"And I Know I Was Wrong When I Said it Was True That it Couldn't Be Me and Be Her In Between Without YOU"

Ever have a day where there doesn't seem to be enough of you to go around?
Yeah, those are my legs...and those growths at my ankles are my darling little helpers.

I wonder if the fact that I have sidekicks mean I get to have some sort of superpower. You know, like how Batman has Robin? Doesn't the superhero transformation usually involve some sort of blurry three day illness/metamorphosis stage... like when Peter Parker becomes Spiderman? Perhaps after spending 3 days in my bat cave, I have emerged as a superhero...or even better (yet somehow less likely) SuperMom.

Hmmm... what kind of powers did I develop during my foggy slumber?
Can I make laundry disappear?

I'm sure the Mommy Tug-of-War will dissolve soon...like when the Halloween candy and juice boxes they've been surviving on disappear, and the vegetables return.

But, I'm glad they missed me.

"Gosh Oh Gee, How Happy I'd Be If I Could Only Whistle"

(I'm having trouble downloading pictures from my camera, but I have MANY...hopefully I'll figure it out soon)

Isn't it funny how particular we can be about holiday traditions? We are such funny creatures...don't want to do anything that might change the feel, or take away some of the magic.

For example, I want the tree up until the day after Thanksgiving, and I want it DOWN the day after Christmas...for sure by New Years. I hate leftover Christmas decorations. So...there's the predicament...can't start too early, CAN'T drag it past the 25th. We finally have a pretty good system going to ease Christmas in, without suffocating the Day of Thanks and Giving.

Before our first Christmas, my mom bought us An Old English Christmas from a holiday boutique. She knew we would love it and we do. So much, that it has sort of become the only "pre-holiday holiday music" we will listen to before Thanksgiving. This is the 8th November it will make me very very happy. I highly recommend it to anyone...but especially anyone who loves an acoustic guitar and a viola.
I LOVE it, LOVE it, LOVE it. It makes me happy all November, year after year.

But, I require more than 25 days a year to perfect my "chestnuts roasting".

Then, like magic,
last week... HE came.
He's finally here.

The music echoed down the hall, through the cracked bedroom door, and onto my bed, where I lay wallowing in the sick bay.
He is magic.
Enough magic to bring a very sick meg out of the bat cave, to join her man in dancing with 2 little ballerinas in jammies in the living room

...and teach them all the choreography (perfected since 6th grade, thank you very much) to "Buon Natale".
He's magic.
Nat, baby....you've haven't been around for awhile. I'm so glad you found us,
and now that you're here...

Christmas is here.

..and it's here to stay.
...even though it's only Nov 10th.

"Let's Go Back a Million Years to the Very First Indian Prince..."

After an 8 month break from contacts, Aaron has decided to put the frames on the shelf and go back to to disposable lenses. Now that Summer is officially over, we can all go from hearing him ask us the question,

"Hey, does my face look red?"

to,

"Hey, do my eyes look red?"

I'm hoping he'll grow tired of my new favorite response :

"He Kiss a Maid and Start To Blush,
and We All Been Blushing Since....
Hunna Munna Gunda, Hunna Munna Gunda
Now you got it right from the Head man
The real true story of the red man
No matter what's been written or said
Now you know why the red man's red!"

I'd appreciate if you all would play along and save me from having every light in the bedroom turned on at 5am, while asks me these two ridiculous questions, as he gets ready for work every morning.

"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!