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It’s as bad as…

After shopping at IKEA this weekend we now have a new definition of bad.

It’s no longer as bad as, a “poopy diaper.” Now it’s as bad as an “IKEA pizza pocket.” They were wickedly bad. And I mean that in a literal sense. The whole grain crust was thick, leathery and yuck. The processed meat thing inside was even worse. Take my advice and stay with the meatballs and cinnamon rolls. Those Swedes can make good, cheap furniture but they can’t make a pizza pocket.

At least we have a new definition of bad in the McLaughlin house now.

Busy Busy

Let’s see. Where exactly did this weekend go? On Friday, I got a tooth yanked that was abscessed. It hurt. The drugs really knocked me out for the rest of the day which was ok except I totally forgot that Grandma Vicki was coming down for the weekend to visit the girls. I was pretty out of it all weekend so I’m not sure what they did. Me, I mostly just slept and tried to recover. Thank goodness for pudding is all I can say!

I did manage to drag my sorry self down to IKEA with Kevin on Sunday and we ordered the rest of our kitchen cabinets. They are arriving on Wed. Yikes! Once they are here we will have no excuse left. The thought of tearing up my kitchen makes me break out in hives but I need to keep looking at the big picture, right? Out with the old and in with the new!

Really?

It was a perfect weekend for the coast. The beautiful spring weather held for us all weekend. I’m so glad to hear that Kevin managed so easily without me. All this time I’ve been hesitant to leave fearing that he’d be in over his head. Now that I know he has things so very well under control? Well, let’s just say that the mommy going away weekend once every year is definately going to increase. Yes indeed.

Over the weekend I finished a very cute quilt top that is, unfortunately, earmarked for a family Christmas present so I have to pictures I can post here. We also discovered that the cute local quilt shop was having a going out of business/retirement blow out. It was a little bittersweet. One the one hand, the prices on everything were phenominal. But on the other, that meant no more quilt store in Lincoln City. Sigh. Ah well, I guess that means next time we’ll have to try somewhere new.

I wonder if Kat is free next weekend…or do you think that’s too soon?

Day 2 and beyond…

Day 1: The night went pretty smooth as well. Leina took her scooter on the walk and thus so did Kulia after a moments reflection. Now I wasn’t about to let this turn into a “dad lugs the scooters all the way home trip” but Leina is really good at her scooter now so it wasn’t a problem. Both she and Kulia zipped all the way down our hill with only a few falls and no tears. Unfotunately both of them used my leg as an emergency break several times so I’m still feeling the walk 12 hours later.

FYI – the TV bribe still works like a charm. Must remember to continue paying the elctricity bill…

Day 2: We head to Papa & Manny’s for dinner tonight so I only have to make it to nap on my own. Only ~6 hours to go, no problem. Strange, the laundry still hasn’t taken care of itself? I’ll have to ask Chrissie how it goes from upstairs to down, then back upstairs all neatly folded in my drawers. Maybe I need to change the batteries in the laundry basket?

Day 1

Ok, this day has been cake. I think I could do this full time 😉

7:00am – Leina wakes me from a deep sleep (too much Mythos last night)

7:05am – got both kids, we’re all snuggling in bed watching TV (see the previous post). Well, two of us are watching, one of us is sleeping – you can guess who.

7:30am – more snuggling

8:00am – think about getting up. Decide on more snuggling…

8:30am – ok time to get up.

8:45am – Kids are changed and/or dressed, we’re out the door heading to our favorite breakfast spot: Shari’s – aka Molly’s after our favorite waitress (that’s another story).

8:50am – we arrive at Molly’s and I realize I haven’t actually showered yet. At least I’m not still in my PJs.

The kids were fantastic at breakfast. I had forgotten how slow an eater Leina is though. Kulia and I had finished our breakfast and were busily coloring and Leina was still grazing. She’ll take a bite, look around, talk, ask a question, ponder the universe, then take another bite and do it all again. I swear she’d still be eating breakfast now if I hadn’t prodded her along. I’m in charge of getting her breakfast in the morning but that’s where my responsibilities end. I go clean up while Chrissie takes over and actually makes sure she eats something before school. I’d forgotten what a chore that could be.

Kulia was something else though. She’s been branching out in her food choices more and more lately. It’s not longer just, “nuggets and dip dip (aka Ranch Dressing).” This morning she wanted pancakes – just like Leina (at this rate I hope Leina never decides to jump off a bridge, but I digress). The ‘cakes came with bacon, which she tested but was not too thrilled with – we have bacon at home. I thought she’d go for the sausage links, like last time, but she told me in no uncertain terms those were, “too spicey.” So it was my ham she went for. She devoured it like it was the last pig on earth. I’m always amazed at what she’ll go for somtimes. She polished off my whole slice and asked for more. When I told her we didn’t have anymore she just said, “ok, can I nuggets now?” You can lead a horse to water…

Still the girls were fantastic. Energitic, cheerful and polite. The trifecta of behavior highlights.

Next it was Home Depot and home. They then played quitely by themselves while I cleaned the kitchen (see previous post). I suspect Chrissie’s trained them not to bother her while she’s cleaning, ’cause they kept to themselves almost the whole time. Rarely did they make a fuss or argue – maybe it was the power breakfast? Still, I was in awe of how smooth the morning went.

Then it was lunch – I went for the nuggest and soup, why press my luck? Then bath, since we’ve got another dog walk post dinner and I figured we just get it out of the way. Once again the TV bribe worked and they went off to bed after a few books. They’re now watching the bribe after a restful and uneventful nap. I hope the electricity never dies though – I don’t think I want to put these kids to bed ever again without the TV bribe.

We’ll see how the night goes, but I’m telling you I could do this full time. Hmm, I wonder when that laundry is going to wash itself?

She’s Off…

Well, Chrissie’s made it to the coast. She’s out of town for a weekend craft-a-way with Kat. They’ll be knitting / Sewing / Quilting it up at the coast from Friday Night – Sunday so I have the kids this weekend.

Everything went easy Friday night. After dinner out, where Chrissie and Kat left to the beach afterwards, we came home, walked Artie (in which we go 1/2 as far but it takes twice as long as a normal walk) but on the PJs, read books and it was off to bed. I’ll admit to bribing them with “morning” TV if they went quietly into the good night. This was quite devious of me since I was planning on snuggling in bed and doing “morning” TV anyway but I figured a good lever shouldn’t go to waste.

I was amazed at how little I cared about the schedule when I was running the show. On a typical night I get home from work, we eat dinner, have some playtime then go PJs, books, bed – bing bang boom. I’m usually watching the clock the whole time. “can’t play too long if we have bath,” “gotta get Leina down so she’s not grumpy in the morning,” “need to get this done tonight.”

But last night was very strange. I guess I didn’t care about the time ’cause I knew, with the dog walk, I was going to blow the schedule anyway. It was very liberating. I let Leina put on her own PJs (at her own schedule), we read extra books, sang extra songs and it was all ok. I knew I didn’t have anything to do Friday night except goof around online – I couldn’t work in the shop since I had to be available for emergencies – so I didn’t really have to a keep to a schedule. Only once Leina was down and put to bed did I realize it was 8:30pm – 1/2 an hour past the routine bedtime! But the kids didn’t have any ill effects this morning and the world didn’t end. Maybe well make Friday nights a traditional “stay up and smell the roses” night?

Of course, in all my activity last night I forgot to do the dishes. There they were waiting for me in the morning, all crusty and gross. Ugh. How could my wife have left without cleaning the kitchen? Sneaky dear, sneaky 😉