a lot has happened since August 10th....

Hello friends. Is anyone out there? I've been neglecting this blog for so long, I doubt anyone is still checking in just in case I had decided to post something riveting (as always). I'm not sure what my problem is really....aside from being busy with Life, I just haven't felt the Urge to Blog. Or if I have, I haven't had an idea of what to write about. I keep thinking I need a new plan, a new format, SOMETHING, and every time I get a new plan I get sick of it in less time than it took me to come up with it. So, my New Plan is....get this...to have NO Plan. Just blog if and when I feel like it, put a recipe if and when I feel like it, a picture if and when I feel like it.....

Anyway, what I feel like doing tonight is just giving you a quick rundown of what's been going on since my last entry on August 10th. Here goes.....The rundown on All Things Ho.

• Tony started his new job. Same company, new job. One with more hours, more responsibility, more travel, more stress......same pay. More recognition, more chance for advancement, more training opportunities.....same pay. Oh well. There's a lot to be said for "job satisfaction" and he seems to have it with this new gig. I hope it lasts!!
• Emi started her second year of preschool, and loves her new teacher. She jumped right in on the first day as if it was simply a continuation of her last year, and no big deal at all. That was a relief!! Katie is adjusting to her 'no-Emi' time, but is never happy when we leave her somewhere. She spends the whole 2 hours reminding me that Emi is in class, and that SHE wants to go to class, and that it's time to pick Emi UP from class....she loves her sister! And wants to do everything she does all.the.time.
• Tony and I decided it was time for me to get some sort of part time job to help make ends meet (or at least not meet a little less) over the winter, especially. I had jumped through a jillion hoops with a new child care facility opening up in town, and was pretty sure that was going to be the "right" job for me....but when all was said and done it was obviously NOT the right job, and I said no. But, when one door closes, another opens, and now I have a job working part time from my friend's photography studio. I'm helping with photo editing, a little marketing type stuff, publishing pictures to the website, etc....a lot to learn, but I love photography, and pictures, and playing with them on the computer. It's been fun to get away a little during the week, and to make a little money is definitely a plus.
• I got a new husband. Ok, ok....not really. It seems though that Tony has undergone an upgrade or something though to Tony Ho 2.0. Gone are the days of whining when I have a meeting, or a late night out when I'd need him to feed, bathe, and do bedtime for the kids. This used to be a HUGE ordeal....I felt I could never leave the house without him freaking out or making me feel really guilty, like he was toooo tired and tooooo stressed to come home from work and handle the kids. HIS kids, but that's another story. The point is, all of a sudden, he's like, "Sure, honey. Go to work. Go out after, have fun with your friends. I have it all under control." And it's true. I come home to clean kids, sound asleep, a clean house, and him....totally un-stressed. And, as I was told today, "They never act like that when YOU'RE not here." So apparently, they behave better for him too.
• Fall TV has started!!! I am not sure how I'm going to handle my rigorous schedule of TV Watching with this new job and all....but I'm determined to make it work. My new favorite...the diamond in the rough....GLEE!!! I.LOVE.THIS.SHOW. I smile the entire time it's on, and laugh out loud more times that I care to admit. Pretty sure you didn't care about that whole paragraph, but I had to put that out there.
• I saw U2!!!!!!! It was GREAT. A fun night out, totally worth the money, and we had a great time together, me and my new husband. : ) And Bono. My next husband.

Well, hope my update didn't totally bore you....I'm sure anyone who bothers to read my blog also happens to be on my Facebook, in which case you knew everything I just wrote. Oh well. I've been told I'm an open book. Now I'm a repetitive open book. Like one of those choose your own adventure books where you end up going back to page 49 seven times in a futile effort to get the "best ending". Not sure what the "best ending" here is, so I'll just sign off for now, til I get the Urge to write again! Maybe soon, maybe not.

Happy fall, everyone!!!

NOT ME! Monday!

It has been TOO LONG since my last Not Me! Monday....brought to you by MckMama at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/.

Check out her blog to see alllll the (over 300!) other Not Me! Monday posts! It's fun!

WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!!

All of my Not Me! Moments this week are about...

POO.

But not really. Because I would never write an entire blog post about BMs. Never would I dedicate an entire Monday's post on such a gross subject matter. NOT ME!!

Nor would I make the entire post in BROWN, because that's just gross.

Again friends, NOT ME!!

Anyway...You must know then, that the day we had friends over to enjoy the water stuff in the backyard, it would NEVER occur to me upon discovering a swim diaper blowout to simply take the offending toddler and her equally offensive diaper over to the "dog's part" of the yard and hose her off. I'd NEVER do that. NOT ME! I'd sweetly and gently wrap my child in a towel and give her a proper bath to cleanse her off the absolute nastiness that was all over her back, legs, suit....and chair.

Keeping with the poop and water theme....I'd never be supervising my children, watching the water get murkier and murkier, and dismiss it. I'd never chalk the murkiness and the smell up to the in and out in and out in and out that goes on in our kiddie pool. When my oldest made a comment on the stink of the water, I certainly didn't chalk her concern up to the wafting smell of freshly rained on goose poop by the lake. I'd never be so oblivious to the fact that the murky water and the stink in the air had come from YET ANOTHER leaky swim diaper, unable to contain the force of my toddler's blowout. NOT ME! I'd notice she was "making me a present" right away and snatch her out of the pool. NEVER would MY children swim in POO WATER! Who could be that dumb!? Not me! That's who!

And, lastly on my list of Poo Not Me's.....It would certainly never occur to me to change my child with ooze dripping down her leg at a picnic table. I'd take her to a proper bathroom to change her. Nevermind that the ooze had already gotten ON the bench on which I changed her, thus providing a great rationale to just keep up with the grossness and finish the job there, right where it started. I also would never just THROW AWAY the outfit that was ruined by said blowout. How wasteful. Nevermind that it had broken snaps anyway, I'd NEVER just throw away clothes due to a little poo. NOT ME!!

Well friends, I'm glad you all know me well enough to know that these things of course could NEVER be true. I'd never be so crass as to post about all of these things, much less NOT do them. : )

Stop it!

Stop it right now, Katie-Bug! NO MORE GROWING!! I will NOT stand for it, do you hear me??

OK. I'll relax now. But seriously I am starting to question my plan to refrain from potty training 'til 3rd grade and letting her have her binky til she is 12. I'm thinking she might fight me on this. My efforts to keep her My Baby are being thwarted by the minute. SHE PEED ON THE POTTY TODAY. Come on. REALLY? My baby? NOOOOO!! I have spent the past month telling her, "No, you don't need to go potty, you are just a baby." Seriously. I have. Report me if you must, but it's the truth. She's not ready, I'm not ready. She just thinks it's fun to sit on the pot, and I think it's one more germ-hole. ANYWAY, I digress. Today, though, I had to give in, when she stood up in the tub, grabbed her "butt" (as she calls it) and said, "MOMMY POTTY!" For fear of Emi's overreaction to Potential Pee in the Tub, I snatched the wet, slippery little bugger out of the tub and plopped her on the potty, and....sigh...she peed. I'm hoping it's a fluke. I'm seriously not encouraging this behavior. No way did I scream, "Daddy! Katie peepeed on the potty!" No way did we do several renditions of "2-4-6-8 Who Do We Appreciate...Katie, Katie, PeePEEEE Katie!" No way did Emi exclaim upon the sight of her sister peeing, "Mommy, Katie is potty trained!" (How I wish it was so easy....) There will be no potty training her. SHE'S JUST A BABY. My baby. My LAST baby.

And while we're talking about the potty, let me share with you this little funny. In the car this morning, on the way home from a speedy-and-under-$50 Target run (Yes! Those DO exist!) I hear this in the backseat:

"Go peepee Monkey. Go on, go peepee on your potty Monkey!"

I turned around and saw her with her beloved monkey perched over the cupholder on her carseat, doing his business at her command. GO MONKEY.

I think this post calls for a picture of the little monkey. Look at her hanging there. She IS a monkey! She has to get up on her tippy toes to reach the bar, yet manages to hang there for a LONG time, swinging back and forth, embracing her inner monkey.

They don't call me Random Mortuary for nothing!

Actually, they don't call me Random Mortuary at ALL...anymore. Let this be the 1st random story of this all-over-the-place post. My 7th grade Language Arts teacher used "Prang" (her pointer finger) and a dictionary to give us all names for the year. I was Random Mortuary, and my "boyfriend" was Pensive Artifact. Anyway, here is a post dedicated to Mrs. Vee-Jay (not to be confused with "va-jay-jay," which was not even a known "term" in 1991...)

I'm taking baby steps with Katie and her annoying night time habits. She has this cot...the one Emi modeled for that we got free...and she likes to lay on that watching Sesame Street while I tuck Emi in at night. Well, that turned into a habit of falling asleep on the cot watching Sesame, which led to a habit of waking up at 2am and asking to go sleep on the cot, which led to me spending many nights sleeping on the couch while she slept on the cot, which led to a nasty rematch with my sciatica. ANYWAY. My goal while Tony was out of town was to get her to fall asleep some other way, without either of us enduring hours of screaming. Seems I have been successful, and we now rock a few minutes, or else I stand by her crib and pat her til she is out. Tonight she was especially sweet, and she held my hand until she was out, and then she rolled over and went to sleep. Here's hoping for night number two of uninterrupted sleep.

Ooooh....I caught Daisy in the near-act of peeing on the carpet. She occasionally wakes up before me and needs to pee, and rather than waking me up, she finds a spot on the ONE clean room of carpet (the living room) and pees there. It's the ONLY room she has ever had an "accident" in. Well, I had it blocked off last night for some reason, and this morning when I heard her creep down while I was still dozing and the kids were still asleep, I followed her down and discovered her about to pop a squat in the family room!!! I scared her, I think, when I grabbed her and all but threw her out back to pee. (Don't go all PETA on me, I didn't REALLY throw her). Hopefully she got the message. I am not a fan of my house smelling like dog pee, and have already given up my favorite (only?) green ottoman due to Pee Stink that I can't get out. (Advice here from dog experts? What gets Pee Stink out?)

I think I'll wind this up by bragging on my honey a little bit. Remember that job interview that we missed the Cubs game for (some of you may remember my whining about this job interview/game dilemma)...I told him my only stipulation for giving up the game for his interview was that he actually HAD TO get the job. And he did. YAY HONEY!! He beat out 63 others for this position, and is one of the first 15 people EVER to have this job in State Farm...it's a whole new thing, and apparently the "wave of the future" and he's on the ground floor, which means great future potential for him. Anyway, I'm so happy he got it, and I hope it's a great change for him.

And finally, in more serious news, would you please pray for my friend Deb, her husband Dave, and their two little girls? Dave has a pretty serious medical procedure coming up, and it's pretty scary for the family in a lot of ways. Pray for a successful surgery, and that God would work out the rest. Thanks.

I almost forgot....

about my blog! No, just kidding...I've just been immersed in MOPs (in this instance Many Other Projects) and also MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers!). And what I almost forgot about was the pure...um....joy? of working on a team of women! I'm on a planning team for family activities at church that is a group of women as well, and we have had our share of conflicts/differences of opinion/etc, but always manage to pull off a great event when all is said and done. I'm sure the same will be said of our 2009-10 MOPS Steering Team, which is my latest endeavor.

I really got so much enjoyment and encouragement out of my MOPS group last year, that I decided to jump on board with Steering for the following year....to my dismay, I realized that I'd have to switch groups though, due to Em's preschool schedule. SO, I ended up joining up with my Yorkville mommy friends in a different MOPS group. Since I had already planned to help out with leadership in some role, I offered to do the same for this group, even though I was/am a new member. And I'm so glad I did!

I have had SO much fun this week going back and forth on ideas, having a "job" to do, getting it done...it's been stressful a bit maybe, and a really big undertaking, but I'm so excited to be a part of it and to plan something great for the ladies in the group. I hope this year they get as much support, encouragement, FUN, and fellowship as I did last year in my other group. :) Anyway, this is kind of a pointless post, but I thought a little explanation of where my head has been, and where my blog has been was in order. It's been MOPPING!

If you are the praying kind, give our group a little shout out...that we'd continue to work together towards the ultimate goal, and that we'd do all things for the right reasons and have a successful year!!

A Good Old Fashioned Update

I realize it has been a long time since I have blogged anything! I also realize that maybe no one cares, and I'm OK with that. The whole blog thing seems kind of presumptuous to me anyway....I don't presume to think anyone is standing by, holding their breath, waiting for my next riveting post. But, I do feel the need to write sometimes, and occasionally I might have something funny/interesting/worth reading to post. This may or may not be one of those times...

So....Since I've been absent from the blogisphere:

I drove to St. Louis BEHIND not WITH my husband, due to a stupid error on the part of the rental car company. I had a completely and totally uneventful and pleasant ride in both directions with my girls and their dual screen babysitter...I mean, DVD player.

My first little brother got married to Kristin. They are a cute couple, and I am not sure I realized HOW cute until I heard her bridesmaids give the toast. It was very sweet, and probably one of my favorite toasts to date. Far less weepy than the kind I generally give, and full of less embarrassing moments than the one given at my own wedding. The wedding was swelteringly hot, but aside from that a great time. I used the old, "My babies are melting and going to ruin the ceremony with their cries/moans/screams," excuse and watched the ceremony from INSIDE the lodge where it was cool. I had a nice view of Andy's face the whole time, and could hear the many, many, many, words of the rent-a-rev. The rest of the night went well....my little flowergirl did her thing, and both of them danced the night away. I hope once the stress of the wedding passes, we'll all be one big happy family spread about various parts of the U.S. It was a fun weekend, spending time with my family that I don't see enough of, and we were SO grateful to have been able to join them.

My refrigerator pooped out on me. And it was over a week from the time I first had it looked at to the time it got fixed. I had a great friend offer to help me out storing my frozen crap so I didn't lose a TON of food, and my cousin loaned me her hubby's beer fridge for the milk and stuff. I took the opportunity to clean the fridge like MAD, and for the first time since we moved in here in 2005, cleaned under and behind the thing. Kate Gosselin I am not. (Whew!)

I have yet to be at the pool. This is the first time I think EVER in my life it has been July 1st and I have not yet been in whatever pool I claim as "mine" at the time. This year the reasons range from: Too cold, too hot, too busy, too sick, too late on the association bill, and most recently, too cold again. What is this 60 degrees on July 1st business anyway?!

The kids are cracking me up. There is nothing Katie can't say. Today in the car Emi said, "Mommy, I love you so much." And Katie said, "I do too." Heehee. Love it. Emi is also full of funny commentary...my favorite recently is when she informed us she needs a new playhouse, because she is, "Like, crazy tall, and can't fit in the door without ducking." And please do not get me started on Katie's "Knock Kock" jokes. Nope, not a typo. And nope, correcting her does no good. Reminiscent of Emi's inability to say "Get up" when she was little....instead coming out with "Dick up," which was embarrassing on more than one occasion.

Anyway....hope you enjoyed my little update. Trust me, I know it was a little random and all over the place, but that's what my mind is like lately, so I figured I might as well keep it real!

Happy July! And if anyone has any ideas for me on themed posts for days of the week, or other ideas for topics let me know! I'm running dry!

Refrigerators and Shoes in the Road

No, I didn't see a refrigerator in the road.


Just in case you were wondering.


Were you?


I didn't think so.


But, as I often do, I saw shoes in the road. It seems that almost every time I go somewhere, there are shoes in the road. What is that about?! Who is walking around with one shoe on because the other is roadkill on the highway? Whose foot is hanging out of the window of the car in the first place? Or was the shoe a victim of misplaced anger? Did the driver get so frustrated with the bumper to bumper traffic that he took off his LOAFER and chucked it out the window? Did the passenger become so angry with the driver for slamming on the brakes while she was applying her mascara in the rear-view that she threw her HEEL at him and missed, sailing out the driver's side window into traffic? Did the teenager in the back have too difficult a time tying his Chuck Taylor's they he gave up and threw them BOTH into the road?? I don't think twice about kid's shoes in the road, because I know that if a back window is open far enough any number of things could fly out at the will of a bored/curious/naughty member of the 3 and under crowd.

That's right, friends. I saw a men's loafer, a fancy-looking half-pair of heels, and a pair of black Chucks in the road TODAY. Am I the only one? Does this MEAN something?

Comments are welcome...for several reasons. It's nice to know people are reading. And, I really want to know the deal with the shoes.

And for the refrigerator.......Ray Romano's brother Robert came over to fix it, but SURPRISE! he didn't have the part on his truck. It has been "emergency ordered" and could be here by Monday or Tuesday, at which point Henry/Robert Romano will come and install it for us. So, in the meantime, my frozen goods are in my friend Laura's garage freezer (note to self: get a garage freezer), and my fridge goods that I couldn't bring myself to toss are in my cousin's beer fridge parked in my side hall. Life is interesting for sure. My snacking at night has been reduced thanks to the lack of FOOD, and my meal planning/advance shopping/cooking at home plans are all on hold.

I am trying not to complain TOO much though, because THANKFULLY this particular unexpected expense/broken item is under warranty, and won't break the bank. Which is already broken from the $700 car repair last week. But that's another story.