Lazy day (aka random ramblings)

Today was one of those wonderful lazy days that I ADORE. I didn't get out of my pajamas until after 5 pm (I should be embarrassed but I am NOT - you know you would do it too if you could!) I got up early to start our taxes and found out that the IRS is revising a form that we need to claim the remainder of our adoption tax credit from finalizing V's adoption last year. So...we won't be able to file until mid-February!!! That is just annoying - who revises tax forms DURING tax season??? After that, I made a big breakfast and took a nap. I woke up, ate some lunch, and took another nap. I have been sooo tired this week - it was heavenly! V has been sick this week with a double ear infection/sinus infection so she just wanted to play in her playroom with her Polly Pockets. Thankfully I think she may be over the worst of it - she is the grumpiest sick person EVER! (Besides me...I admitted it). Tim is on his 2nd round of antibiotics, so hopefully all of our house will be well soon. :)

What are you up to this weekend?

Mommy guilt

Today was not a good day with V. She was super slow getting ready for school this morning, so I had to fuss and hurry her along all morning. After school, she accidentally erased a file on my computer and got my overhead transparencies all wet. It's not completely her fault - she has a stuffy nose which is making her a real grump. She is NOT a nice sick person - I wonder who she gets that from (Tim, don't say a WORD!). :) However, when we got home, I had just had enough. She had argued and been sassy and complained and fussed. I told her she needed to cut it out or she was going to have some serious consequences. She continued with her lovely 8 year old mouth so....consequences happened. She didn't like them, she didn't want anything to do with them, and what happened next wasn't pretty. Needless to say, Mommy won - consequences happened, but then later the "I should have" or "What if I had done..." start creeping in. I think moms beat themselves up so much and worry so much about being "the best" - I know I am guilty of it. Right now, V is tucked into bed, hopefully asleep and getting some rest, and I am sitting here wondering what I could have done differently. I know she needed some consequences - her behavior was awful - but yet I feel bad for giving them to her. Does anyone know what I mean? Thankfully tomorrow is another day and hopefully it will be better than today.

I'm going to open a pizza place when I grow up

Today V was sitting next to me on the couch playing on Webkinz World while I was watching a rerun on America's Next Top Model. I was kinda sorta watching the show and kinda sorta watching V play - she is all about the Webkinz. If you don't know what webkinz are, you have to live under a rock. Seriously! Really, they are cute little stuffed animals that come with a secret code. You take the secret code and register them online. You name them once you have "adopted" them and make a room for them. V has several Webkinz and they are all named after princesses - Ariel the bulldog, Cinderella the white cat, Snow White the bunny, and Sleeping Beauty the white seal. So, anyway, V was playing this arcade game on Webkinz world. It is called Pizza Palace - you basically are the owner/manager/server at this pizza restaurant. You have to go back and forth cooking all the pizzas for the animal customers and if you don't make their pizzas fast enough, they get a black cloud over their heads and leave. It looked like fun, so I asked V to let me have a turn. She was amazed at how fast I could cook a pizza and told me I should "open a pizza place when I grow up and quit teaching." That girl of mine cracks me up!

To tell you how much fun I had at the Pizza Palace, I went back on when V was in bed and played for over 2 hours. LOL! She is going to be so surprised the next time she goes on Webkinz world and finds all the money I earned for her. The best part is - Tim was laughing at me about getting so into it until I let him have a turn and he got hooked too. Right as I was getting ready to get off, I found a new arcade game called Bamboo Break - it is like Tetris set to Oriental music. I am in deeeep trouble....

'Cause cyber pets are so much easier...

V LOVES her Nintendo DS. I am probably the meanest mom on the planet because I am so anti-video games. We have a wii, which is fun, because we can all play together. However, I never had ANY video games growing up so I really limit her time with the DS. She pulled her grades up from the slump they were in, and she got all A's for the 2nd nine weeks, so she has gotten her electronic privileges back and she is all about the DS. She got a new game for Christmas that basically lets you create a cyber kitten - you get to name it, play with it, clean it, the whole nine yards. Forget the fact that we have two LIVE cats and LIVE dogs - she loves her cyber kitty Amber almost as much as the real thing. After school yesterday, she was telling me that she had a "cat show" so she HAD to go on her DS because she would have to pay money (fake game money, of course) if she didn't go to the cat show that day. V, the sweet little persuader that she is, told me that the last time she had a cat show that she came in 2nd place and earned $10. Here's our conversation about the cat show...

"Want to know how I earned $10 for the cat show, Mommy?"

"Sure, V. Tell me all about it!"

"Well, I fed my kitty and gave her a bath and watered her and loved on her and cleaned up her litter box."

"Wow! That sounds awesome! Why don't you do that for our kitties at our house?" (She does feed the cats and loves them to death - sometimes too much. It's the litter duty that I was most interested in).

"Mommy! These are FAKE cats, not real cats. All you have to do is move your stylus over the poop and it magically disappears!"

That statement made me laugh so hard I got tears in my eyes. If only it was that easy in real life... :)

No new post tonight

No blog tonight because LOST is on....'nuff said. :) Catch you tomorrow!

Sugar cookies, take II (or V's latest obsession)

V and I were off from school today because of MLK Jr. Holiday (thank you, Rev. Dr. King!) so we decided to bake some sugar cookies. Remember my earlier debacle here? I definitely learned my lesson, so this time we started with some pre-made sugar cookie dough (thank you, Pillsbury!). We had to make the cookies today before we went back to school because they had BOX TOPS ON THEM. Do you all know about this wonderful program??? (I hope you are detecting my complete and utter sarcasm here.) Certain foods you buy have these little box tops on them and they are worth so much money. V takes them to her school and turns them in to her teacher. For each 5 box tops they bring in, they get a "spot" on their giraffe (they have a wildlife theme at their school this year). The class with the most spots gets....a pizza party at the end of the year!!!! I swear, my child would go out and eat worms if you promised her a pizza party. It's not like we don't eat pizza here at least once or twice a week. But promise her a pizza party...and she will do anything!

Back to the original story....V has become obsessed with box tops. If she is anything, that girl is competitive! One day I went into the pantry to pack her lunch to find all the tops cut off my boxes...because they had box tops on them. While I was cooking breakfast this morning, she had gone through the fridge to find any box tops on refrigerated food. She stalks us when we bring groceries home from the store to see if we purchased anything with box tops. One day, I am going to find a dead horse's head in the pantry surrounded by boxes with no tops. (Bonus points if you can tell me what movie that's from!) So, after reminding me about ten gazillion times to remember to cut off the box top from the cookie tube, I was really tired about hearing about the blessed box tops. We just started this program at my school so I threatened her if she reminded me one more time about that box top that I was going to take it to MY school and try to win MY class a pizza party. I know, I know, I am a horrible parent, but she quit pestering me every five seconds. I finally cut the box top and gave it to her after we finished decorating all the cookies and you would have thought I gave her a million dollars. "Oh, Mommy, thank you SO MUCH!" (We definitely have a flair for the dramatic around here, if you can't tell by now.)

By the way, the sugar cookies turned out MUCH better this time around. We were actually able to cut them with cookie cutters and roll them with a rolling pin and I didn't have a temptation to say bad words one time because everything worked like it should. We even decorated them with sprinkles and chocolate chips and had a great fun time. :)

PS - if you have any box tops, feel free to send them our way. V would be eternally appreciative. :)

"Babe?" "Yeah, babe!"

Tim and I are so goofy. We get in these moods where we joke around with each other and it just goes on and on and on - this little private joke between the two of us. Today it was the "babe" joke. If you ever watch Saturday Night Live, there is a running sketch about this married couple who are up each others' behinds but so obnoxious that no one can stand being around them. If you don't know what I am talking about, click here. Tim and I started doing their signature "babe" at the end of each sentence this morning and we kept it going...all.day.long. The funny part was that V sensed she was being left out of the action and she started doing it too. Haha!

So, what do you do with your husband to joke around and not feel like just a parent all the time?