time goes by...

i know it's already march. almost the end of march. and too much to catch up on. i have been in the process of working on a new website. something more creative oriented. a place that i can post my cards and share all my tinkering. i create all the time. i am too busy being a mom to keep up with family stuff on here. by the time i remember to post my kids are 3 years older.
so i figure if i want to stay in blogland. it will have to be as a way to share my creative stuff. that i can keep up on better i think. and its something i have been wanting to do for a long time.
sometime in april i will be switching gears and my blog will be more crafty good stuff. and maybe a few family pics & notes thrown in. :)
be back soon.
i hope.
xoxo

the blizzard of 2010

oh goodness---we are getting some SNOW up over here. these pictures are from this morning...but keep in mind we had another foot plus load us down since

its just been coming and coming since early yesterday. everything in the city is closed. we are snowed in....and super tired of changing wet snowy clothes...don't have enough gloves and hats etc. my lame face in the photo is cause i am super sick of being cold...and wiping snow off the floor. :(

luckily we still have power. THANK YOU LORD. and camille is keeping us warm with all her baking skills.

its been fun and lovely to have all this beautiful white snow cover up every possible square inch of our lives, but we are all ready for this to end now. thank you very much.

mom award

i have officially won the best loser mom award.

ya wanna know why? i'll tell you. i've been having issues with a certain teenager in my home and now i have evidence to confirm my suspicions.

the said teenager has had her cell phone taken away off and on for weeks. i have been nagged, ridiculed, cried at, and been told straight out -i am the strictest--evilest mom there ever was. how could i be so cruel?? all because i knew the accused teenager was dropping out of her regular life for a life of phone crime...losing all interest in daily pastimes, family adventures--even conversations--in an effort to spend every possible second texting on her phone. i knew in my heart it was getting out of hand, but i trusted her to put it away and make good choices. and that is where i made my fatal mistake. but since she is a teenager and i am allowing her that space--cause i want cool mom points and i wanna respect her space too...well i just never thought. i just never thought my straight a student who hates breaking rules with a passion...well i never thought she'd break a rule- esp. my rule. i have so much to learn as a momma. :) we've been going through this for weeks...the air thick...and me wondering if i'm being unfair or lame. questioning myself. wanting to be the best mom.

fast forward to today...when it comes to my attention my once sweet perfect rule abiding teenager, now sassy and breaker of my mom laws--has sent 14,999 texts in a 30 day period. and that is WITH the phone taken away for several hours after school and at bedtime. so this means she does nothing else but text on her phone. NOTHING ELSE. and i am the loser who is allowing this possibility.

i must admit that i am rather proud that my girl can actually type that fast and that much. i mean, come on, one text shy of 15000...in one billing cycle...that's gotta be a record or something. :) i will silently give her props right here for that achievement. however...

the truth remains i am deeply saddened by what it really means. i shouldn't have questioned myself, i should have stuck to my guns and kept the phone if i just wasn't sure. she has abused the privileges i have given, she has lost all interest in every aspect of her life that doesn't involve her phone and "friends". i have no problem with her having friends--of course what she is asking to do with her friends is causing all sorts of other problems for us. she wants to go off and hang at malls, hang at parties with boys, she wants all sorts of things that i don't allow. she basically wants me to let her do what she wants and have no boundaries.

are all teenagers like this? this all feels so hard and stressful and is pushing me to my limits.

where is my lil girl who use to craft with me? where is the girl who chit-chatted my ear off after school? shes still in there--shes just figuring out what she can and cant do. i know. the days when i take the phone away--she finds her way back. she hangs out upstairs, she helps me with cooking, she will even TALK to me a little here and there. so you can see why i have such hard feelings for the cell phone now. i feel like i've let it take my baby girl somewhere i just don't like. and now i need to wear my mom award on my sleeve and don't give in at all.

i want her to have friends. i want her to communicate with them. but this is just stupid--for lack of a better word. and so i am now in possession of 2 phones until further notice.

i wonder how other parents figure out the whole cell phone thing. when she first got it at the start of 6th grade it was so so cool, it gave her an IN when she moved to a new town. and now...well now i feel like i want to smash that phone on the ground and beat the shit out of it- (sorry). its really caused me so much anguish--i rather hate that little white phone.

any suggestions? any help/advice? cause i could sure use it.

xoxo

a little bug

* i absolutely could NOT rotate my picture. i did it in Picasa and saved it like 10 times and it still goes back to this sideways shot. oh well. :)

today i got the kids back to school from a 4 day weekend...and literally the minute the bus drove away i felt my insides turn over. i have some kind of a bug doing crazy dances in my stomach. i can hardly stand up it hurts so bad. so i gathered some supplies to set me up on the couch with.

book? check. tums? check. toast? check. twilight movie on the tv? check. crochet hook and yarn??? check.

do i know how to crochet? uncheck. uh, no. i was hoping that i could somehow teach myself. no book on that either. maybe i can find something online in between belly aches. i've been seeing these granny squares blankies around blog town and i want to join in. me and my cold feet just might need one of those -and made by me, even better.

this is one of new years changes. to DO some of the things i have been wanting to do for so long. i always wish i did this or that. but i am pathetic and give up before i even try. well, not this time. yes, crocheting is on my list of little wishes for myself. why not? if it adds joy to my life, a little happiness. i'm a crafty girl...

i'll be on the couch until this little upset tummy goes away. which is too bad really cause i had a long list of things to get to work on today after the kids skadaddled. too bad i can't plan my sickies for those days when i have nothing to do, that would work so much better.

xoxo

henry, get off the couch--no wait, stay!

henry? what do you see each day as you sit on the top of the couch?

usually he is sitting the other way, with his little butt on the couch, his body on the window shelf area and his face leaving slobbery puppy drool on the glass. he watches the wind blow, the snow fall, the rabbits and squirrels and kitties walk by-taunting him. neighbors coming and going, kids playing...he takes it all in. he is the best window watcher. i am so lucky he found this spot. at first i wanted him off the couch and out of the window. now i cannot think of a better thing. it is my peace. when he is sitting up there, he is not bugging me, he is not fighting or playing with buster and i have some good solid time to get things done without a little henry dog at my feet. :) in this photo, he feel asleep with the sunshine on his back and his face tucked into the couch. as tough as he looks and acts, this staffy puppy is turning out to be kinda sweet. see i toldja i was falling for him.

now if i could just get him to stop wanting to eat anyone under the age of 6, we'd be in good shape.

xoxo

today...

was back to routine day.

it did not go well.

camille forgot her lunch. got her phone taken away. izzy and logi got into a brawl before and after school.

these three are not sitting happily on the couch like here opening advent gifts...

they did finally return to school, after 18 days of winter break. the house was quiet and calm with just the doggies and me.

that is until the sweet darlings returned from school. and all hell broke lose. seriously. each is now in their room, banished from cell phones, and tvs and even homework. they are writing sentences...something like..."i will not cause chaos and havoc before or after school".

there are moments like this when it is so hard to be a mom. i don't know if writing 200 --(yes 200 for today) sentences will really teach them to stop doing the bad behaviors, but once the crying is over and they actually start writing, it gives me a little bit of time to talk myself out of the freak out i am about to have. :)

i wonder what other parents do when things escalate between siblings?? alex makes them do yard work...which is usually where they share their screaming matches with all the neighbors. i like the sentences. it gives me a bit of peace, and my children have the best handwriting. and then we discuss the issues at hand.

well its dinner time. i'll do that and see if things perk up.

xoxo

shopping

today i took the girls to the mall to spend their money; and to target to use their gift cards from their meema.

and afterwards, i have decided that i will only go shopping with kids if i can take one at a time. it all went ok, but it was too long and hard to enjoy and...the thing is, i love shopping. i don't want my shopping experiences to feel crazy or overwhelming. and the girls like different stores. an hour into hollister, izzy was in tears....then camille would not step a foot into the toy isle of target. yes, it'll just have to be one at a time, i felt exhausted.
they each came home with lots of lovely goodies (new socks, jeans, lipgloss, lotions, petshops (izzy) tshirts, ds games, magazines, and itunes cards) and are now in their rooms enjoying themselves. :) camille mentioned that she could shop all day....yeah, me too sweetie, me too!!

ps. we also took down our christmas trees. i felt a little sad, but henry kept eating the ornaments off and it was making us all crazy chasing after him. you can only do that for so many weeks, and then enough is enough.
tonight i'm looking forward to reading a new sewing book i got. our bookstore is closing and everything is just a few dollars, so i used my gift card and got Amy Karol's Bend the Rules with fabric. i already have her bend the rules sewing. its a great crafty sewing book, if you're in search of one.
oh, i'm also reading the sequel to the book chocolat. i got it a few months ago at a thrift shop for 50 cents. i forget the name....but its really good. i read the first one back in college. it makes me want to rent the movie and snack on some goodies....

anyone figure out their goals & resolutions for this year yet??
mine are still simmering. but i'll tell of one: to get my etsy shop opened. ive been a member since 2007...and that's just plain sad...my poor shop has been waiting...empty for me. it is time. :)
i wanna add lose my ten pounds, but i am just going to let that happen as it may. i'm tired of stressing about it, cause the added stress is making me bald. nice, huh? i can't just be ten pounds overweight, i have to throw in a few less hairs. its almost gross getting older...sorry.

xoxo