The iPad Doesn't Need a Bath

People all say the same thing about Little Buddy.  He is all boy.  That is a nice way of saying, "I hope you don't have any nice items at your house because that little guy is wild and accident-prone and will destroy your house."




Do you see the iPad?  Next to you will see a cup.  This cup is probably the biggest cup we own.  It's HUGE.  It has to hold at least 44 ounces of liquid.  For some reason Hubby thought he would drink this entire cup of water during the night so he left it on the nightstand.  This weekend he was changing his clothes and he heard Little Buddy crying behind him.  He turned around and Little Buddy was holding this cup with all 44 ounces of water and directly underneath Little Buddy was Daddy's $900 iPad.   To his credit, the reason Little Buddy was crying is that he had already spilled just a teensy bit of the water on the iPad and he doesn't like a mess.  He wanted someone to wipe up his mess.  His little lip was quivering and it would have been very cute, but as his body started to shake with his tears, the water from the cup started sloshing around.  Daddy lunged at Little Buddy just in time to save his iPad from getting a very wet bath.

Still, I'm encouraged that he didn't dump the whole thing and laugh.  Right?? 

Winner of Butt Paste Giveaway

The winner of the Butt Paste Giveaway is Frugal in Ohio!  She has been emailed and has until the end of today to confirm.  Thanks so much to all of the participants!!!

How Did My Grandma Do It??

Hubby's birthday is tomorrow so we decided to celebrate today (Sunday).  In my head I thought I was planning a low-key celebration for our little family.  The celebration was supposed to have three parts:

1.  Making Hubby's favorite meal (chicken and spinach lasagna from scratch)
2.  Making cupcakes to use for singing Happy Birthday so that the kids could help blow out the candles
3.  Making fossil handprint ornaments as a gift for Daddy

Although the lasagna is a bit labor-intensive, I thought this sounded totally a totally reasonable plan.  I will admit that I'm not the best cook ever.  In fact, I take no offense when Hubby makes fun of my cooking because I'm bad.  Very bad.  However, he does love my chicken lasagna.  I planned to have Munchkin Girl help me with the baking.  I started everything at 3:30. 

By about 5:30 (two hours after I started) this is how my kitchen looked and I was beginning to think I had taken on too much:

Dishes littered the counters.  Food was everywhere.  Munchking Girl lost interest about thirty minutes in, so the the kids were tackling each other and crying in the other room.  I still didn't have a complete meal, cupcake, or ornament.  I was beginning to worry that it would be 8:00 before we were ready for our birthday celebration.

This got me to wonder, how on EARTH did my Grandma do this every day???  Back in the 50s, I know they made meals from scratch every single day and usually dessert as well.  I've wondered this before, but seriously.  I'm super glad this is a Sunday activity that I don't do often.

I persevered and pretty soon everything came together.  Munchkin Girl started working on the ornaments:



The cupcakes and lasagna were finally done and the birthday cupcake was ready:



The fossils even turned out pretty well and I made a few extras for Christmas presents.  All in all, it turned out well, but yet again, I'm soooo happy to be a Modern Mommy with a microwave and plenty of pre-made meals options.

You Don't Own Me

Lately I've been feeling like I don't have control over my life and it's really stressing me out.  My company decided to reorganize and we all know what that means.  Major change.  Once I found out that I definitely still had a job, I was very relieved and it took away a lot of the stress, but things are still very much up in the air.  I will definitely have to travel more and with Hubby gone at the hospital so much, often overnight, going out of town takes a ton of organization between my Mom, my babysitter, and Hubby's Mom. 

I don't normally feel this kind of stress.  I have come to terms with the fact that I do have to work because right now Hubby doesn't make nearly enough as a resident for us to cover all of our bills.  It doesn't bother me at all that I have to work because I do actually like working and I enjoy never having to fight about money.  Mostly, I enjoy it because I had everything worked out and it was going well.  The nanny was happy with her schedule, the kids were in a routine, and I was making everything work.  Now I'm going to have a new boss, I'm going to be gone more, and I'll probably make less money.  How is it that I can be working hard, selling plenty of equipment, and suddenly BAM!!  Everything has to change and I don't get a choice.

All that being said, I am currently enjoying a four day weekend from work.  We spent the morning decorating the house for Christmas and at one point during the decorating, I looked around my house.  I was suddenly filled with the feeling of pure happiness.  The house looked so warm with all the lights and stockings, the kids were dancing to Christmas Carols, and I suddenly thought, "You don't own me!  You don't control my happiness!!  I control my happiness!"

I admit this probably sounds a tad melodramatic, but once that hit me, I felt free.  Now the kids are napping and I'm enjoying the quiet house while I drink some hot tea.  I know I'll be able to get through whatever comes because I do have choices in life and I choose to be happy with what I have.  See?  How could this NOT make me happy??