Humility and awards to me (and I guess maybe you too)

I'm not shy about giving myself an award. After all, doctors, scientists, teachers, writers and other career-persons all get recognition in one way or another for their creativity or skills in their work. Actors have a bazillion award shows, so I'm emmy-hungry. I was just thinking of some really good things I do as a Mom that I wouldn't mind a pat on the back (from myself) for. Please excuse any made-up words.

1. First biggie: multi-tasking. Women in general seem to be pretty good at this. I can talk on the phone while playing polly pockets and checking the dinner and cleaning up drool marks on wood floor all at once. Other people work their brain by sudoku and crosswords.
   
2. Changing a nasty diaper with that child laying on floor while I stayed on exercise ball with sleeping newborn in arms. (that was seriously awesome and I was sad husband didn't get to witness my genius)
3. Taxing all my creative reserves by trying to make up activities on the fly for playdates so friend won't leave after 10 minutes with my child to her own home for more and better fun, thus damaging my child's and my house's/toys-fun reputation (though sometimes it is just really out of my hands, sadly).
   
4. Distracting children during long waits at the doctor's office or in line at Wal-mart (holy long line- why do I punish myself by going there? I should take my award away on that one)
5. Immediate high-energy mediator-ship between feuding siblings about to pull out chunks of hair or pinched skin (yes, just girl fights!).
6. Going grocery shopping with kids. We all deserve lots of awards or tsk-tsks for that one.
7. Figuring out what to do on homework. Last year with Anika I had no clue what to do sometimes. The instructions were translated to English by someone in China that didn't speak English. Comprende?
8. Making lunches that kids will actually eat and not trade with friend for something lesser (my homemade cookies for 3 cheetos??).
9. Car road-trip management. Sacrificing my own life by seatbelt abandonment in order to distribute snacks, new games and clean up spills. I think I'm driving next time!
10. Getting any housework done at all with kids around constantly undermining any and every cleanliness attempt.
11. Still managing to look hot and in heels for romantic candle-lit yummy dinner with husband, where we both unwind and relax, shedding off the worries of the day together whilst kids quietly play in the other room (can you imagine?!)

Don't be shy- what is something you do as a Mom that deserves an award?

Power of mind and miracles

R's work reserved Lagoon last night. We were looking forward to it for a looooooong time, especially Anika, having the best memory and anticipation skills out of the kids. Well, as luck would have it, Anika woke up yesterday with the stomach flu. Bummer! She usually takes two days to get over the stomach flu. She gets it hard!

Anyway, 3:00 rolls around and Russell was planning to take the other two girls, when Anika got up from the couch she'd been glued to all day and said "I feel better now- I can go! I'm even hungry enough to eat a corn dog!" (that's the question we ask to
gauge wellness) So we were cautious but she seemed like her old self again and how can we deny her this pleasure? Grocery bags stocked in the car, we headed out to Lagoon. This renewal of health reminds me of when she was 4 and got a fever Christmas Eve. In the morning, she still was
a bit lethargic and had a fever, and we
carried her downstairs to see her gifts.


Once she saw them, she recovered miraculously. She wanted to be well so bad that she became well! This was the exact same thing. We rode her in on the stroller, she saw the TerrorRide, and she hopped out and we went on that (what were we thinking- Olivia and Sammy were terrified!). That was only the beginning of many rides. She even went on the old, rickety white roller coaster Lagoon is famous for. Russell said it made him sick the second time, but she was fine! She was doing all of this on little liquid consumption and no food consumption. She ran all over the place and was happy.

I know this is how germs are
spread guys, and I apologize. But this was all for the good of the family, and she didn't sneeze or slobber on people or the rides. She was well! Once we were back in the car, she ate two bites of dinner and went to bed. This morning she woke up sick, picking up where she left off yesterday. How sad that she couldn't fully recover, but miraculous that she got to go to Lagoon. Who says miracles need to be limited to only important things?

Painting new life

Well, life has been busy! Full of regular busy-ness like school, soccer, dance, errands, and self-imposed busy-ness like home improvement. Last Saturday I had three projects in the works for Russell (hey- someone's got to supervise) including but not limited to the following:

• adding a panel of some sort to the bar to take away the church-podium appearance
• adding another shelf to our coat closet so we have more space for coloring supplies
• painting the laundry room, because I see it a lot and it is one room in the house that hasn't had the Erin touch since moving in

We accomplished # 3. Yay! I really wanted to paint something dark brown because it's a color I haven't used yet. Our laundry room is our entrance from the garage and it triples as a pantry, coat room, and laundry room. The previous owners had painted the whole thing sage green (not offensive in any way) but the trim was also green and there was a border that was starting to fall off. So I painted the trim white and Russell painted the room "warm brownie". How can you not like a color with such a name? I wonder who gets the fun job of a paint color namer. They get to be so poetic and fun. "Lava falls", "apple frost", "fresh water" and "lover's kiss" are some of my favorites.




It's in no way a beautiful room, but it serves its purpose! Is it a nasty brown or is it okay? Whatever you think, we can't change it for at least a year....so learn to like it! (I was able to convince Russell after all!)






I collect paint strips. So many fun colors!
Yay for projects!

Downsizing

What's up with everything going so small these days? First it was my cereal. Then my ice cream. I can't even buy Dreyer's any more it is so munchkin! Might as well just buy Ben and Jerry's- better taste, same size. I can kind of understand those two, with rising prices of wheat and cream. But what's up with my Barbie friend here? I didn't know plastic costs were rising too! Is this the attempt at a "more real" Barbie? She does have bigger feet. Sorry about the nakedness. I should write to Mattel and have them make spandex clothes with a little wiggle room so little hands can actually dress Barbie without adult help. Aren't they supposed to have focus groups or something for testing before they sell the toys?
















Next we've got my handsome little buddy. Megz was so kind to Livs this year for her bday. She got her the coolest extensions from the dollar store! Good thing Olivia isn't home or she'd be ticked.

Household Tips

It is amazing being domestic. So many appliances to keep running, floors to kept somewhat free of crumbs and stickies, carpets to be vacuumed, counters to keep uncluttered. It is a constant chore, and I know you're feeling burdened just thinking about it!

I found the solution to household cleanliness satisfaction for all.

1. Set standards lower. For example, yesterday I had one goal and one goal alone for the whole day. Mopping the floor. If I could get that done, I would feel like my whole house was clean. So I did it and I was accomplished and had high self-esteem (oops- that's a bad term amongst my family: we believe in humility) I mean high self-worth, or maybe just self-satisfaction.
2. Clean even in your most relaxed moments! An example of this is when I take my 1 or 2 potty breaks during the day. Whilst in the safety of the bathroom, I grab my Clorox Wipes, use one to sweep and wipe the whole floor. Then another to clean the sink area. Voila! The whole bathroom is clean! Save the toilet for another day.
3. When you see smudges on the door, clean them ASAP or you'll forget until the next time you're feeling excessively anal with cleaning inclinations. And for some of you, that could be months. Keep baby wipes in various places around the house for quick clean-ups on walls and doors.
   
4. Have wipes in the car for when you're stuck in the car forever waiting for whatever it is you wait too long for. Be useful and wipe the honey mustard off the cup holders!
5. Throw away, throw away, throw away! If it's on the counter and you want a quick clean space, just toss it! If it's that important it will come again in the mail (bills usually do that), or be re-colored or whatever. Just throw it out.
   

I hope this list is useful? Or was it just a plug for Clorox and baby wipes? Any which way, please share your useful and unique house cleaning tips.