Colds Suck

I have had a cold now for the last 8 days and I am so over being sick!!! But the damn cough won't go away!!!! augghhhhhhhhhh Why do we get colds in the summer?????

Chores

My life has just been pretty boring lately. Not much to write about but I don't want to get in trouble from those blog people (you know who you are) so here is a short post.

Kids are gone for the month of July, so we thought we would organize and unclutter the house while we had the chance. And my major goal was to get the majority of it done by the end of the first week. We have almost succeeded!!! We have been crazy cleaners, but I do admit sometimes I have to watch those "clean house" shows to get myself motivated. When I see the people on TV and how messy they are it makes my mess seem much more manageable. I can think to myself, shoot I don't have that much crap and I don't want to get there. You know what I mean?

So we have gone through every room, closet and cabinet in the house. The only room we haven't hit is the boy's. But I declutter his room pretty regularly. He hoards random crap and if I don't get in there things start smelling funny.

I also FINALLY painted the girl's room. I told her a year ago I would paint it pink and I never have. So today after cleaning out her room for 4 hours and filling 4 trash bags with crap I decided I would paint. So since I was on a role I went out and got the paint and got busy. Only problem is that I had to do it myself since I couldn't wait for Brandon to come home. So in the end it took me about another 4 hours to finish. But it looks really good. I am trying to think up something cute to paint on the walls. Like puppies or flowers or something. But that will have to wait.

Finally, I start my new job tomorrow (officially)!! I've been in a couple of times to help her organize and stuff but tomorrow is my first "real" day. I am so excited! I love her photography and think this job is going to be a great fit. I'll fill you in on more later!

Five favorites

Okay, I'm finally getting to this! My friend Tracey tagged me for this. So here it goes:

Here are the rules:

1. Link to name of person that tagged you.
2. Include state and country you live in.
3. List top 5 favorite local restaurants.
4. Tag 5 other people and let them know they’ve been tagged.

I live in Plano TX (right outside of Dallas) and here are some of my favorite restaurants:

1. Fireside Pies: Fabulous handmade gourmet thin crust Pizza. They also have fabulous salads and a cheesecake that is to die for. The cook their pizzas in brick ovens which give those crusts just the right amount of crusty chewy-ness. Love it! My favorite salad there is the three cheese salad. Favorite pizza is the margarita pizza or the triple-roni. And if you are in the mood for a different margarita my favorite it the prickly pear margarita. Yummy food, great atmosphere, and great service!!

2. Gloria'sRestaurant: Fabulous Mexican and Salvadorian food. I love Mexican food. And this is one of our staple places to go. Love the fajitas and quesadillas. And they have great margaritas as well!! We love to sit out on the patio on a nice day and eat and drink.

3. Chuy's Restaurant: Now this one is mainly in Austin. I think we have one here but it still isn't as good as the Austin locations. But I love just about everything on their menu. Great Mexican food and drinks once again. And its very kid friendly as well.

4. The Parlour . Its a cafe and wine bar. They are normally only open for dinner but the do have a Sunday brunch. So now it is my new favorite brunch spot. I had a fabulous banana bread french toast. Let me tell you this was absolutely fabulous!!! It melted in your mouth. I have not had anything that decadent in a while. LOVED IT!! B had Biscuits and gravy. The biscuits are to die for. Loved everything we had there. We are going to have to go for dinner soon. The menu looks great. They have a great wine selection and great atmosphere.

5. Trudy's Mexican restaurant: Here is another Austin Mexican food restaurant. We love this place. Every time we go back to visit we have to eat there. They have a great brunch and dinner. You can't go wrong. Very fun family friendly atmosphere. Favorite cocktail: Mexican martini. It's a must have. Wish we had a Trudy's here!!

I tag (okay this is hard, I don't know many people who haven't already been tagged!!) Brandon, Summer, Liz, and I can't find anyone else I know that has a blog and would read mine to figure out they had been tagged!! So if you read this and want to join in the fun, please do and let me know!!

Conversation with the boy

This is a recent conversation my hubby had with our boy:

Where does Jelly come from?


Boy: "I don't like jelly."

Me: "Why?"

Boy: "Because it comes from jellyfish, and I don't like fish."

Me: *Laughing my ass off*

Boy: "And how do they not get stung when they get the jelly from the jellyfish?"

Me: I now have tears in my eyes and am having a hard time driving...


For some reason I think our boy is going to blow us all away with some important discovery one day. He is always coming up with random questions that you would normally never think of. And when he is famous we will remind him of these questions and he'll deny that he ever said it at all!

One of my favorites was about my hubby. Brandon is very allergic to cats. So the kids were talking one day and asked me,

"if Brandon was a cat would he be allergic to himself?"

Of course I laughed and couldn't really come up with an answer. They still ask me the same question to this day.

Another one of our favorites was a conversation we overheard happening in the backseat. It went a little like this:

Boy: I'm gonna shave it all off when I grow up.

Girl: Yeah thats probably a good idea

Me: What are you going to shave off? (thinking it was probably the hair on his head)

Boy: My back hair

Brandon: Your back hair? You don't have any back hair.

Me: laughing hysterically

Me: (after taking a few deep breaths) Why do you want to do that, especially since you don't have any back hair. (his dad has back hair and I'm guessing must shave it)

Boy: I will have it when I grow up and its gross

Brandon: you probably won't have to worry about that

boy: YES I WILL

Brandon & me: (can't stop laughing)

Boy: It's not funny!!!

Brandon & me: (stiflingly laughter)

Me: Oh honey we aren't laughing at you Brandon just told me a funny joke... (only a little white lie won't hurt, right?)

Still to this day if we hear anything about back hair we laugh, just can't help it.

Brandon has a friend at work that asks him for stories or questions from "the boy". She says its what will make her smile all day long. Now of course our boy would not find it amusing at all that we all find him hilarious because he is very very serious about his question and observations. Which of course makes it even funnier.

Okay, so obviously I am starting to miss my kids. They are gone to their dad's house for the whole month of July. Which is very nice for us, we love the break. But I do miss the daily interaction and the hugs and kisses. For some reason, I think I can hold out, its really nice to have a month off!! The month away from them makes me appreciate the time I have them even more.

Woooo Hoooooo!!!

I got a new job!!! It seems as if everything happens for a reason and then comes together when you least expect it.

So this last week I decided it was time to bite the bullet and give my two weeks notice to my faux job (well it was a real job not a faux one but faux painting...you know what I mean).

We are going to start trying to get pregnant soon. My old job consisted of using oil based stains and such. So I decided to play it safe and get away from those lovely smells that can possibly harm me while I'm pregnant.

Well wouldn't ya know it, as soon as I tell my friend Jenny that I'm doing this she tells me that her photographer is looking to hire someone to help her out in the office. And guess what, I had plenty of experience running a photography studio. I had done that for about 3 years until I had my first child. And I loved it.

So I gave my two weeks (not knowing if I had any job to fall back on at all) and then emailed Jenny's photographer. And luckily within a few emails back and forth and a face to face meeting, I got the job!

Talk about a weight lifted off my back. And the job seems to be exactly what I needed. I did tell her we were planning on getting pregnant, didn't want to surprise her with this later. And being the awesome person and mom that she is, she had no problem with it.

She is such an awesome photographer and a wonderful person that I think this is going to be a great thing. Check out her website here. She has a wonderful style that I love. Can't wait to get started!!!

Picky eaters

I swore I would never do this. I'm actually catering to my dog. I thought I had it bad with the kids.

He won't eat his food unless I put yogurt on it.

He's a dog.

Shouldn't he be willing to eat anything?

When we got him he was almost starved, you could see all of his ribs. So I was worried about him getting enough food every day. Now we have gotten him up to an acceptable weight, but of course I still worry.

Now I seriously "have to" mix yogurt in with his food just to entice him to eat. I know I could just leave it alone and then he would get hungry enough and eat, but I never want to see him as skinny as he was again.

I must be the "sucker born every second". Maybe I will start letting him just wait until he eats.

How do I end up with all the picky eaters. Did I do something that caused the universe to give them all to me? I mean I was picky as kid but not this bad.

My kids are some of the pickiest eaters I have ever heard of. They eat about five things (well a few more actually but you get my point).

Chicken nuggets (tyson brand only and they prefer them frozen...i know its weird but safe, i checked),

peanut butter and honey sandwiches cut in shapes,

granola bars (quaker chewy only),

fruit snacks,

pizza,

bacon,

graham crackers

and goldfish.

Those are the staples.

Please keep in mind that my kids may be different than yours. This is meant as a humorous account of one time.

Now that they are getting older I've been able to introduce a few new foods. And when they like them I have to call everyone and throw a party. Here is how it goes when we try a new food:

Me(8am): Okay guys, tonight for dinner we are going to try a new food. We are going to try spaghetti. (you would think this would be kid friendly right? all kids love it.)

Girl: ummm what does it taste like? (i have to say it tastes like something they already eat or some type of candy for her to even think about trying it, but I can't think of anything that she likes that tastes like it.)

Me: Like spaghetti. All kids love it. (a little peer pressure never hurts right?)Don't you want to be like the rest of the kids? Wouldn't it be great to like the same foods other kids like, so that when you go over to their house you won't leave in tears because they invited you to eat lunch?

Girl: Yeah I guess

Boy: No...

Me (2pm): Okay guys don't forget we are trying a new food tonight. And its going to be great!!!(i'm really trying to be positive here)

Boy: No

Me (5pm): Okay who wants to help me make this yummy spaghetti? This is going to be so good!

Boy: I'm busy and I don't like it (you can't ask him to try anything, you just have to tell him)

Girl: Oh yea!!! I love to help.

Me: If you help you really have to try it. You have to eat 3 bites.

Girl: ummmm...okay

(At the table)

Me(5:15pm): Doesn't this look so good? I bet you are going to love it.

(we are sitting sitting sitting, staring at the noodles)

Me (5:20pm):Okay Its time to take a bite (note that the bites are about a 1/4 inch long)

Girl: ummmm... I think I may need my cd player with the picky eater song on it.(I have researched picky eating and one thing they said was that picky eaters chose to be that way, to be in charge the only way they knew how. Go figure. So I let her do her think hoping it will help her feel in charge.)

Boy: I don't like noodles.

Me: (to boy)You haven't tried how do you know you won't like it? You're not getting anything else for dinner tonight. You have to eat your noodles. And if you do you'll get desert. (dessert is the key to his eating)

Girl (5:30):.....(still looking for cd)
Boy: okay I'll eat them. mmmm I like noodles can I have some more please?

Me: See I told you you would like it. (I know I sound like a five year old but that's what I'm dealing with)

Girl (5:40): Okay I found my cd. (so now we play the song twice while she holds the noodle on her fork, I am being very patient)

Girl: I think I may need to listen to the song again. (takes deep breaths and looks as though she may throw up, still holding my tongue and being patient)

Me(6:00 pm): (I am starting to loose all patience I have ever had)Just put the noodle in your mouth and chew and then take a big drink of water. The faster you do it the sooner its done.

Girl(6:05 pm): I think I may throw up

Me: If you don't do it by the time I count to five I will put it in your mouth for you.

Girl: (after I get to 4 she puts it in her mouth, and acts like she is going to gag)

Me: If you throw that up you'll have to eat it again. (I've lost all patience now)

Girl: Ok....*sob*

Me: Now take two more bites (once again they are a 1/4 inch long, one spaghetti noodle)

Girl: I may need to listen to the song again.

Me: Eat the noodles or else

Finally the one noodle(all three bites of it) is eaten (20 minutes later)and she decides she hates it. I think she has texture issues. It took us almost an hour to eat 3/4 of an inch of noodle. I am worn out. But she at least ate it this time. There is a first time for everything.

I choose not to try any new foods for another month. It just takes too much out of me. I even make them make their own supper. They are 8 and 5 now they can do things like this. I decide if they are going to be picky let them figure out what to eat. (I do watch to make sure they aren't eating apple jacks for 3 meals a day though).

So now I try to find a new food that I know they will like once a month. I figure if I only give them foods they like, they'll be more willing to try more in the future.

I'm not asking for much, I just figured it would be nice if they ate like other kids. But once again I don't want to give them any food complexes so I basically let them eat their staples and get on with life. The pediatrician says they'll be ok.

Sometimes the fight just isn't worth it.

***Since the noodle experiment I have tried some new tactics. (I'm so afraid of them having food issues I hate to push anything on them and when I do I become a nazi). I make sure I tell her everything tastes like bacon. The next new food we tried was brisket (i told her it tastes like bacon, she loves bacon)and by golly she ate her entire plate of brisket and asked for seconds. I was dumbstruck. Now we have added a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo, grilled cheese, and quesadillas. She even tried cantaloupe and a cherry and is still making up her mind on those.Still no luck with any type of noodle, I even let her pick out all the cute noodle types we saw at the store, but no luck.

Antisocial

Have you ever felt antisocial? And enjoyed it? I know its not right to feel that way but sometimes its just nice.

And then I have times where I can't get enough of people. Go figure.

Luckily in the times when I get stuck in the antisocial rut, I have some good friends who keep pestering me until I get out of it. Love you guys!

My last two weeks of work have been crazy. I get home after commuting an hour and a half each way and I don't want to do anything but sit on the couch and not do a thing. So that may explain my energy level and enthusiasm about seeing people the last few weeks.

I really need to remember to keep on blogging. It makes me happy. I promise I will get back on a blog track with maybe even a few blogs with a little humor in them. Now I'm gonna go and sit and do nothing.