I get asked all the time how I handle the 3 kids, making all this food, the laundry, the finances etc etc… it’s so easy. All you need is a routine.

I don’t have a cleaning day, I clean as I go.  I have specific things that i do on certain days, such as dusting on mondays, mopping on tuesdays, sheets on wednesdays, for example… things like cleaning the sinks and toilets are done at the end of every day, it only takes a minutes if they’re pretty much clean to begin with…

I don’t cook every day.. I cook when I need to only, with the exception of the foods that are just better fresh. I make big batches so I always have leftovers for lunches, and another meal and leftovers from that 2nd meal. At the very least. Why spend half an hour getting a lasagna ready when I can spend 15 minutes more and make 4?

Laundry? Pshaw. I’m not going to waste my time washing something that’s not dirty and that can be worn again. The kids put their clothes in a basket in the bathroom at the end of the day when they take their bath. I toss in a load every morning… change it to the dryer at noon and put it away at night… so what if it’s wrinkled, it’s kids clothes and normal everyday clothes. Obviously, the stuff that needs to be wrinkle free I take out of the dryer.

Saving time… well there I’m an expert.  Why do ya’ll think I’m online so much?? lol

-when I put clothes away, I put it all away together. Socks, underwear, shirt, pants. Everyone can dress themselves… and the outfits stay together, no need to search for the runaway shirt that matches the pants…and everyone can dress themselves without having to be “approved. Washing then socks… I put them in a mesh bag when I put them in the washer. I wash all my socks together. The kids are the lucky runts that get to match them after, I’m NOT wasting my time on that. lol

-I plan my day.. I find if I have a concrete plan to follow, even if I don’t have to follow the times… gives me a list of things to do and makes me feel more accomplished. I can check it off as I go… and it’s in the most logical order of things to do first. I won’t have a dessert unless I bake, and I can’t bake unless the dishes are done… and I can’t do the dishes unless breakfast is put away and the counters are clean.. and I can’t clean the counters if I don’t have clean cloths.. you follow?

-everything has a place. If I find something out of place… I grab it and either put it in our clean-up box, or put it away directly if I’m heading to the room where it goes. Our clean-up box is great… we shove all things found out of place in there… and we put it all away at the end of the day. Makes the house look less cluttered at any given time of day..and everyone knows that if they can’t find what they’re looking for, it’s probably in there.

-I get the kids and dh involved in helping. So what if they don’t do it perfectly…at least they’re doing it. A half-arsed wiped counter is still better than a non-wiped counter. Clothes shoved into dresser drawers are better than clothes all over the floor… I’m extremely anal about stuff, and if I can deal with it, I’m sure you can too. Especially if it saves me 15 mintues a few times a day.

-have the kids follow a routine, and write it down for them, or put up representative pictures… you’ll be surprised how much your child will respond to it… kids need structure, and having an established routine will really get them to be the perfect little angels you’d always told yourself you’d have when you had kids.

-It it’s worth me spending the time doing it, I do it. If it takes time away from doing something I love, I think twice about it… and I think about how to include others I may be taking time away from. My 5 year old can make yogurt on his own. Not a big deal… but it’s something him and I can “share”, and it’s pretty neat, too. My 4 year old is pretty good at feeding the dog and giving her fresh water… sure, some gets spilled on the floor… but who cares, the dog gets it. heh heh.. the 2 year old is getting really amazing at doing her own bed. Yes, it’s all crooked.. yes, my eyes cross whenever I see her bed… but she did it all on her own, she’s proud, I’m proud, and that is enough for me.

-setting the table - both my older kids can set a table perfectly. Together, they put the tablecloth on, they distribute their plates on the table, and they get and place the utensils. (not mine and dh’s, since those are breakable and kept in the higher cupboards) They balked at first, sure… but… if they didn’t set the table, they didn’t eat until they did.  It didn’t take them long to get that it was either they set the table, or there was no food on the table for them. Period.  It’s funny, now, they set the table when they’re hungry… lol But, it’s time I don’t have to waste doing it.

-cleaning toys - yeah right. The day you’ll find me cleaning up toys will be when the kids are too sick to put them away themselves. And if they’re too sick to put them away themselves, then they were too sick to play with them to begin with…and so, me = not cleaning up toys. :p They get a timer to pick them up - and whatever’s not picked up by the time the timer goes off…they lose for a week or so. Poor Emilie had NO TOYS for a whole week. It was pretty funny… she learned her lesson though.

-errands - it helps if you know what you have to do ahead of time… and where you’re going.. then you can figure out the best route to save on gas and time. Don’t go to the grocery store before you have to go somewhere that might take you a while… make a good judgement call. Don’t leave food out to spoil in order to save a few gas dollars.

Wow, how time flies. I’d completely forgotten about this site, until I received an email from WordPress notifying me that I had a comment to moderate. I thought… wtf?? then it dawned on me.. and now here I am.

 I purchased a condominium in June 2009, when I moved out of my ex’s place… I ended up making a room for myself in his basement.. my little futon bed surrounded by boxes of stuff. Boxes of CRAP, more like..

The condo I bought has 3 bedrooms on the 2nd level, with a full bathroom of course.. the tub is a soaker tub… (hhhheeeelllll yesssss!!!) and there are wall to wall mirrors on one wall of my bedroom, becasue there are two 2-door closets with mirrored doors. I love it.. I get dressed in the morning and can see what I’m doing! Wooohoo!

On the main level, is the entrance, which also has a 2-door closet with mirrored doors. The entrance runs in a little hallway that leads you to a powder room on the right, and the kitchen on the left, then into the dining area. Stairs on the left go both upstairs and downstairs, the downstairs leading to a 4th bedroom, and the storage/furnace/laundry room. Through the dining area is the living room.. which spans the width of the condo unit.. and has patio doors leading out to a decent sized yard.. well, decent sized for a condo unit.. it’s not the big-ass yard I had before. Oh well… you make do with what ya got..

I haven’t really done all that much to this place.. 1) I don’t have the money to and 2) I don’t have the time to.

After working at the Museum for 18 months, I applied for a job in a company that is mandated by a government department.. I obviously don’t want to share, since well, this is the Interwebz..  anyway, I love my job, and I make great money. The sucky thing is, I also have big expenses.. and so I decided I was going to rent a room to a friend of mine who was looking for a place to stay. Things were great.. what she paid me in rent compensated for the teaching I slacked off on.. I just found that I was getting a little lonely.. and decided I’d try going out on a few dates.. which I did. Last year I met the most wonderful man.. (who now lives with me, p.s.)  and I decided that I was going to pick up 4 hours a week of teaching.. mostly so that we could have a little extra for vacation planning.. and, well, for my NEW CAR!

I bought my sexy beast in February.. at which point was told by the financing company that I NEEDED to get my license or they wouldn’t finance my purchase. I was NOT impressed… considering I’d owned cars since I was 17.. I guess you can own a car without a license if you purchase it outright.. but you can’t finance a car without a license. What, do they think I’m ‘tarded enough to purchase a car for someone else? Do they think I want to take out a loan for someone else?! I suppose it’s plausible.. so anyway, I went to get my stupid license, and stressed out about it the entire time I pored over that stupid rule book and the entire time i was waiting in the stupid line at the stupid driving place thing where they give you the licence.. UGH. I avoided the darn thing for all these years, and now, I have it. It’s a pretty cute picture, too. Tee hee!

So… house.. check. Car.. check.  Loving partner.. cheeeccckkkk!

To update on the kidlets.. well Z will be 8 in August.. holy chripes I’m gonna be in my dirty thirties soon. Uh oh.. I digress. Z is doing so well in school. He’s the top reader in his class, and often gets “gold stars” for helping out classmates with their work.. he’s nearly to my shoulders, height wise.. and I can wear his winter boots, because he has huge feet. Maybe mine are just small.. but I prefer to laugh at the thought of the ginormity of his feet. He’s wearing glasses now… hurray for genetics.. not! At least they’re not as thick as mine were when I was young. Being poked fun at is NOT ENJOYABLE. As if that’s not enough for the poor kid, he’s also going to need braces on his teeth in the next few years… because his front teeth are just.. well, poor kid, anyway.

E is still as much of a brat as ever.. she’s very manipulative.. vindictive.. and she’s ruthless is her payback to her darling siblings. She is still fairly calm in demeanor, thank goodness.. because I do strongly believe I’d have sent her to live with her dad for a while.. just, you know, to be fair and all.. he’s gotta have a part of the upbringing.. just, I’d have kept the good part.  :-P   She loves animals and plants.. and will.not.leave.the.kitten.alone.  Her dad bought a kitten for his place.. Marshmallow. It’s black and white. Gag.  E loves to sit on the couch and hold the kitty down while she pets the crap out of it… smart cat though, it learned real quick that E’s cuddles are more delicate and not so suffocating if she just stays still and allows herself to be pet..

Naomie is the sweetest and devilish child  have ever met. She will still be super adorable with her face petting while she kisses your cheeks and say very loving things… and then turn around and use sarcasm to undermine everything you’ve just said or done while batting her eyelashes and jabbing her pitchfork in your eyes. She makes me laugh ALL THE TIME.. mostly because the tidbits that come out of her mouth are SO unpredictable and random, it’s unbelievable. For example.. when my love first met my children.. Naomie was wearing a necklace. She promptly told my honey to touch the charm on her nacklace.. which he did.. after which she informed him that it was a magical charm, and that now he was in love with me. We hadn’t shown any indication that he was anything but a friend.. but after we were told to kiss like a prince and princess, and being told we were in love by my 4 year old.. we figured what the heck.. they ain’t stupid.

This past year has been hell on wheels, I’m glad it’s over, and I’m glad to be getting on with my life.

I am moving in a few weeks.. where to, I’m not sure. My house is sold, and we need to be out by the 12th of February. I might live with my friends Mel and Jay for a little while, or with my friends Anna and Jon, since they’ve both offered, but I might suck it up and live with my ex and the kids for a few more months, seeing as the house payments at the house that the ex bought, are less than half of the payments of the house we’re currently living in. I might suck it up, for financial reasons.

I’ve started packing, and have gotten rid of so much junk, it’s unbelievable. I thought I’d gotten rid of a lot of stuff before.. oh well, no big deal. less crap to move.

Anyway - as to packing - I’m only using small boxes.  I’m putting all the things together that go together, and I’m labelling the boxes properly.  Is it wrong that I’m only packing the boxes I’m going to take? I haven’t packed a single thing for the ex. I mean, I even went into the kids rooms and packed up the toys I wanted to take with me.. lol 

I’ve only packed 2 big boxes. One of them are boardgames and family fun things that the ex surely will not use, and the other is my yarn stash. I still sadly have enough to pack another big box, of that. I think I have too much… heh heh

Being in a position where I might have to live with my ex for a little while, I’m packing as if I’m going camping for a long time… because I don’t want to pack twice, I’ll have a couple boxes of stuff that I can open and be good to go.

When I’m labelling the boxes, I’m putting my first initial, the room it goes in, and a point-form description of what’s inside.

 ”R - kitchen - useless drawer stuff”

Course, anything I’m labelling with “useless” I should probably reconsider leaving behind. lol

So it’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing… lots going on with my life right now. Some good, some not so good.. but “c’est la vie!”

I’m happy to say that I am no longer working a bazillion hours a week, I am only teaching one night a week, and have been enjoying my evenings for the first time in a few years.  I think I was going crazy - I was working 7am to 9 pm on most days… with the daycare, and the teaching music… then it went from 8am - 9pm, with the job at the museum and the teaching… and now I’m only working from 8am to 4pm.  Hurray for no more 13 to 14 hour work days!!!

The kids are doing fantastically, and I’ve found that they’ve grown up so much this past year… Zach’s a pro at reading now, he has taken on the task of reading to his sisters, and is actually helping Emilie sound out some simple words, it’s too cute.  He’s going into grade 1… grade 1!!!  I’m incredibly sad about that… but at the same time, I’m thrilled that he’s getting more and more independant. He will be 6 years old in 2 WEEKS! Crap. I guess I need to go shopping… you have no idea how much I loathe shopping when I actually need to get something. I like browsing. lol

Emilie’s hair is finally long enough to do something with it - for the longest time, it seemed stuck at the same length… barely long enough to do anything but pigtails… the sides and front seemed to have stayed short, not letting the hair be put into a ponytail, or braids, etc.. She’s gotten taller, too, leaner. She’s still my brat - but has calmed down quite a bit, and the worst she does is color on stuff. Naturally I’ve taken away all crayons, pencils, pens, markers etc… she’s only allowed to use them with strict supervision… and so problem solved.

Naomie is picking up on the spanish language a lot quicker than the other two - she’s my little language monkey!  She’s beginning to write letters, of all things to be doing with a pencil… she much prefers following lines in the workbooks than she does drawing or coloring. I wonder how long that will last… lol

I’m doing well, I think. I can’t complain, anyway.

I’ve decided to put my house up for sale - the ”deadline” is January 2010.  The work that needs to be done includes:

-cabinetry in kitchen updated

-cabinetry in main floor bathroom / laundry room updated

-hardwood floors on main level and 2nd level redone

-carpet in basement changed, or laminate flooring put in

-Basement walls taken out (it’s pannelling… ewwwww.), better insulation put in, and drywalled. Electrical work to be done so that I no longer blow a fuse if the tv in the basement is on and I turn the heater on in the sunroom…lol and the ceiling to be finished.

-Bar in basement to be refinished and shelving unit to be updated

-ceramic tile in the kitchen / main level bathroom - something needs to be done about it. It’s in great condition, just oooogly.

-lanscaping… I have plants and flowers and vegetables growing all around my yard… but I’m going to be putting in a small pond, fountain, stepping stones, and wayyyyy more garden stuff.  I have an 8 x 8 foot planters box that my zucchinis and tomatoes sit in… but for next year I’d like to have 2 more of those, for cucumbers and salads.

I’m doing some of the home renovations now… currently my project is my kitchen. So far, I’ve stained most of my kitchen cabinets from an aged dull golden oak to a gorgeous shiny mahogany… I’m still not yet done, but they really look wonderful.  I’m going to put a coat or two of varnish over them, once I’m finished with staining.

I have really icky bathroom tile in the bathroom upstairs… they’re about 1″ x 1″, and vary between pinks, beiges and dark brown.  Not very nice… but, on the upside, it does go with the tub, toilet and sink, which are so old that they are the original antique rose porcelain that was put in originally.  (yark!!)  Anyway, the tiles are all coming out, as my Naomie would say, “the floor’s broken!”.  When I’m done with the kitchen cabinets, I’m going to chip out the floor and lay down some nice ceramic tile.. but I HAVE to have the warming wires underneath. No cold floor for me!

I’m not cooking nearly as much as I used to - I only cook once a week. Although I do make several meals and snacks… I’ll post a few zucchini and/or tomato recipes soon, since I’ve been overwhelmed by them. I only have the 2 plants for each… but man oh man… to give you an idea of how much zucchini I get - Well - I’ve processed about 26 pounds of it for winter use… and that’s not counting all the zucchini we’ve been eating in stirfrys, in bread, muffins… :-s 

I’ve been freezing green tomatoes, too. I’d never had fried green tomatoes before last year.. and they were absolutely delicious! So.. I’ve been picking some of the tomatoes while they’re still firm and green, cutting them into small slices, and freezing them. I have about 3 freezer bags full as of yet.  I process about half of the ripe ones for use in sauces and whatever.. I’ve been canning them. But the pot I was using kind of busted.. it was an aluminum waterbath stockpot - and the top split in two places. It’s still useable, but I need a new canner.

 The green beans that I planted along the side of my house are flourishing - beatifully lush and climbing all along my fence, beautiful red flowers everywhere… but no beans. I think the neighbour’s been getting free food. lol!!

The strawberry plants I have have also been producing like crazy… but there’s a few rabbits in my area, so they’ve been dissapearing as fast as they’ve been growing. Rabbit stew, anyone?

So it’s been a little while since I’ve blogged - lots of stuff going on in my personal life that I’m not quite ready to share just yet.

I’ve started a new job, working in an office, in a museum. Very interesting work, for shizzle.

The kids are growing a lot for some reason. Zach has grown an inch and a half in the past month, believe it or not.

Anyways - I got fixed yesterday…and woooo let me tell you, this hydromorphone rocks.

This past week has been heck on wheels.

 I haven’t been doing daycare since October… and dh and I always have the kids do things on the weekend to keep them entertained… Silly me thought it would be nice to just chill this week with the kids.  Silly me thought we’d have a good week, just cuddling and relaxing.

 So far, I can’t wait for the kids to go back to school…………… lol

We are only Wednesday, they’re driving me batty. Naomie, little miss independant, has figured out that I keep a stash of muffins in the freezer in the kitchen… well she figured out that she can take a step stool, bring it to the freezer, open the lid, and grab muffins. I make them by the tons, so there’s 4 freezer bags full of them… she opened each one, and took a bite out of a few muffins here and there. Little fart.

Emilie hasn’t been as much of a pain in the butt as I was expecting her to be… she’s actually been very helpful. She cleaned her room, after trashing it on Monday… I walked in, and it was spotless. That is, so were her shelves and dresser… she’d stashed everything in her closet.  Ever so helpful.  Oh - her bed broke…. I’d thought it would be neat to have one piece of each bunk bed for each girls room - so they have the high part at the head of the bed, and the low part at the foot…and I had soem fabric draped over it, it looks pretty good actually, I was impressed. Was. Yes, WAS. Emilie decided it would be great fun to climb on the headboard.. well of course she bent the bolts… and I caught her on it…. I straightened it… and I guess that movement actually broke the bolt… because next thing I know I’m on the floor. The darn thing crashed on my head. I’m glad it was MY head and not hers… I have a huge bump.. I can just imagine what it would have done to her. So, for the time being, her mattress is on the floor.

A friend gave me a small pair of sunglasses last night with the Transformers logo etched into the panes… very cool. i gave the to zach this morning… he was soooo thrilled! He’s very much into superheroes nowadays… transformers being part of the gang. Today, he asked me if he could watch Superman Returns… and so he was wearing his Spiderman costume, watching Superman, and wearing his Transformers sunglasses… *I wear my sunglasses at night so I can so I can…..*

My stupid dog ate more of my couch. She is going to be so sick one of these days…. foam can’t be good for a dog.

St-Patricks party on Saturday… and we don’t have a sitter. It’s ok - I told dh he could go and I’d stay home, since I’ve been out a few times in the past 2 weeks. But that’s a whole other blog…

Today is another snow day. Fantastic. Really.

DH left at 7am… he let me sleep in until then, hurray…. but he didn’t wake me up 100% before leaving… and the kids snuck down and ate an entire chocolate cake.

This past week has just been torture. The stupid tree must have been shaking… because the sheer number of ignorants I’ve talked to this week has made me realize I’m thankful I don’t have to deal with their kind every day.

To top it off, I applied for a couple part time jobs - and while I have an interview on Thursday morning for another job, the guy hiring for the one I really wanted, which was a mindless receptionist job, told me I was over qualified for the position.  Duuuuuuuuhhhh…. I realize that - I don’t WANT to be working crazy like I used to…I WANT a mindless drone job.  I want to be doing nothing but answering phones, taking messages, and typing. 

Ah well - c’est la vie.

I’m happy I finally sold a few things on Etsy… I was getting worried. The last time I had an account there… and this was maybe 2 years ago… I sold everything within about 3 days.  Here’s the link…if anyone cares to see what I make in my spare time. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5578163

I’m going to go bake now… because baking makes me feel better. Today’s venture is a cinnamon oatmeal cake. Tastes a little like a cross between sugar pie and carrot cake… not as coarse, it’s smoother, lighter… and just sooo good.

A little while ago, I’d gotten the kiddoes to help me plant some seeds… and this weekend we put the herbs in little clay pots on my kitchen windowsill. I’ve got 2 each of parsley, thyme, and basil, and I’ve got one of garlic chives. I hate growing garlic chives, they’re so picky!!

Amongst the other seeds we’d planted, we have 6 cherry tomato plants, about a dozen onion plants, about a dozen Nasturtium plants (wayyyyy better than garlic chives, if you ask me… their flavor is unbeatable. ), some oregano, and 5 pepper plants. All are doing well, except the pepper plants. They’re… slow.

I finally came up with the schematic I’m going to use for the garden in the back… I just don’t know how much of everything I want to plant, because this is the first year where we have the room to grow everything I want to. I know I’m going to plant a lot of tomatoes, zucchini and cucumber.. and I’ve already talked to a few people I know about giving them a basket now and then with extras so that they don’t spoil.. I don’t know what it is about people refusing free veggies. My mom was almost offended when I told her I’d drop off a basket of tomatoes and cucumbers now and then… she went off about how she’s not broke and doesn’t need me to feed her… it’s not about that. It’s about I have them, and they’re going to spoil if I can’t deal with them all when I need to, and so I want to share. Jeeez!! Relaaaax! Can’t she just accept a gift? O.o

Emilie is becoming quite the young lady… she found, hidden on the top shelf of her closet, a box of nail polish I’d put away, since she oh so loves putting nail polish on the wall, on her sheets, on her siblings, on her stuffed animals…on the dog… and for once, only did her own nails! I’m so proud.

I took Zach with me on the city bus on Friday - I only have one student to teach on Fridays… and while I teach that student, Zach has his guitar lesson. It works out… because dh picks us up then we go out for dinner. He’s getting really good at remembering the names of the strings, and the names of the notes… I’d have taught him myself, since I also teach guitar to a few students… however he doesn’t listen to me half as well as he does an “official” teacher. He’s silly that way… but I suppose that’s typical of kids.

Naomie was tooo cute in the truck… we’d put on a dvd for them to watch, since we had a few errands to run and rather than trek out all of us from store to store, we just parked and one of us (me or dh) would go in the store to get whatever it was we needed to get. Anyways, Emilie, in her normal won’t-shut-up fashion, was blabbing away about something completely unrelated to the movie… and Naomie pipes up : “be quiet, I want to nap”.  Emilie, of course, doesn’t listen and continues to chirp away… and Naomie smacks her thigh and tells her again to be quiet, she’s sleeeeeeping. Dh and I are cracking up in the front… but we let them be… because we’re big on them settling their own problems… and so Emilie finally settles down for a few minutes… just long enough for Naomie to settle in her carseat..close her eyes… and fall asleep. So sweet. <3

Speaking of sweet… she totally melted my heart this weekend. When it came to be nap time, I told the kids it was time for quiet time… and the older two went up, kind of grumbling under their breath and settled quietly in their rooms… and I went to help Naomie up the stairs, but she told me to “stay down, mommy”… and she went up to her bed all on her own. i gave her abuot 5 minutes, then went to check… the brat was in her bed, sleeping already. I miss my needy baby….

On the other hand, I hope she keeps it up.

We had spaghetti last night.. but I didn’t make any garlic bread, because I surprised the kids and made some caramel dumplings… served it with some ice cream… it’s soooo good… but very sweet… and you always take way more than you can stomach… and end up leaving half because it’s just SOOOO SWEET! lol Even the kids couldn’t finish their portions!! ha!

I’m so excited for my show tonight… we’re going to have it recorded because a lot of our SO’s can’t go… and so we can make a dvd of it too… lol

It’s going to be AWESOME! Rock OUT!

Naomie, my youngest at 28 months… is usually my sweetest, loving, calm one.  She’s the one that will run to you and give you a hug out of nowhere… the one that will pet your face as she kisses you, the one who reads a book on the couch during the chaos getting the other kids out the door on time in the morning. Usually.

Yesterday, she was such a pain in the you know what… I should have known the type of day I was going to have when she first woke up and absolutely refused to get out of her bed on her own. She whined until dh went to get her… she whined about the breakfast, she didn’t want rice krispies, she wanted raisin bran.. she didn’t want the princess bowl, she wanted the pink bowl… she didn’t want the red cup, she wanted the blue cup… then she wanted help. To eat. Now… if you know me well..this is where I draw the line.  She’s perfectly capable of feeding herself, she’s even starting to use a knife properly. I get that she wants to be little again sometimes…especially now that she visits with a 20 month old daily, between when I leave for work and dh gets home…  but come on.  I don’t want to take the time to sit down and feed her. Not when she can do it on her own. Arg. Pick your battles….and today I didn’t feel like fighting it.

As I’m feeding her, the darn puppy got into the garbage. I hear a rustle in the kitchen… and think… is there anything on the floor that I might not have put away… no… oh crap, the garbage!!!!! I rush in, and sure enough, the little brat was munching away on leftover dinner from last night. Ewwww…. I stuck her outside and cleaned up. Meanwhile Naomie’s still whining because she’s ready!!!! for another bite.

Half an hour later… finally settled in… and I set up Naomie with a Dora video while I clean up from the morning’s preparation.  15 minutes of quiet… hurray!

After the video, she really got upset because I wouldn’t let her watch it again… I tried distracting her with other stuff, she wasn’t having it AT ALL.  She’s not one to pitch fits… but she was on the ground, kicking and screaming… thrashing… Ugh. Emilie hasn’t done this in sooooo long, so she probably picked it up at the sitter’s. Booooo. Oh well… it could be worse.

I leave for work… and stop at a department store on the way, to pick up some ties for my “band”… we agreed that we’d all dress in black, with different colored ties. Loser-ish? Perhaps… but it’s all in fun so who cares! So I pick up 9 ties, for everyone, with an extra. They’re all differently colored mostly solid ties… I didn’t realize that ties were so darn expensive. I don’t know why, but I was expecting them to be 10 - 15$… ya know.. but no, the cheapest I found was 17$!!! After reduction!!!  Anyways, for the 9 ties, I dropped 192.20$. Had they not been reduced… I’d have paid over 250$ for them all…. gross. Thankfully, I will be reimbursed by the others, minus the cost of my own. We’re just going to split the cost between those of us who use one, and the others will be returned.

So I get to work… and as I teach music, it’s not very quiet there…. and I have some voice students who are absolutely horrible. And when I say horrible, I mean, I would rather be having to muck stalls than be in that room. I would rather watch my toenails grow. I would rather watch the wall paint fade… anyways. Horrible. And they think they’re pretty good, too! So… I try to break it to them gently that they still have a lot of work to do to perfect their interpretation… blah blah… and thinking about the words to say just hurts my poor little head.

I’m still whiny today from yesterday… I have to bake something. I’m so anxious about our gig on Monday night… and baking is my relaxation. Wierd, huh?  No wonder dh has a gut…. lol

Saturday dh and I went to a friend’s house for dinner. It was potluck.. so I was asked to bring my garlic breadsticks and dipping sauce.  There was this fantastic spinach salad with sliced almonds and cranberries, a couscous dish, some meatballs in sauce, some ribs.. it was all delicious. Anyways… that evening was the first night with our new sitter, who is a 14 year old nerdy girl who lives literally across the street. I love nerds. I am a nerd. Go Band Camp!! seriously though… I was impressed. With all the Prosti-Tots roaming the streets with their thongs hanging out and their skirts touching their earlobes… this one just about had Rainbow Brite on her sweater, and carebears embroidered on her jeans. I was thinking… SCORE!  THIS one won’t go dipping into my bar!  She came over at 6:30, with her mom. Cute. So I chit chatted with the mom for a while, until she must have decided we weren’t some predators out to get her precious daughter, and finally left, eyeing the inside of our house like she wanted a tour.  So we gave the sitter the rundown of what was going on with the kids currently, what to do with the dog, where the snacks were, etc…

At this point in time, both Zacharie and Emilie were in their beds, although not sleeping. Naomie had taken a late nap, so she was watching a Dora video in the living room. The dog was outside. It’s 6:45. I told her that Naomie must be in bed by 7:30, and that’s the time where we start paying her 6$ an hour, and that she can let the dog in at that time… if she doesn’t want the dog to be roaming the house, I told her she could put her in her cage, showed her where it was… and said she could give the dog a cookie to lure her in her cage.

So around 9pm, I get a phone call on my cell, saying the dog won’t stop crying.  I ask where the dog was - she said the dog was right there with her… I asked if she had put her up in her cage, she said she did for a while, but she let her out.  So it being 9pm, a couple hours after the dog was last outside… I ask her if she’d let the dog out to pee? She said… no…. I said let her out to pee… and then give her a cookie. She said she’d already given the dog a couple treats, so I said ok well then skip the cookie, she’s had enough for the day..and we’ll let the dog in when we get home. (it wasn’t too cold out, the dog was fine. ;)  )

I must mention that when we first met our sitter, she had given us a slip of paper with her “fees”. 5$ an hour, for one child. 2$ for every additional child. Um… that’s 9$ for us.  I had told her, when I first talked to her, that it is more than what I am willing to pay, especially that most of the babysitting she will be doing for us is when the kids are sleeping or just about bedtime… and so I don’t see why I should pay 9$ for her to watch tv…especially that if the kids wake up, they won’t wake up more than 1 at a time…. so I told her that unless she was willing to negotiate, she was too expensive for me. Of COURSE, as expected, she’s all “Oh we can negotiate!!”.  Final price? 10$ while awake… 6$ while sleeping… and bedtime’s at 7pm… we give it to 7:30 at 10$ / hour.  She cost us 31$… whereas our old sitter would have cost us 40$. Big savings? no. But, this one has a curfew of 11:30 pm and so it keeps us honest and home by then….and so savings in spending at whatever location we happen to find ourselves after midnight. Eww.

So we go home, pay her, she walks home across the street while we “keep an eye on her to make sure she gets in ok”…… (LMAO) And we chill for a bit, and then go to bed. The next morning, I go to give the dog a treat. I can’t find the container in it’s place. I’m looking… looking… of course I’m looking for a clear container with dog treats in it… I didn’t notice the EMPTY clear container on the counter…

The little twit gave the dog, no joke, at least 60 treats in the course of TWO HOURS.  I couldn’t believe it!!!!!  So around noon, I give her a call, and ask how it went, since we didn’t really have a chance to talk when we got home and she left.. she said everythign went fine.. I asked her how many dog treats she gave the dog… she said “quite a few”… quite a few… no kidding, quite a few…  no kidding the dog was crying, probably had a belly ache, quite a few… anyways I mentionned that the next time, to not give the dog more than 3 treats in the course of the evening, because I didn’t want the dog to get sick, I told her that the treats were “like vitamins” and if she has too many, she can get sick. Band Camp Girl was ok with that… apologized, and said she’d only give her a few next time.   Ahhh…innocence.

Her, I definitely won’t be worried about a snuck in boyfriend. Oye…

******

Garlic Bread Sticks

-3 cups flour

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon garlic powder ( I usually add 2, I really love garlic. :)  ) 

-1 tablespoon baking powder

-1 cup milk

-1/2 cup margarine

-1 more teaspoon garlic powder

-1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

1) Dump your flour, salt, garlic powder and baking powder into it. Stir them up. Add the milk. Stir it up to make a ball. If not :sticky” enough.. add milk, one tablespoon at a time. Stir between.

2) If you add too much milk… dust the ball with a little flour. You’ll get it eventually. lol

3) Gently knead the ball of dough for about 30 seconds (5 or 6 times) 

4) Put the dough on the counter… roll it into an approximate rectangle shape the size of the pan you’ll be using (9×13).

5) in the meantime… melt your margarine in the pan, in the oven at 425. When it’s melted, take it out of the oven, sprinkle the 2nd tsp of garlic powder and salt in the bottom, and plop (carefully) your rectangle shaped dough into the pan.

 6) Cut the rectangle of dough into strips with a sharp knife…make sure you get all the way through. Strips should be about 4 inches long and about 1 inch wide.. whatever you want, really. I like them thin, to dip.  The margarine will start to come through…that’s GOOD.

7) Bake for 20 minutes at 425. They will be a little brown and crispy. They’re fantastic dipped in spaghetti sauce….

You can add a little parsley for decoration… or parmesan cheese… whatever really. Enjoy!