Earth Week

Because our society has turned every single event/holiday/celebration day into at least a week of merchandising and sales opportunities I've decided to share my "Earth Week" adventures.

Realistically, it started a month ago when I saw Campbell's chicken noodle soup with Earth day labels and thought to myself "really?".

I spent the actually earth day at my local whole foods type grocery store (the one I never buy groceries in because I refuse to pay 3 X as much for anything. I bought 6 lbs of Buffalo. I felt this pretty "earthy" of me. I mean its all about the circle of life. That's nature, right? Nature = Earth.
I also bought bananas there because bananas are my impulse buy at every store that sells them and they were actually the same price as anywhere else. No big sign on them that said they were organic, picked by migrants workers who have health insurance or picked locally but I'm still counting it.

This week I saw a news peice about unplugging electrical cords when you aren't using the appliance. Cster immediately called the fridge and so I was stuck figuring out how to unplug the built in microwave. But, all kidding aside, I have been unplugging stuff for 3 weeks now and Earth week was week 2.

Saturday I finally remembered to attempt to unclog the drain in our bathtub. I use a lot of baking soda in my cleaning and I heard you could build a volcano science project over the drain and mix vinegar and baking soda and magically the clog would disappear. I didn't have time or resources to paper mache me a volcano so just dumped a bunch of baking soda down the drain and then dumped a bunch more vinegar down. I've never seen Cster so excited to watch me clean the house before. I'm sad to report that this was not an Earth Week success. The drain is still clogged. I'm giving it one more try and actually researching amounts to put in but this fails, I'm getting Drano.

As you may have read in previous posts my kids have been under the weather so I decided to celebrate Earth Week by not bathing them. I wonder how many points that is on the Earth Week "I love the Earth this much" reader?

I wonder what we'll do for next year. I'm already anticipating it will be promoted to Earth Month.

104

Mster had a fever of 104 this week. If you are trying to imagine what a kid with a fever of 104 looks like imagine a girl, with stringy sweaty hair, complaining of being hot (eminating heat) wrapped in her pink princess blanket (by her choice), mouth open, eyes watering, and not wanting to eat popsicles because they are too cold.

For those that don't know, Mster will eat popsicles in -40 weather, while sitting outside in barefeet and a t-shirt. She also complains that bathes are "too hot" if you turn the dial past the middle to fill up the bathtub and she ran through the sprinklers last weekend in her pajamas in 65 degree weather and stayed outside for another 1/2 hour refusing to take off her wet clothes.

Hmm...come to think of it maybe that's why she got a temperature of 104. Oops...although I seriously doubt it because the fever came 4 days later. Don't call Family Services. We're fine.

My momma says...

I think of the phrases my children will remember for saying repeatedly is:

"Do I look like a trash can?"

They will not stop handing me garbage. When will they be trained to go to the trash can before me?

It worries me a little bit when I saw a 12 year old boy giving his mom garbage when he was out in public.

It also worries when Mster answers "yes" to my rhetorical question.

Taking a deep breathe

I don't even know where to begin.

It probably started at around 6:30 last night when Lster threw up all over his bed. I just happened to go in there to try and calm him down so Mster could sleep (I've been letting him cry again) and it was a good thing I did because it was a mess. So I got him new bedding and then proceeded to listen to him cough and wake himself up every hour throughout the whole night. I have to admit the hours between 2 and 3 were quite annoying as I couldn't fall back asleep, the coughing seemed to be worse and the Tylenol (for me) hadn't quite kicked in yet.

So the morning arrived and Mster woke up with stomache issues and a fever and a slight cough. Lster was still coughing and I felt like Crapola (yes thats a capital 'C'). I cancelled my last day of coop preschool and the morning was off to a great start.

I finally decided to hop in the shower at about 10AM after cleaning up throw up and other bodily fluids my children decided to emit. Lster came and visited me and so I hurried. I got out only to find he wasn't there anymore and when I went on a hunt for him I found him with a dark blue magic marker. He had decorated himself, Mster's dollhouse, Mster's bed, Mster's chalkboard and 4 separate spots on the carpet of at least 1-2 feet each. I almost died. I grabbed the marker from him and ran for my carpet cleaner. Nothing was working. I pushed and turned that cleaner. I pretreated the carpet. I post treated the carpet. Finally at 11:30 (cleaning the entire time only the carpet) I packed my sick kids into the car to head on over to our hardware conglomerate to find serious carpet cleaners. I couldn't find what I wanted but settled, got home, threw food in Lster's mouth, ran upstairs to spray the carpet (yet again) and finally got Lster down only to scrub some more.

So now I'm taking a break. I'm sick of the fumes. I already had a headache. I was already sick with something (and by something I mean it may be allergies) and there is still a pale blue colouring on our carpet in the kids rooms. I can't cover it up. Its in the most perfectly awkward spot for that. And so I'm going to wait a bit longer and keep attacking. I will not fail.

Children please don't throw up in the meantime. Please.

Oh and if somebody has some Ben and Jerry's feel free to drop it off my way. Its one of THOSE days.

In case you were wondering

I am teaching in a Coop preschool. The kids are at least a year older than Mster but most are turning six this year. Its been interesting.

Today while they were making worm puppets they got into a discussion on full names. They asked Mster her full name. Her response.

"Mster Jster Burrito, nickname Sir"

Super funny.

We've hit the boys and girls phase of Mster's life. The phase where its easier to play with girls than boys. The phase where other boys don't really want to play with her. The phase where she doesn't understand why all the boys around her just want to play x-men and kill each other. (more about 5 year olds playing x-men in another post). :)


So this made me laugh. A lot. I couldn't figure out how to get the video directly into my post nor did I really want to take the time to do so. :)

The blog is authored by a girl that I worked with as a missionary in DC area. Actually, she made me the missionary that I was able to become.

I'm scared of birds

This story reminds me of my previous experience with a bird at the zoo and my experience on friday at the zoo. I was attacked by a peacock. Big birds that roam free scare me. They petrify me. I took the kids to the zoo on friday and there was a peacock wandering around. Mster got excited and asked to check it out. I told her to go ahead and see it. Its difficult to describe in words where the bird was in relation to me but it was on a switchback just below us. I refused to get close but I really dont want my kids to adopt my phobias. Just as she was walking towards it (but not close to it at all) the peacock decided to jump or fly or whatever it can do right into my face. I screamed. EVERYBODY around me laughed and roared in amusement. I grabbed both kids and ran away (full sprint) to the next exhibit.

DUDE...What if the peacock had jumped at Mster and scratched up her face with its huge talons? We did not provoke this peacock. We did not get into its face. We didnt touch it. And I will continue to be phobia scared of peacocks and all other big roaming birds.

Harry Potter Lives

Lster tried to walk off the bottom stair yesterday and fell into the vacuum. Now he is sporting a sweet, yet suspicious, mark on his forehead.

Into the mind of Mster

I was telling Mster something that I can't even remember now and I finished it by saying..."so what do you think about that?" Her response was "you never know what I'm thinking."

and at a different time. Mster was sitting on my bed while I folded laundry.

Mster: Do you know what I'm thinking?
Me: I don't. What are you thinking?
Mster: PILLOWFIGHT

(FTR we do not pillow fight at all. I think we may have done it over the summer but I can't even remember the last time we had one)

Very random.

Where's Mster

So Mster has been replaced by a princess. This princess does not respond well to being called Mster. She responds very well to being called "Princess", "Princess Mster" or "Cinderella". In fact I got "Cinderella" to clean 3 toilets and put away her clothes yesterday when I told her she couldn't go to the ball until her chores were done. (Yes, that's right...she cleaned my toilets).
Cinderella was with us shopping yesterday and she even took a few minutes out of her busy princess life to shoot a round of golf.

Easter Pics

I have to admit...my kids are cute.

The window guys.

Son of a Sea Biscuit

What am I? A retard?

You idiot.

You've gotta be joking.

I gotta idea.

A few weeks ago we had 4 windows replaced that were part of our buying agreement. The guys came and gave me and Lster a colourful hour of sayings I'm going to share with you now. Luckily Mster was at a friends house.

I'll be waiting...so don't be hatin'

That's the good stuff.

I'm going to jack-t-off

Did I mention I was scared of heights?

Life is Beautiful.

You are going to have to call 911 quick if you make me laugh.

Don't be so sour dude.

I'm not ready for this.

A few days Mster had a friend come over. Said friend was "the mean girl". There have been many updates, not blogged about, on the mean girl situation. The gist is...mean girl became too much for Mster to handle...Mster decided to never play with Mean Girl again...I decided to get involve and call Mean Girl's mommy...Mean girl and Mster had a lunch date at a neutral location with both mommies included so Mean girl could show Mster that she wasn't mean anymore...Mster agreed to play with Mean Girl again.

So Monday was the first day back in Mean Girl/Mster bff-land. I smiled to myself as they both walked downstairs and Mean girl said "I am NOT going to be mean to you Mster". Things were going well.

And then...

I was feeding Lster upstairs when I heard some discussion about kissing coming from downstairs. I immediately decided to investigate only to learn that Mean girl was instigating a game of boyfriend/girlfriend which involved kissing. Kissing dolls (who were their boyfriends) and I think, but can't confirm, kissing each other. I immediately stopped the game to ask what was going on and Mster told me it was a secret. I looked at her and told her we don't keep secrets which was apparently enough for her to spill the beans on the boyfriend/girlfriend activity. I distracted them into playing something else and we all moved on.

The mother called shortly after and said she was coming to pick her up. I mentioned the pretend play situation and she laughed and said "oh yeah, that's what her older siblings are playing so she's picking up on it"

I was so sad. Mster's my oldest and doesn't have older siblings to corrupt her 3 year old mind and bring her in the teenage years much faster than she should. I heard that 10 year olds were the new teenagers but I couldn't believe it. Now I do.

The Drama Queen

Oh No!! It's Begun.

Mster was playing and soon a tug of war ensued with Lster over a truck.

Mster: YOU'RE WRECKING MY LIFE!!!

The last post

Just to clarify the vomit was not my own.

Our Weekend

If I had to some up the weekend in one word I'd have to pick....


Vomit.

The Question of the Day

Mster: Mom, when is Lster taking a nap?
Me: If you ask me one more time when Lster is taking a nap you will not get to watch your show when he goes down. Do you understand?
Mster: yes...Mom, how long is Lster going to be awake for?

Having a bad day!!!

You know your day may not turn out how you had hoped when your 16 month old wakes up at 4:30 and never really goes back to sleep. You realize your children are filthy and instead of putting clothes on them they really should take a bath and its only 6:15AM. Your daughter decides to wait for the water to "get deep" while your son splashes like a madman in 1/4 inch water. Your daughter must have some sixth sense cause your son proceeds to dirty the water and you have to clean it up, clean the tub, and refill the water now with 2 naked and cold children at 6:20AM.

What the Heck?

So we've doing TV on DVD lately and so put in Disc 6 of Season 3 Veronica Mars only to find it was "extras" crap!!! HELLO!!!! You didn't finish the story. You didn't end the season. I knew this was the last season but I didn't realize they didn't even finish it.

CRAPPY. VERY CRAPPY.

I blame all the people who got me hooked on the show. You know who you are.

How to use Google Reader

More about Google Reader.

It allows you to check all the webpages that you routinely check for updates in one conveniant location.

There are a lot of different places to do this but if you already use gmail this is your easiest choice.

To set it up and use:

At the top of your gmail screen - select "more", then "reader". (Google frequently changes the layout of their main page so Reader may already be a choice in the top panel.

Once at the Reader page type in the urls of webpages you want to know when they update. This will "subscribe" you to their page. It does not necessarily need to be a blog.

After you have added your pages, check as often as you like in one location to see if all your favorite websites have added any updates.