cosby Show (I think we're on season 3). We finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and I don't THINK my kids are sociopaths, but no one was as sad as I thought they should be at the end of the book. Seriously, I BAWLED.

I am thinking days and evenings like this need to be put on hold if we're going to do home improvement stuff and get our house on the market. I'm such a glutton, though, and I don't WANT to give up relaxation time. I want MORE relaxation time. Sigh.