Translation: "Do you like 'seafood'?"

It’s never a good thing when the phone rings, and the Caller ID is the preschool where your 4 year old goes for 3 lovely mornings a week.

‘Lovely’ because she LOVES school and her teacher and her little pals… but also ‘lovely’ because three mornings a week, my house is quiet. Seriously quiet. Except for the squeaking of the guinea pigs, and CNN in the background, my house is blissfully quiet.

And on these lovely mornings, I usually find myself cleaning up the breakfast mess, mopping the floor, or spraying Oxy-Clean on the dirty laundry… (glaaaamorous!) So when the phone rang, and it was the preschool teacher telling me that Libby had thrown up at school, I surveyed the recently picked up house, which was certain to not stay that way for long, and retrieved the Oxy-Clean out of the laundry cabinet, which was certain to be needed for whatever I had sent Libby to school in that morning.

I asked the typical questions on the phone:
1) Does she have a fever? …No.
2) Had she been coughing? *I know from experience that the allergy cough can bring on the ‘gaggies’ in my kids.* …But no.
3) Do I need to bring a change of clothes to school, so she can ride home in the van without ME gagging all the way home? …Surprisingly, no. (The teacher said she had very good aim.)

So I grabbed a bucket out of the garage… the one we use to wash the cars when they get so grungy that entire stanzas of poetry could be written on the back window… ‘Ode to a Filthy Van’… put the bucket in the van (I wasn’t taking any chances!)… and made my way to preschool to pick up the little puker.

When I got there, Libby was in the school office with the director, coloring a picture, and she looked… well, she looked suspiciously fine. Not that I WANT any of my kids to be sick, mind you, but she was actually humming a little tune, picking out different crayons. My ‘sick kid’ radar clicked off, and my ‘suspicious mommy’ antennae went up…

I leaned down next to her, felt her head (doncha’ know that Mommy’s fever detecting hands work sooo much better than a lousy thermometer?), but, nope, no fever. I asked her, “Libby, honey, do you feel bad?” And she said, “Yeeeah,” and then… she smirked. Just a little. But enough that I could tell she was trying not to smile.

So we headed home, and on the way, I asked her why she’d gotten sick. Her answer?

Somebody was chewing their peanut butter and jelly sandwich with their mouth open, and smacking their lips. Omigod. Now I know that she doesn’t like PB&J, and she refuses to eat peanut butter…but when she got a glimpse of her friend’s ‘see-food’, she lost her own lunch.

I was completely flummoxed. I told her that next time, she should just look the other way, and not watch her friend chew.

Translation: ‘I will NOT be picking you up from school every time someone has something ‘gross’ in their lunch, you little diva.’

Her response… “But, Mommy, I will still be able to SMELL it!”

Translation: “Duuuh, Mom!”

A couple of friends pointed out to me that we had lucked out that Davis has not discovered this chink in his little sister’s armor. Can’t you just picture it? “Chewing a peanut butter sandwich with my mouth open?!! Really?! That’s all it takes? Sweeeeeet.”

Translation: “Mom, get the Oxy-Clean.”

Title Page

The front page of my Project 365 album... just thought I'd post it.

Moving on... ;)

Project 365... continued.

Okay, so I posted the Project 365 from two weeks ago, two days ago...so I'll post last week's today! I've given up on trying to remember what week number it is...







Are we confused yet?! ;)

Monday: The kids had no school because it was President's Day... or as Josie was calling it, "Obama Day". ;) It was a yucky, rainy day, so we spent the better part of the afternoon making and decorating sugar cookies. Yes, from scratch! Okay, let me give you a second to be impressed....

and... done.

Tuesday: Those darn strawberry stumps. http://planetlinson.blogspot.com/2009/02/pilfering-produce.html

Wednesday: Davis painting his Pinewood Derby car... yes, it's a shark. Yes, he finally let me see it. Yes, it's completely rad. Yes, my husband rocks. ;)
http://planetlinson.blogspot.com/2009/02/vroomvroom.html

Thursday: Libby was cranky all damn day... she was snuggling up with Phil in the afternoon because she was upset (big surprise...usually she's all about being a Mama's girl...) I went to take a picture of her grouchiness, and all I got was a big smile. Little stinker.

Friday: Josie chopping veggies for the guinea pigs... she is such a big help, and LOVES her 'babies'.

Saturday: Davis eating breakfast from his "Special Day Plate" before the big Pinewood Derby, which, by the way, he won FIRST PLACE in his rank with his shark-a-riffic car. And yes, my husband rocks. ;)

Sunday: Some examples of the projects that I spent almost the ENTIRE weekend teaching at the scrapbook store. It was 'Make and Take' weekend, so I must have demo-ed this thank you note, and this mini-album... oh... about ten million times?!! Well, give or take a million.

And I just realized that there is no journaling on Sunday's card... I was soooo eager to get this week posted that I jumped the gun. Oops!

Lunching with Libby

I've always heard that the baby of the family is the 'clown'...well, Libby is meeting that role to a 'T' in our family. She keeps us laughing with her antics, her silly faces, and her comedy routines.

This video was today at lunch... she sat across from me and Phil at the table, and had us both cracking up. I finally just had to take some video of her, and I thought, "What a great idea to post it on my blog!" Of course this was before I knew that it took approximately 15 minutes to upload a dang video.

So, a little off-topic...I have always had a mantra with Josie (my oldest). Whenever she was little, and would say, 'Don't I look pretty?', I would tell her that yes, she was pretty, beautiful, in fact, but I'd remind her that being smart and nice is far more important. Somebody once told me that little girls often hear that they are pretty or cute, and begin to value that. So as a result, Josie can practically recite in her sleep... "It's nice to be pretty, but being smart and a nice person are more important!" I know... it's a tad ridiculous, I guess.

So last week, after I fixed Libby's hair and put one of her many bows in it, she was looking in the mirror...

Libby: "Oooooh, I am SO beautiful!"

Me: "Yes, you are beautiful! But what is even more important than being beautiful?"

Libby (thinking hard...): "Um..."

Me (in my 'prompting' voice): "It's nice to be pretty, but it's even better to beeee..." (waiting)

Libby: "Cute?"

Yes, Libby, it's even better to be cute. And cute you are. ;)

Project 365 Layout from a week ago...

Nope, not last week... the week before that... the week before Valentine's Day...

I'm keeping up with the scrapbook, just not keeping up with it on the blog as well! The weeks are running together. Here it is 2009, and I haven't done many of the things I thought I would have done by this point!

Case in point: I still have not finished my novel. I still have not grown taller than 5'2". AND I never became a Solid Gold Dancer, which was my childhood dream. So many things unaccomplished ;)

Anyway... the week's layout:

Monday: It was a rainy, yuck morning, and I drove the kids to school super early to beat the rush. Just wanted to snap a picture for posterity. (for the rain... not the fact that we got to school early!)

Tuesday: Spring cleaning week at the Linson house!! Soooo much fun, right? Well, maybe not fun, but gotta love that 'clean house' feeling. I told Phil we just need to pretend that the house is on the market, and keep it that clean.

Wednesday: Josie is learning to fix her own hair in the mornings before school. We've worked on it and practiced (first with an unplugged curling iron!), and she loves being able to do it herself now! (well, Mommy still helps with the back.)

Thursday: Valentine's Day prepwork! Baking cookies for Davis's class, making cupcakes for Libby's class, and making Valentine bouquets with decorative paper flowers for the kids' teachers.

Friday: And all the Valentine's prepwork... a bust. Josie woke up with a fever, and stayed home from school, missing out on all her party fun (no worries...everything still got delivered to school.) Nema brought us two new movies, though, which cheered up Josie immensely :)

Saturday: Davis working diligently on his Pinewood Derby car... No, I don't actually have any idea what he's doing in this picture. Phil took it. What I do know is that he looks super cute in his safety goggles! Awwww...

Sunday: Libby at her pal, Aiden's birthday party! It was a robot themed party, and she created a robot with pretzel sticks and marshmallows, bit his head off, and declared that 'Mommy, you can eat the rest!' Um... thank you? ;)

That just chaps my... ;)

A&D ointment… It’s the new black. It’s useful. It has Vitamins A and D in it…oh wait, I’m just now getting that. Hmmm.

Lots of uses…

Use it for diaper rash. Well, YOU go ahead and use it for diaper rash. WE don’t have to worry about that anymore. Hold on a minute while I do my ‘happy and smug dance’. ;)

Use it for minor burns… you know the ones you get on your forehead from the curling iron when you’re yelling at one of the kids to get dressed for school while you’re trying to get ready, too. THIS is why I usually just stay in my pajamas until everyone is gone for the day. It’s for my own safety.

Use it for chapped lips. That’s what we’ve been using it for lately. All the kids have allergies. They’ve all been ‘mouth breathers’ at night…so everyone has chapped lips, and we’ve kept the A&D ointment 'at the ready' to slather on lips before bedtime.



Just don’t use it as toothpaste.

Funny how much the tube of A&D looks like a tube of toothpaste when it’s next to the sink. AND it’s flipped over so you can’t see the label. AND you’re not wearing contacts. AND you’re not really paying attention because you’re too busy telling your husband funny stories from your Girls’ Night Out.

So anyway…I yelled…Phil laughed (he said he wished he could take credit for it as a prank.)

AND I bought a new toothbrush today.

Pilfering produce...

Yesterday, when I went to make lunches for school, I noticed something unusual about the strawberries that Phil had bought the day before at H.E.B. Seems that he purchased a carton of strawberries that had one bite out of every single strawberry…hmmmm…

Okay, not really, but imagine my surprise when I discovered a plastic container full of half-bitten strawberries! Well, actually… imagine my irritation. Imagine the rounding up of the usual suspects. Imagine the inquisition. And so it goes…

The culprits were two children that happen to live in my home. I won’t tell you who they are, but here’s a hint… one is a boy, and one is a girl who’s NOT named Josie. Seems they decided to help themselves to strawberries yesterday for breakfast, took one bite out of each one, and put the ‘stumps’ back in the carton, which they then put back in the fridge (the picture doesn't do it justice... I had already taken out most of the ones that just had small bites out of them)

Where was I during the strawberry sneakiness? Oh, I don’t know… Upstairs? In the shower? In the laundry room? Who can even tell? If you’ve got kids, you know it doesn’t take much time for them to get into mischief, raid the pantry and/ or the fridge, make long distance phone calls to Hong Kong, or accidentally set a closet on fire (that, by the way, was NOT my kids… that was my kid brother when he was about 4… long story… another blog. ;)

So, wasting food is a big no-no in our house (as I’m sure it is in yours)…and we’ve had this discussion before. Like the times when I’ve found an apple with two bites out of it in the trash can. Sorry, but that just doesn’t fly with me. Unless there’s a worm bitten in half in that darn apple…don’t throw it away. YOU got the apple out of the fridge… finish it (well at least finish MOST of it.)

Anyway, I decided there should be a consequence for the strawberry waste. Both of the offenders will be giving me a dollar out of their piggy bank to buy a new carton of strawberries. Yes, I know… call me harsh. Feel free to make the comment on my blog that I’m the meanest mommy ever (trust me…I’ve heard it before from shorter people than you! Hah!) But, seriously, it wasn’t like it was just a few half-bitten strawberries in the carton… it was EVERY SINGLE ONE. Hopefully they will think twice before being wasteful with food.

But if you think making them replace the strawberries is mean, I guess I should NOT tell you that two of my children have ‘strawberry stumps’ in their lunches today. (Hey, at least I washed them!! ;) I don’t expect that they will actually eat them, but it’s a lesson…one of those ‘logical consequences’ things.

What's that you say? I'm a 'mean mommy'? Yes, I know... the 'berry bandits' already mentioned that. ;)