Tuesday Rambles

Today is finally winding down, but it was a really good day.  Took the kids to a park this morning--I drive around and go to little residential parks, because I get to explore.  We played.  Ella cried (she was sick and pretty cranky this morning) so we left.  I feel like such a grown-up when I'm out driving the kids around in the van, so I told them we could go get snacks.

Driving through a parking lot, Titus saw an oncoming car and said, "Oh no!  Oh no!"
It passed us and I said, "Did you think that car was going to hit us?"
And plain as day, he said, "That was a close one!"
Which, with Titus saying it, is drawn out like, "Tha-at was a clo-oose one."

But where does he get this stuff?!?!  That is one of the most complex sentences I've heard him say!  And I've never heard him say it before!  Every single day he is whipping out words and phrases that I'm sure he heard somewhere, but I have no idea where and I can't believe he's retained it.

So we went to a gas station and I told them they could each pick one thing.  They were really excited.  Titus was just sure he was getting "Crackers!" and so Kali was also sure she was getting "crackers."  ;)  So we walked through the door and you could tell they were overwhelmed.  So I led them to the crackers.  But Titus only wanted some smaller, flakier, diet-crackers that were more expensive than Keebler and I told him he couldn't have them.  Then I went to grab a pop and pointed out that there were cookies by us.  So they perused the cookies.  Ultimately Kali had an armful of snacks.  So I took them from her and told her to choose one.  She chose crackers.  Titus chose Chips Ahoy.  (Mommy went with a Pepsi if anyone cares.)

So it was back to driving my big, stinkin' grown-up minivan around my little big city and exploring.  One subdivision opened onto this highway that is always a little tempting to take out of town.  It almost got me today.  The clouds were so fluffy above the mountains.  And I started thinking, "There's got to be some adorable little town out there.  Surely there will be a sign.  If it's too many miles away, I'll just turn around..."  But I had to wait for traffic in order to turn left and gave up, deciding I could just go home and look at a map and I turned right back into Maricopa.

Now I feel even more determined to drive out there.

So I just kept driving around.  Landscaping was really standing out to me today.  I saw three different lawns that were really inspiring.  And they ate their snacks.  Titus ate his first cookie and when he took out his second, I heard him exclaim, "Oh, MO-ORE cook-ies!"  (Because there were 4 in the package.)  I stopped and got the mail.  Took a picture of Kali:

Yes, that's a pile of orange crumbs in her lap.

She was especially dirty, because when I went to open her crackers at the gas station I had noticed that she had already been biting them through the wrapper.  So later when she was finished, I pulled over to clean her off.  First I checked the neighborhood for gang-bangers:

I didn't see any right off so I figured we were safe.

I lifted her out, trying to keep as many crumbs as possible in her lap, and shook her out in the street.  Then we finally did go home.

They ate.  They napped.  I continued working on one of my Pinterest projects.  Titus came up to me with one of the frames I painted yesterday over his head saying, "That's fun-nay!"  If my son was on a sitcom, "That's fun-nay!" would be his catchphrase.  I said, "Yes, that's funny.  Now let's take it off and be gentle with it."  Because I had to mix colors to paint these frames right and I really don't want one to get scratched.  A minute later Kali was there with a goofy smile on her face and a different frame around her neck.  And then I got an idea.  An idea worth a little risk to the frames:

Ella posed this good for not one, but two in a row!  

So here's how they each contributed:  The frame idea belonged to Titus.  Kali insisted I bring the pumpkin.  Ella was committed to the actual shot.  Sadly, this is the best of the photos.  It's such a cute idea, though, that I might have to try again this week.

And our night continued.  I don't have any photos to spruce it up so I won't say much more than:  When I put applesauce in front of Titus, he exclaimed, "Oh,
deli-cious!" which HAS to be this biggest word he has ever said.  He is surprising me every single day.

Puffy Paint Craft

On Friday, we tried this.

But when I went to make the paints, I discovered we were almost out of salt.  So I stretched it to make three colors (and maybe didn't get my ratios quite right).  I let them choose the colors.  Green, yellow, and the third represents purple/black (which were both suggested).

They loved it, especially Titus.  Our only hitch occurred when Kali's chair slid backwards a little and she fell with her belly in her art.  ;)

 

The finished products.  Like I said, I don't think my measurements were quite right so it took multiple runs through the microwave to harden. 

Tomorrow we're going to try this activity.  I took pictures of a bunch of their toys tonight and made these cards.  Tomorrow I'll give each of them a card and have them find the toy.  A good game since toys are spread across the up and downstairs of our house at the moment.  Then later we can pick them all up.  :)

Clip-on Hat Light

Another awesome gift idea: 

Making Friends Again

This is a boring post.  So here is a picture of me, my aunt, and my cousin with Davy Jones.

Back to the boring post.  I feel a little down.  I was going to help start a MOPS group here in Maricopa this year, but it hasn't really come together with much anyone else but me.  Which isn't even why I necessarily feel down.  I'm just trying to decide what to do for the year.  Trek it up to Chandler and try a new MOPS group?  Which means starting all over from scratch again--making new friends.  Always making new friends.  New friends.  Or trying the MOMS group here in Maricopa that is at a different church.  Making new friends.  And it seems like I'm always getting involved in multiple churches instead of just one.  Which is fine, but... disjointed. 

I'm just always making new friends.  And I have plenty of stinking awesome friends as it is.  And (I've written about it before) every time I start over there's more distance to cover.  I'm older, I'm seemingly less cool, and I must once again eventually find my random coolness asserted.  (Assuming we get that far...)  Which usually means I say something mildly scandalous in good fun with a group of fellow believers that I hope share a similar freedom.

Oh, what am I even writing here?  I just feel down.  I'm tired of starting over.  And I didn't really picture that I'd be starting over by moving to Maricopa.  I still trek it up to visit friends sometimes, but logistically it would be much nicer to have friends closer by.  And then there's the small possibility of moving to Lincoln sometime relatively soon (but maybe not!) and that just messes with a girl.  Three years of marriage as a nomad planning on moving to Guam can really mess with you as well.  I just want to settle somewhere.  But I don't want to start making friends again and again.  I'm just tired.  I want the close friendships you get from time without all of the effort and investment...

P.S.  If my title were a poem:

Making
Fri
Ends a
Gain
Fri
Ends a
Gain
Fri
Ends

Texas Roadhouse Cat

Tonight was a nice dinner with friends at Texas Roadhouse.  Later we were sitting on benches outside of the restaurant talking.  Eventually a stray cat joined us.

She was still sort of a kitten and she roamed around us, but wouldn't let anyone touch her.  I considered taking her home.  We don't have a pet.  Now that I have kids, I'm really okay not taking care of a pet.  But I thought I'd make an exception for this skinny, young cat and if she'd have me, I'd rescue her and take her home.  So I contemplated if I could somehow get her home;  everyone else suggested I give her some of my leftover food.  I realized this in the middle of my contemplation and felt guilty that I had so quickly dismissed giving this cat my expensive people food--I mean, come on, it was steak! 

So though I can't say I was really excited to do it, I took the steak out of the box, bit a big chunk off of it--the last I would enjoy--and set the rest on the sidewalk for the cat.  Right away, it dug into the piece of meat.  It bit at it so ravenously that I felt guilty for the big bite in my own mouth.

I had thought that perhaps offering the food to the cat would it make it friendly enough that I could get it into my car.  But really, I didn't want to touch this cat while it was eating.  As it was, halfway through her steak she picked it up and took off through the bushes.

"Bye, Roadhouse," we said.  And, "Bye, girls," we said.  And everyone went to their cars and drove away.

*And now the continuation of the story for my friends that met Roadhouse cat...*

I climbed into my van, tossed my hoodie into the passenger seat, and realized that I could have tried to capture Roadhouse cat with my hoodie.  I could have tossed the jacket over her, avoiding teeth and claws, and got her into my van.  Maybe.

So I drove around to the back of the restaurant to see if she was hiding in the bushes.  As I turned behind the restaurant the first thing I noticed was what appeared to be a dead cat stretched across the roof of a car.  A blue car was parked directly under a streetlight and bathed in this bright light was what appeared to be a dead cat stretched and saggy, lying on the roof of this car.  As the van neared, I saw that its eyes were staring, wide and eery.  I sat a moment longer and eventually made out a quick rise and fall on the cat's stomach.  It was not dead.  It appeared to have different markings than Roadhouse cat, but looked about the same age and I wondered if they were litter mates.

I continued to drive my car in a small circle until my headlights illuminated the bushes that I thought might contain Roadhouse cat.  I got out of the car and looked quickly, but saw no sign of the animal.  It seemed she was long gone with her dinner.

I decided to drive back over to what I now thought was a heavily pregnant cat, perhaps about to give birth.  But this time as my van approached, this second cat jumped up.  And as she began to walk down the blue car's windshield, she began to throw up.  With great, wrenching gags this cat threw up giant chunks of steak across the hood of some poor Texas Roadhouse employee's car.  This was Roadhouse cat.  I hadn't seen her in such bright light before and hadn't realized she had some striping around her face.

Needless to say, she still didn't allow herself to come home with me, but took off in the opposite direction.  I don't feel guilty about eating that last bite of steak anymore.  I do feel a little bad that I fed a ravenously hungry cat a meal that made it empty its already empty stomach.  I also feel a little bad that I inadvertently covered the hood of someone's car with big, cat-vomity pieces of meat.  I also can't help but laugh off and on, though.  I mean, sometimes stuff like that happens to cars.  Sometimes you get off work from a night serving at some restaurant and there is disgusting crap all over your car.  And you have no idea why.

And it just so happens that tonight, I know why.

Hyperbole and a Half: Productivity Chart

I was introduced to Hyperbole and a Half today.

I thought this chart was stellar.

Our Stove Exploded

So I said I'd give an update this week, but wow.  We're getting ready to go to Nebraska/Colorado next week (we are flying) and we'll be gone for two weeks and I feel like there are a million things to get done.  None of them the house stuff that should also get done.

So what have I done this week?  What--is it really Thursday?  Okay, so even though this might sound stupid, spent the better part of Monday price-checking glasses and exam options.  My brain was frazzled and I met Matt for dinner that night with the kids.  Tuesday I dropped Matt off at work, went to a play date, got some hamburger split up, made dinner, and whatever, called and got my newspapers delayed, etc.  Wednesday was appointment day.  An Ella checkup.  The eye doctor.  (My eyes have improved for the last 3 years = having kids improves your eyesight.)  Shopped for a bathing suit.  :S

Today.  Trying to get stuff for the MOPS group I AM STARTING--AHHH! taken care of before we leave.  I feel like I'm missing a big chunk of time and when I get back there will need to be speakers in place and a Steering Team to support me, another etc.  And I got mail held, etc., (oh, and did a little splashing in the kiddie pool out back) and... called about THIS:

Yeah.  That happened while I was gone last night.  Matt says he didn't set the skillet down overly hard at all.  It was slightly at an angle and yeah.  So.  Don't you love those things?

Okay, so this was written really fast.  And I CANNOT guarantee I will post again until well into July.  Ight.

Blog Purpose

I guess I've avoided the actual purpose of the blog since creating it.  The idea is that this outlet can become a sort of accountability to my role as housewife/stay-at-home mom.  And yet, I don't want to be judged.  I don't want to fail.  (Or at least not publicly.)  So I've sort of put it off.

It hasn't been entirely intentional.  I want to figure out a good way to do this.  Post a goal for each day?  For the week?  And then follow up?  But then I've had a lot of days that I felt were bust days where I went to a play date or something has taken the morning and then I feel drained and feel like that was my exertion for the day.  Or days when I do the dishes!  But I don't want to sign on just to be like, "Monday--I did the dishes!" or  "Tuesday--I did the dishes!" to the chagrin of each and every reader that is like, "Really?  Your husband is working hard for your family and you did one load of dishes with your day?"  But guess what?  On Thursday I did two loads of dishes!  (Really.)  But, yeah, I feel embarrassed to publicly announce I am happy about that. 

So maybe I need a starting point here.  First of all, I really enjoyed my blog on Xanga back when I was a single gal.  And I was all pining and clever and it was all intrigue and drama and future husbands and driving my Pontiac fast.  Really exciting stuff.  And I went to school for my teaching certificate and worked at the Olive Garden.  That's right, power to the danger zone.

So then my little girl prayers for my husband came true.  And my five years of prayer about Matt were miraculously granted.  And God, for whatever reason, chose to bless me so abundantly.

But I still have the same strengths and weaknesses I had as a single person.  And I have never been one for chores.  And I do not enjoy watching little kids.  I've had friends work at day cares and I would hate that job.  I mean, the kids would be happy and fed and alive and I would be staring at the clock on the wall.  So I have my own children.  Who I love.  And I do not want someone else to raise them.  But I don't really know what to do with them all day either.  --By the way, if anyone has some lesson plans for toddlers they could send my way, that would be awesome.--

As for my housewifeyness, I hate to admit it, but, one chore a day does make me proud.  (Not counting laundry--I get the laundry done.  Well, but only the kids' clothes get put away.  We still need to get the giant pile of clothes our kids dumped in our bedroom when we moved put away--oh, yeah, that's right we moved in December and it's still there calling to us each night as it waits for us to go bed.)  And I've even doubled up on things a few days this week.  But on other days, I maybe accomplish nothing.  So I want to be really honest here.  And I want to keep track of any progress I'm making.  And some of my recent momentum could be because, I don't feel pregnant right now!  (I dance around the house sometimes because I have no giant belly and I feel unpregnant.)   But even not-pregnant Shilo is not WonderWife Shilo, so here it goes.  I've got to be posting about housework here.  Because the World Wide Web is totally like, "Hey, man, no judgement here."  Hah!  And, yeah, the Internet totally just sounded like Paul Walker in my mind right there.

So, planning on some chore-oriented posts in the weeks ahead.

P.S.  I LOVE the whole, "But you have 3 kids" or "You're doing good for having 3 kids" or "Yeah, but you're so busy with 3 kids" comments I get, but seriously, if I wasn't me, I'd be getting more done.  Regardless of my three babies.

Carnivore

Digging in our fridge, I found a half rack of ribs wrapped in foil.  A half rack of ribs that I thought Matt had taken to work and eaten weeks ago.  And I couldn't just throw away ribs!  They looked okay.  They didn't smell bad.  And they had been rubbed in salt, just like prairie meat of old.

So I just ate them.  I was going to compromise by not eating the outer rib on each side.  Assuming if there was bacteria, it would have had more surface area on the ends.  But when I got done with the middle ribs, I couldn't resist the outer pair.

Now it's in my head that I'm sick.  And I'll have to drink some Coke to kill any other bacteria that could be in my stomach.  ;)

T-Rex--ROAR!  I'm a tyrannosaurus.
I'm the biggest carnivore in the Cretaceous forest.

Yeah, that's right.  Dinosaur Train.  Represent.

Diaper Bouquet

I found three Size 1 diapers, so I thought I'd try to make diaper flowers for Lauren's shower.  But when I decided to purchase a package of diapers, I decided to stick to the flower idea.

I "repurposed" this old pot that had long since served its purpose.  It was in the kids' sandbox and probably would have been thrown away if we ever moved.  So I cleaned it out--tried to get all of the sand out and ended up chipping it in two places.  (Sorry, Lauren.)  :S  Then I painted it blue, lined it with a sheet of cellophane, tucked in the extra, and proceeded to fill with diapers.  There are approximately 50 diapers in this pot.  I didn't secure them at all.  As I built the bottom layer, I occasionally re-rolled a loose diaper and in the end, the tight packing of the bottom layer held them in place.  There are about 3 layers of diapers in this pot--the tightest being the base layer.

And then Lauren's shower was today and it was great fun.

And Lauren got to stop and smell the diapers.  Like she won't be doing enough of that soon.  ;)

Walkie Talkies

I tried to talk my husband into these.  They're $12.71 with free shipping if you use coupon code "MA1GP".  Our trip back to Nebraska is in a few weeks and I pictured how awesome we would be wearing these the whole time.  Even more awesome is the antenna that you have to extend to receive the signal.  I pictured the photos, the "overs", the awesome awesomeness that would be our quick walkie talkie communication.  But alas, no go.

Adoption Thursday

I'm subscribed to the RainbowKids email list and look forward to seeing their newsletter in my inbox each week.  I look at waiting children and pray for them.  And I love to read adoption stories.  This one, written by a girl adopted from Korea, made me cry.  I also stumbled upon See Jamie blog. and loved reading about the adoption of their daughter, Lindsey.

I don't know if we'll ever adopt someday.  But I think about it.  And I pray about it.  Which is maybe a little odd since we have three kids under three and now is not the time to throw a fourth into the mix.  But maybe someday.

And I just had a thought today that I'm going to go ahead and share, though it's a little embarrassing.  This last week, things with Kali have been more and more difficult.  I really need to do some research on the best way to squelch her fits now.  Matt tries to assure me that things were difficult with Titus around this time and that Titus used to throw lots of fits, but here is the difference:  Okay, maybe Titus threw lots of fits (I don't really remember), but he could get over them.  Kali will throw one fit and NOT get over it.

I'm surprised by how difficult the last few days have been.  Yesterday was good--throughout the day I complimented her for not throwing fits, tried to remind her that she was going to be good and not have fits as she started to throw one, and at one point reminded her to use words and say "Mommy" when she needed me instead of making one of her growly-screechy noises.  And it seemed to work.  But today we're back to these long, hysterical fits that I don't think will end.

And as I read a few adoption stories, I realized something that frightened me.  If Kali was adopted, I would think she had all kinds of issues.  I would think that this behavioral acting-out was a result of her being adopted.  So it was really a wake-up call that if we ever do adopt, I need to remember this, and first look to the mere fact that the child is a child before jumping all over difficult-adoption explanations.

Half-Muggle Meatloaf

I don't really like cooking.  It would be awesome if I did, but I don't.  I am most motivated to cook, though, when trying a new recipe.  Maybe it's because as it is, I don't know that many recipes and the ones I do know get old fast.

So be proud of me, for today, I made dinner.  I love cooking in crockpots--I know, I know, that sounds contradictive.  So anyhow, I was going to make a recipe from this FREE cookbook I got from Amazon for my Kindle app, but I realized we were out of milk.  (The girls who were with me last night when I asked my husband if I could wait a day to buy milk can laugh at me now.)  So I searched through another free cookbook from Amazon (sorry, it's not free anymore), called "Circle of Friends Cookbook:  Meatloaf Recipes" and found a recipe that jumped out at me because it called for redskin potatoes.  I usually have red potatoes, because I like them a lot and heard once that they have more nutrients than the brown ones.  Don't even know if it's true.  So I threw some hamburger into the microwave to defrost and began to make "Slow-Cooker Magic Meatloaf."  Here is what I actually made:

Half-Muggle Meatloaf

2 lbs. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
1 c. water
yellow mustard
Worcestershire sauce

2 pieces of toast scraped for breadcrumbs
.87 oz. packet of gravy mix

a few broccoli florets
6 to 8 redskin potatoes

1.  Mix all ingredients except potatoes in a large bowl.  

As I began to throw my ingredients together, I first realized that this "magic" recipe also called for milk.  I don't know how I missed it before.  I was already defrosting hamburger and decided that milk probably wasn't as important for this recipe as it was for the last one.  I reinforced this idea by checking the gravy packet and verifying that it calls for water.  So first, milk was replaced with water.

To make magic meatloaf, you also needed to chop a half cup of each green pepper and an onion.  I do not typically have either of these things and figured we would survive without the green pepper.  I did have one ridiculously old onion, though--I think from whenever Matt's dad visited last and fajitas did not get made.  The bell peppers had long been thrown away, but whenever I opened the crisper drawer to peak at the onion, he happily smiled back at me, as normal as an onion should be.  So I thought, "Sweet, onions last forever in the fridge just like apples."  Umm, but I cut it.  And it was laced with a cool color, so it would seem, onions do not, in fact, last forever.

I turned back to the fridge in search of alternate produce and glimpsed a bag containing what I suddenly thought was a green bell pepper, never truly thrown away from the unmade fajitas, and miraculously still alive.  But it was broccoli.  And so, I grabbed a few broccoli florets, chopped them finely, and threw them into the bowl.

As for the gravy, I had some free packets from couponing and opted for the 30% less sodium packet.  I like using the fat-free, less-sodium, sadly-doesn't-taste-as-good ingredients for cooking, because then it's healthier and you don't notice.  

At this point, I really feel like I'm skimping on the meatloaf, so I throw a bit of Worcestershire and mustard in for good measure.  Also, magic meatloaf needs 1 1/2 tsp. of salt, but I figured my condiments covered that.  And because I didn't have any saltine crackers, I toasted 2 slices of bread, scraped them for bread crumbs and crumbled the last few pieces into the mix.

2.  Mix well and form into a loaf;  place in a lightly greased slow cooker.

3.  Arrange potatoes around meatloaf.

4.  Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours, or on high setting for 3 to 5 hours.

And I get paranoid about drying things out, so I added about a 1/4 cup of water over the potatoes.

I was surprised by how good it was!  I don't even really like meatloaf.  And maybe that was the key, by using gravy, this was unlike any meatloaf I've had before.  I assumed the potatoes would get some yummy meat flavor, but was pleasantly surprised by the flavors the potatoes added to the meat.

And here is the kid stamp of approval.  On the meat, not the potatoes, though.  They're not really potato eaters.  But... they're not really broccoli eaters, either, and secretly they got a little tonight!

Lava Watch

I guess I'm on a watch kick as Father's Day approaches.  Here's another really neat watch at a great price.  :)

The Scorpion Says I Was Right!

Awhile back, we broke one of our doors.  Half of it was broken into pieces and thrown into our garbage can.  The other half randomly ended up under the garbage can.

Some of you may remember when I sprayed off our back porch and some earwigs came out (not from the door).  Well that day got me thinking that this broken door we had forgot about could be harboring little creatures.  In particular, based on my small knowledge of scorpions, I wondered if they would like a place like this.

I have not seen a scorpion in my three years in Arizona and I never wanted to.  So I asked Matt to get rid of the broken door.  He asked why.  I told him that I imagined there were scorpions under it.  He teased me.

Randomly tonight Matt said, "Did I tell you I found a scorpion?"
"What?  Are you joking?"
"No.  I moved that door and I found a scorpion."
"Really?  Are you just messing with me?"
"No, I moved it and a scorpion was there."
"You're just teasing me."
"No, it's there.  It was dead and I tried to spray it off, but it's still out there."
"Ahh!--I was right!  How ironic!"  (The irony being that I was right about something I wish I was wrong about.)

So of course, I had to go out and take a picture.  Eughh. 

So just a little bit ago, I went outside to put the door back for a minute to take that first picture to show everyone what I was talking about.  And as I went to go outside I thought, "Aren't scorpions nocturnal?  What if there's another one out there wondering where his home went?"

And "Aggh!"  Yep, another one.  The baby?  Uggh.

Now I feel like things are crawling all over me.  I am not a Scorpion Girl or a Pincher Sister or whatever--I'm just a Nebraskan.  And I really hope a scorpion NEVER touches me.  I would probably have a heart attack.  I'm getting palpitations just thinking about it.  Eugglh!

My New Site (and really cool watches!)

Yay! I finally got this site up. I hate to admit it, but it took some time to figure out how to edit a Blogger site.

So here it is. And there are things to be done. But as we head into Memorial Day weekend, I'm not going to fret about things. Therefore, no pictures of my messy floor or kitchen counters just yet. I'll start on Monday or Tuesday with what needs to be done.

As for today, first, I am rejoicing over finishing my layout!

Second, I just wanted to let everyone know about these ROOT watches from TigerDirect.com. I actually bought this one for Matt. $3 shipping and the $10 watch is free after your mail-in rebate. The rebate must be mailed within 30 days of your purchase date. This offer expires May 31st if you want one of your own!