I can see again!!!

Our lives have been interesting recently. Our month long bout of illness stopped a train of purging and decluttering - but we're back on track. It's an exciting process shedding our jumk and making room for new things - hopefully not material things - but things like experiences and *gasp* TIME. Where we're not spending all of our spare time trying to clean and organize our - well - crap.

So - we're moving on to the dining room area - you ask - "what could you possibly accumulate there?" well - it's mounds of craft stuff for Julia. It was very well organized - but allow a 4 year old access to this on a regular basis and it's met it's match. We cleared it out today - have a box for freecycle - a box for a possible garage sale/goodwill and some trash. We moved our old buffet out - and our new buffet in. It looks so nice! All of china and cookbooks fit in - and I have 3 drawers for towels, cookie cutters and baking stuff. I'm thrilled with how it looks. The new table and chairs will be here next week - and we'll have our first room with REAL - GROWN UP furniture! :) Safe for kids and their messes - but real furniture!

K - the best part of this is that I found my glasses. Now - they weren't necessarily lost - I had put them away during the move so they wouldn't get lost or broken... and I did such a good job I couldn't find them again! Low and behold - there they are. A year later - VOILA - sight! I can't believe how bad my eyes have gotten - and may be a key to the long term terrible headaches I've been having. So - I'm walking around the house "I can't believe I can read that, whoa - I can see that!"

So my new mantra is "sight is good, clutter bad"

I want a brother...

Julia and I were having a discussion about the big/little sister topic last night and she reminded me that she wanted a little brother. She at first told me that she HAD a brother - her cousin Conor. So I explained that he was her cousin - not a brother. "No - the other one in Michigan, Caleb". I explained that Caleb was also a cousin. She decided to firmly state her intention of having a little brother. "Mom, I really want a little brother, you know, I'm ALL ABOUT THE BOYS" :)

She is and she isn't... there is a little boy at her preschool - Damien - that tells everyone she is his girlriend. She is adamant that they are not "TOGETHER" they are just friends. There is another little boy Isaac that is in love with her - everyday he asks her to come to his house to play. He told his mom "BUT I LOVE HER" when she said it wasn't a good day to have company over. It's tough to be loved sometimes.

As a retired "I'm all about the boys" kind of girl - I hope she waits a bit before becoming obsessed. I spent too much of my time worrying about boys and I hope she has some time to find herself first. :)

Supernanny is SOOO good for me

Have a learned anything? Not much? Other than that WHEW I have it pretty good! These kids are NUTS. I'm so glad that she is able to help these families since they are obviously out of control. After a particularly tought day - it's sooo nice to sit down in a quiet living room and watch OTHER people kids do crazy things.

I had a hard mommy day. Julia is in super grump mode - lots of whining, lots of talking back, lots of 4 year old behavior. By the end of the day I was DONE! Then watching these super bratty twins on Supernanny makes me feel so much better about my day. I know she is such a good little girl but some days it can be hard to deal with so much drama in a 4 year old body.

Julia has been helping me teach Anna sign language and she's GETTING IT! Julia is SOOO proud that she taught Anna how to sign. Tonight Anna started showing us the sign for WATER. It was one of Julia's first signs too. Anna can do other signs - like HI, BYE, SO BIG, UP, and her own little sign for MORE. This is the first "real" sign she's used. She doesn't form her hand into a W - but she does the actual sign. It's SOOO cute. And Julia is really proud. So am I.

I'm so glad my kids aren't out of control like those I see in life and TV around me. I'm proud they are smart, sweet little girls. I'll just keep coming back and reading this over and over.

Take a deep breath - they are GREAT kids!

buds 

Man-made leather

Ok - I'm looking at these funky shoes in this catalog. They are really cute - bright colors with a palm tree on them - FUN summer shoes. SO I'm reading about them - trying to decide whether they are worth my $19.99 - and come across this "appealing man-made leather". So - does this mean that these shoes are leather made from man - as in human hide - or leather that is made by man - in which case - what other kind of leather is there? I'm pretty sure that while my good buddy Trooper is quite talented in many dog types of skills - such as peeing on objects 2 feet off the ground - eating our clothes and kicking rocks - he's not quite skilled in leather working yet. Just in case you're wondering - I'm going to pass on the shoes - and stick with my $1.94 wal-mart bamboo wonders.

Ok - on that subject - I LOVE these damn sandals from Wal-mart - I now have two pairs of black, 1 pink, 1 teal and 1 red. They are $1.94 each - and SOOO cute. Just had to share.

Julia had soccer today - she did great. Still no goals - but she's come along way - she's actually kicking the ball on a regular basis now. One of the little girls wouldn't leave her alone and kept playing with her hair ties - the WHOLE game. It was hilarious. This little girl also went over and knocked over the opponents goal - about three times. I think she is creatively trying to psyche the other 3 year olds out. "you want a goal - you better hope it's upright buddy!"

So - I'm going for a nap... I woke up with a fever and I'm going to try and snooze while Anna naps - and Julia and Dan wash our van. Then I get to go mystery shop this afternoon. Too much fun, huh?