"Late at Night When All the World is Sleeping"

I went to bed at 6pm last night, for the 2nd night in a row. At 6:30, Aaron brought me food, which I ate, and fell back asleep. Sometime around 7 or 7:30, Aaron opened the door to my bat cave again and interrupted my slumber with,

A:"Hey, is Reese in here?"

M: (groggy) "What? no. I'm sleeping, close the door."

A:"Well, I can't find her anywhere, didn't she come in here?"

M: "Aaron. No. I'm asleep. Close the door....wait. You lost Reese?"

Aaron flipped on the lights and we found Reese right there in the bed next to me, sound asleep. I guess she'd told Aaron she was going to go "check on Mommy", and never returned. I don't even remember her coming in my room. Aaron left her in the bed with me, since she's on an antibiotic anyway, and slept on the couch. When she woke up this morning, she said, "Good morning, Mommy, I was worried about you. Are you feeling better? I'm much better, now."

She was worried about me. So sweet. My happy child is finally back! She then left for a donut run with Q and Daddy.
Because we want to teach our children that eating comfort food when you are sick is the best medicine of all.

"Don't Stand, Don't Stand, Don't Stand So Close To Me"

Isn't it ironic how one can run a fever of 103 before they walk into the doctor's office, have a temp of 97.1 while IN the doctor's office, and then have a temp of 103 again by the time he or she gets home? Not that it matters...
I am quarantined for the next 24 hours.
Mr. Bad Karma has put a plague over my house. Today we went to the doctor for the third time this week. This time for me. I have strep and a double ear infection. It hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday afternoon, and luckily, Reese is already on an antibiotic, so the strep germs/ghost of death will hopefully pass over her. Good thing I was super productive yesterday morning, because I plan on doing NOTHING but sitting around and waiting for my Augmentin to kick in. If only mothers could "call in sick" once in awhile. I think I need to use some "personal leave" time...before I end up requiring a "mental health" day!

Have any good movies?
Wanna play scrabble?
Wanna babysit?


I know, I know. You all are thinking, "Wa-Waaaaa". But seriously. Strep?!

"All I Ever Wanted, All I Ever Needed, Is Here In My Arms"

I feel like a rock star today.

Changed a really nasty diaper.
Did the laundry.
Did the dishes.
Fed the kids.
Put away toys.
Shined the kitchen sink.
Cleaned the bathrooms.
Got the candy cane out of Reese hair without having to cut it.
Changed all the bedding.
Swept the floors.
Vacuumed.
Discovered Pandora.com (seriously, where have I been?)
Got the kids to take their meds (see: ear infection central)
Lugged the trash to the curb
Dealt with Reese's temper tantrum (all because her socks were too small)
Sanitized the (very stinky) diaper pail
Attempted to teach Quincy who Bono is.
Packed up the Halloween decorations.
Scheduled lunch with Kasey over at our dear friend, Maria's.
...and it's only 10am
I know it's stuff I do every day, and the list will start all over again tomorrow (and probably involve another stinky diaper), but still, I love it.
What a nice day this is turning out to be.

Now I'm going to go snuggle with my children and read, "If You Give a Pig a Pancake"

"We're Burning Down the Highway Skyline on the Back of a Hurricane"

Bad Karma is BACK....and it only has eyes for my minivan.

A friend of mine called and said her youngest has outgrown her old bike and if I want it for Reese I can have it. It needs a little TLC, but nothing a fresh coat of hot pink glittery spray paint , a tire pump, and a mr. clean magic eraser can't handle. I'm going to pimp that ride and save it for her birthday. I waited until after I'd dropped Reese off at preschool and went over to pick it up. It was in the front yard and a little wet from the previous night's rain, so I shook it dry and put it in the back of the van.

When I got home I discovered a pool of rusty water all over the upholstery! No! It leaked! Anyone have suggestions for rust removal from fabric? Yuck.

Headed to a doctor's appointment. I got that feeling. You know, that "oh my gosh I am going to throw up RIGHT now, like RIGHT NOW" feeling. I was on the freeway and started to panic. I've been so concerned with Reese not feeling well that I'd neglected my own insides...which are very angry with me. I started to panic...and sweat....which is what I do when I panic. This made me feel gross and only fueled that RIGHT NOW feeling and I managed to find a walmart sack in the knick of time to throw up in as I drove down the freeway, with the men in black and white jumpsuits on clean up duty staring at me. Gross.

When I pulled into my parking space at the Dr's office, I got sick again and this time I jumped out of the car to throw up in the parking lot, but it was super windy and blew the vomit all over the side door of the van. Really. Gross.

my blog is like a 24 hour humiliation network. You'd think there'd be some kind of reality show for people like me...with a million dollar prize at the end.

THEN tonight as I was backing out of my garage to go to the church for my YW calling, I somehow backed out REALLY crooked (we still can't figure out how
I managed to do this) and swiped the other car in the driveway. I totally scraped paint down to the plastic on BOTH side bumpers. I'm really NOT thrilled about that one. Anyone have a buffer I could borrow?

I've inherited Sarah's bad "car-ma" and I don't even know how! Take it back, take it back!

Oh by the way...remember in my "poem" 2 weeks ago, how everyone was sick and I took the girls to the doctor and she said they're fine and just have a little virus? The doctor somehow missed a horrible ear infection on Reese. Reese has been insisting for 2 weeks that her ear still hurts, even though Doc said it's fine. I finally made an appointment with a different doctor and it turns out it had been SO infected that her eardrum actually burst sometime about a week ago. Ouch! I feel terrible for her! The doctor said it is so swollen inside that, at first, he thought she'd stuck a foreign object in her ear. Thank goodness for antibiotic ear drops and Zithromax! Hopefully, a happier, healthier, Reese will be returning to us soon. Also, thank goodness for second opinions! Quincy's mouth is looking better too, so we'll all be better soon. Yay for medicine!

"You Really Love Me Underneath it All"

We're so glad Quincy is finally dressing herself.

"He Sat Down Beside Her and Schmoked a Shi-gar, Schmoked a Shi-ga-a-a-ar..."

On Sunday morning, Aaron left for a presidency meeting right as the kids got up. When he returned a few hours later, Reese squealed with delight and said,

"Horray! Horray! Look Mommy! Daddy's home! Let's celebrate and have a smoke!"

what?

I looked at Aaron, and he smiled because he knew exactly what she meant. I was still in the dark, until I followed them into the kitchen and watched him open the can of chocolate pirouettes, perch one on his bottom lip, break a second one in two, and give half to each of the kids. I then learned that he has done this every night for the past week, when he got home from work.

My babies are smoking chocolate cigars. Now THAT calls for a celebration.

"Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now..."

Reese was kind enough to teach baby sis that if something is out of reach, you go get the stool from the bathroom sink and use it to give yourself a boost....and also, drawers are no longer off-limits, apparently.
It's hard to believe that I just organized these bathroom drawers 2 weeks ago, because they look like junk drawers now. She's like MacGyver, that girl. There is a very good possibility that she is building some kind of explosive device in the back of her closet from all the floss and Qtips she swipes.
Her goal?
1) Take everything out of the drawer and leave it on the floor.
2) ...except for the pokiest, most toxic item, with the really sharp edge...that is to be carried around the house in her kung-fu death grip. 3) Do this when said item is taken away:

We had her first little tantrum the other day, after taking away a permanent marker, a sharpie, to be exact. The name alone gives it more stealth than the other pens, which is, I think, why she went for it, first. My favorite part (other than the dramatic hand over her forehead) was that she called for Reese when she realized the rest of us weren't going to give her the attention she was hoping to get. Reese just kind of looked at her. I'm sure she was thinking..."that wimpy cry isn't going to get you ANYthing, Sweetheart. You're gonna have to pull out the big guns and hold your breath till you pass out, make your eyes bleed, bang your head on the driveway, throw up, or at least pee on the carpet before those guys will cave. Quit your belly aching... it's just pathetic."
We had a good laugh, but I'm no dummy. Quincy is merely a young jedi in training, and still has a lot to learn from her master-tantrum-thrower-older sister.

I've spent most of this week collecting nail clippers, nail files, hair clippies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, silverware, measuring cups, Tupperware, DVD's, socks, tampons, diapers, and shoes from all over the house. I seriously need to relocate my knives, quickly. No no, not because I'm worried that Quincy will hurt herself with one of them. She will leave it strategically placed in a high traffic area of my room, so I'll step on it and hurt MYself the next time I get up to go pee in the dark...which reminds me that I think I'm due for a tetanus shot.

In other Willy House happenings, I made the CUTEST little Christmas cards with Kasey yesterday, while the kids were napping and Aaron was golfing. You know your kids have had WAAAAAY too much Halloween candy when you wake up to discover that several of the little red pom-pom noses have been picked off the reindeer on your Christmas cards by your children, and sucked on because they looked like free candy. You would think that after one, they would have realized that candy is not furry and does not taste like glue, but they each ate a fair share of the unused pink pom-poms before moving on. I think the Halloween Witch is going to HAVE to come to our house tonight, (against Aaron's will, who claims I got the idea for the Halloween Witch from Communist Manifesto) and eliminate the possibility of mysterious "leftover candy" for the kids.

I am utterly disappointed in my daughters for their lack of candy discernment. Seriously...pink and red tiny pom-poms? They didn't even touch the brown ones...which clearly would have been the chocolate. Better luck next year, girls.