My Goals for Yesterday Update

So here were my two lists of things to accomplish with sick kids yesterday, the first for during the day, the second for after they were asleep:

1.  Plug in the humidifier...like I said, I'm not totally convinced most of my problem isn't the dryness in the air.  We're at 25% humidity here in Laramie right now, that's pretty dang low.
2.  Watch Disney Junior.
3.  Try not to feel guilty about how much tv the kids are watching.
4.  Eat leftovers.
5.  Rinse.  Repeat.

1.  Take the Pioneer Woman's 1970's Movie Quiz.  I probably won't do very well since I wasn't even born when these movies came out, but I'll give it a shot.
2.  Watch a couple of episodes of Little Dorrit online.  The Pioneer Woman should have a quiz on BBC Miniseries'.  I'd whoop up, fo' realzies.
3.  Eat the rest of the chocolate ganache in my fridge.

As you can see by the crossed-out lines through, I didn't get much done, not even half.  I even forgot to plug the humidifier in.  Actually, it wasn't a complete oversight: every time I thought about it, it was super stuffy and hot in my house for some reason, and plugging in a warm mist humidifier seemed like a bad idea.  Fortunately, the kids didn't watch as much tv as I thought they would, so I left off #5.  They are doing pretty well with their colds, mostly playing quietly with Lego or cars or dolls on the living room rug while the tv is on, but they aren't actually watching it much.  I think it's just comforting background noise.

They were also super funny yesterday, especially Jubee, she was hilarious.  If you are friends with me on Facebook, you know this already.  Here are a couple of updates for those of you who aren't on FB with me:

Jubee was watching Wall-E just now, and sneezed, getting snot all over her arm. She ran into the kitchen, holding out her arm, and said "Bless ME, Momma?"

I was just now making her a chocolate peanut butter and banana sandwich, and when she saw me putting the slices of banana on the bread she said, "WHAT!? Yum! Imma eat much, much!"

I also ordered her some fall jeans at Children's Place online, on sale, and they came in yesterday.  Jubee had to try them all on, and strike a pose in every one.  Is it my imagination, or does she look like a model in some hipster store?  I definitely need to get her a cooler t-shirt.  And probably a cooler haircut.

The only really awful thing about this whole illness is that I've been having to give them frequent bathings to get the snot out of their hair.  Ick.  Stupid runny noses.

I really have some errands I've been putting off running, but I REALLY need to do this morning.  Taking two sick kids all over town doesn't sound like my idea of a fun time, but, hey, I gotta do what I gotta do.  That's my mantra.  My only real goal for today is to see this at some point:

Sick Kids and Writing Lists

Well, it's official, we have a house full of sickies here.  I anticipated the possibility after Aja was here last week and sick, but hoped we could avoid it.  So far, Sammy seems to have a full-blown cold, and Jubee's in the "just starting" phase, a runny nose.  I keep asking if they feel okay, and if they have any pain anywhere, but they tell me, "no, I'm fine, I'm better," so I don't know if they have sore throats or headaches.

I have a sore throat and headache and a bit of a cough, and I'm pretty congested, but I'm trying to convince myself that it's a combination of a new pollen here that wasn't here two days ago and the dryness in the air.  If I have a cold, it's pretty dang mild, so I'm not gonna complain too much.

So, here's the plan today:

1.  Plug in the humidifier...like I said, I'm not totally convinced most of my problem isn't the dryness in the air.  We're at 25% humidity here in Laramie right now, that's pretty dang low.

2.  Watch Disney Junior.

3.  Try not to feel guilty about how much tv the kids are watching.

4.  Eat leftovers.

5.  Rinse.  Repeat.

Cam has to go to a First Aid/CPR class this evening after work.  He actually already has a fairly recent First Aid/CPR certification, but his job wants everyone to go ahead and renew now so they don't have to worry about it later.  Does anyone know how long this class takes?  It doesn't even start until 6pm.  I'm actually kind of excited about it, sometimes I really like having a quiet, alone-time evening, not all the time, but once in a while, especially after a long day of being whined at by sick kiddos.

So, here's my plan this evening, after the kids go to bed:

1.  Take the Pioneer Woman's 1970's Movie Quiz.  I probably won't do very well since I wasn't even born when these movies came out, but I'll give it a shot.

2.  Watch a couple of episodes of Little Dorrit online.  The Pioneer Woman should have a quiz on BBC Miniseries'.  I'd whoop up, fo' realzies.

3.  Eat the rest of the chocolate ganache in my fridge.

Whoa, I just realized how much more productive a day can seem if you just write it out in a list, even if it's the least productive day in the history of the world.

Now that I think about it, I often read blogs where people write out their schedules:

1.  Make breakfast, clean up after

2.  Do a load of laundry

3.  Read 30 minutes to children

4.  Make lunch, clean up after

5.  Put kids down for naps

6.  Clean bathroom

7.  Mop the kitchen, if needed

8.  Read to children another 30 minutes

9.  Make dinner

10.  Sit down to family dinner

11.  Etc., etc.

It sounds impressive, all written out like that, even intimidating, but I'm like, "um...you had to write down that you were going to feed your children?  You had to remind yourself to mop the floor if it was muddy?"  It's no more than most moms do on a daily basis, maintaining basic cleanliness and making sure their kids are fed and whatnot.  That, my friends, is the sign of a consumate list maker, not a phenomenal super-mom.  From my to-do lists today, you can tell that I am a list maker.  I'm also a phenomenal super-mom, too, but that's a story for another day.

P.S.  I secretly think that all of us list-makers actually only need to remind ourselves of one thing per list, e.g., do that load of laundry so that we have a clean t-shirt to wear to the kids' soccer practice, but we write it out in list form so that it doesn't feel like that's all we've done all day.

Back to the Grind Stone

As you all know, we had a very busy couple of months.  We moved into a new place the first of June, I went down to MO to get our stuff and drove it back in a moving van, we unpacked, we organized, we decorated, we rearranged the living room about 20 bazillion times.  We also had a bevy of visitors over this time; starting the weekend we moved, we haven't had more than a week at a time without someone being here.

I feel sad that "visiting season" is over, it's lonely being here by myself with no friends and family.  I'm also a little relieved that the kids and I can get back into a routine, and that we'll finally get a chance to try and find a church family.

Plus, it's not as if we don't have anything going on.  I talked my sister Katie into coming next month with my niece Talula.  We're going to try and visit Cam's parents in Utah if he gets a three-day weekend for Labor Day.  By that time, it's almost time for Holiday Season, and we'll be snowed in, enjoying hearty, earthy soups and pumpkin everything and hot buttered rums and egg nogs for months.  Yes, I start celebrating Christmas in September/October, pretty much as soon as it's chilly enough to think of it.  Since it's been getting down to 50 degrees here every night, I'm hoping for snow by Halloween.

I feel like I got off track.  Oh well, I might as well keep going....

I won another amazon gift card from a Pioneer Woman's Smartypants Quiz this weekend.  I'm going to buy these boots:

Or, do you guys like this color better?

I haven't decided yet.  I initially liked the lighter color better, but the more I stare at them, the more the darker brown is starting to grow on me.  I'm actually not totally sold on these boots yet, but they are the only high boots I liked at all, and I feel like I'm going to need high boots here.

Oh, okay, now back on point: the Grind Stone.  Okay, here are my goals for the rest of the year:

1. Make friends...or at least friendly acquaintances.  At the very least, someone I can invite over for dinner once a month without it being weird.

2. Get into a good, healthy routine, including at least some semblance of exercise, sitting down to meals with the kids during the day so that they feel loved and I consume something besides coffee, water, or kombucha before 4pm (yeah, I know it's a bad habit I've gotten into), getting out of the house at least once a day (even if it's just the playground), and spreading out my house cleaning over the course of the week instead of doing it all at once (three bathrooms in one day is awful).

Let's just stick with that, I can't even think about doing anything else right now.  Really, Sammy seems to have caught a cold from somewhere (haha) so the rest of this week will probably look like this: a little too much tv, a lot of reading, and some playing outside.  He has two T-ball games this week, but I'm not sure what that's going to look like, since he's barely interested at the best of times.  Remind me to do a post about T-ball, it's actually pretty hilarious.

I feel like I should do a closing paragraph to wrap up this stream-of-consciousness blog post, but that seems like a bit too much work.  I still have a headache from slamming the car door on my forehead this past weekend (yes, you can laugh about that, it was painful but hilarious), and I suspect I may be getting that cold.  Next time I write, I promise a little more continuity and brevity.  Because that's my middle name: continuity and brevity.  Bwahahahahaha!