The New Definition of Romance

When we did our bulk shopping a while ago we bought many boxes of pancake mix. This mix is simply the just add water kind. Its not the best but its much better than pouring the the mix into a bowl with milk and then realizing you don't have any eggs. My husband has grown very fond of this mix since he can actually comprehend how to make it. After we bought our year supply of cheap pancake mix my husband began to make them every morning! He would get out the griddle, which took up half of the kitchen counter since we have a small kitchen. Then he would slather the whole thing with tons of butter. He would dump the mix and water into a bowl and give it a couple of quick turns. When he poured the mix onto the griddle, it would drip down the counter, on his hands and sometimes on the floor. Then he would get the kitchen towel, that I conveniently hang over the oven handle to dry my hands while cooking, to wipe his messy hands. This mess then dries to a very sticky or hard substance. Yes, this is every morning. The other day he says to me, "I make you a pancake breakfast every morning, that's pretty romantic." While he is saying this I'm thinking, is this a new romance I don't know about. He makes a huge mess early in the morning and leaves for work. Umm...Did I miss the romance? I never new that a big mess for me to clean up was romantic. I also didn't know that giving your wife fattening foods every morning would make her happy. If that's the case, I should marry the guy who runs a Krispy Kreme factory!

Last weekend I was asleep on the couch. I was exhausted from being out of town with my friends. We had lots of fun and stayed up practically all night. As I was trying to get some much needed rest I hear ear piercing screams. Since my husband was taking care of the boys while I took a little nap I figured I wouldn't even get up. But when you think about it, a Mom's job is never done. "Babe, can you go to the basement and get my saw." Hmm, now what in the world would he need his saw for. I opened my eyes quickly and stood up from the couch. "What!?" "He got his foot stuck in the chair!" Of course you know it was the Monster. However, my eight year old does get into things from time to time also. My husband was panicking because the Monster was screaming to the top of his lungs. "You go get the saw and I will stand here with him." Before my husband, clearly a crazy man, could even get to the basement door, I pulled his foot right out of the chair. No bruises, cuts, or tears! Can you believe he was going to saw my chair apart? Even on little sleep women think faster (and better) than men. I obviously didn't go back to sleep.

Homework for third graders

My 8 year old is now learning how to write in cursive in school. He has known since kindergarten how to write his name in cursive so I figured he would not have too much trouble with this. He brought home some homework yesterday where he had to write this poem from a worksheet in cursive. He did great. I read his cursive handwriting just fine. As I was reading I thought he had written some words wrong so I checked it with the poem on the top of the worksheet. And sure enough he had every single word right.

" There's too many kids in this tub.
There's too many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind
That I'm sure wasn't mine,
There's too many kids in this tub."

There's nothing like talking about washing somebody else's butt to get a third grader going. With the way things are today, if they had told him to make up his own poem and he wrote that...he probably would have been suspended! Hmm...I would love to see that one hanging on the acheivement board outside the classroom for all to see!

Crazy Things about my boys

My husband does help me clean from time to time but has horrible habits. I have asked him more than once to put an appliance away for me on top of the fridge. Well, I wasn't surprised when he didn't do it. So today I decided to do it myself. I stand on top of a chair and what do I see. A junk yard on top of the refrigerator. It was like every family's junk drawer. You know the place you put everything that doesn't really have a place. I couldn't believe he had been just throwing things up there as if it was a storage space! There were things like video tapes, playing cards, toys, empty boxes, etc. Men! Oh, did I mention the fridge is 2 feet away from the trash can!

My oldest son, well what can I say. He is the most unique kid I have ever known. But still typical at the same time. He left crayons in his pockets and now I am the proud owner of gray and red polka dot shorts. On a more positive note, he did teach his art teacher the new dance (crank that superman) he learned a couple of weeks ago. (look it up on you tube) Again, what do they learn at school these days?

And last but not least, the Monster. I'm not sure if he is ready for potty training yet but he is learning all of the ins and outs of how things work. I was giving him a bath the other day and he pointed to his little baby butt and said, "Poopie in there!" He never fails to surprise me.

Surprise!

We went to the museum the other day and what I thought was going to be a children's "museum" was more like a big play room with a ball pit of some sorts. Well as you can imagine, the next day the Monster got a runny nose. I sure wasn't surprised by that since none of the items in a play area such as balls and legos are ever cleaned. I don't really give my kids cough medicine as it doesn't really work. (you can dispute this all you want) So I always give my kids lots of fluids as soon as I see the sign of a cold coming on. I am extremely aware of all those juices out there that are filled with corn syrup so I always opt for the real juice. Since the Monster refuses to eat veggies I thought I would get a juice with veggies in it. There is a new juice out called HARVEST SURPRISE. It has fruits and veggies all mixed in and no sugar or corn syrup. I thought this would be great and healthy for him. I thought at first sip he would throw his cup back at me and whine for something that tasted a lot better. To my surprise, he loved it and I thought it was pretty good too. Well that wasn't my only surprise. Today before 1pm even struck my clock, I had three poopie diapers! SURPRISE! (enter sarcasm here)

Over the last couple of days we have been busy running errands and getting things done like buying winter clothes and stocking the cabinets. The monster is learning a lot and repeats lots of things we say. One day we were on our way to the mall. Usually my boys are pretty quiet in the back seat. I know, that's hard to believe right? The monster is learning lots of new words everyday but he knows many already being just 2 years old. He sure is a smart little guy. As soon as we passed a Burger King he pointed and yelled, "Fries!" Yes, we go there a bit more than we need to but I'm sure you lie to your pediatrician too! "Oh no Dr. Wallace, we don't give little billy any fast food." YEAH RIGHT!

Oh and if anyone is concerned about our food intake after the great shortage we had a few weeks ago. Don't worry we went on a massive grocery trip to fill the cave. (see photo) We stocked up so we wouldn't have to worry about it for a while. Since I have three males in the house its hard to keep all of them full. But none of them look like they have skipped a meal! I have to keep the kids away from the snacks though. Its like trying to swat away a whole colony of bees with a 99 cent fly swatter! We have two freezers full on top of what is already stacked up on the shelves in the basement. There are CASES of cookies, twinkies, apple sauce, corn and more! Next on the list: A TREADMILL!

I said I would eventually share my secrets of how I make money online. Well I am doing that today. Im not getting rich or anything. You can tell that by my previous posts. However, I do make money to do things that I like to do, like getting away from my kids for a breath of fresh air! I will list some sites that are some of my favorites. You just sign up for things that are free and get paid to do it. You dont get paid much but if you do it enough it adds up. I love it. Its free so if you sign up and hate it, let it hang out to dry like wet laundry! Here is the list.

http://www.cashcrate.com/323926

http://mycashsafari.com/members/register.php?ref=pinklisa17

www.bigdevil.com/join/pinklisa17

http://www.guessnow.com/show?signup&refID=pinklisa17

There is no catch to any of these sites just some of my faves. Have fun!

When my 8 year old son got home from school yesterday he had many things to tell me, like always. After telling me about who likes who and all the juicy third grade gossip, he asked me a confusing question. "Mom, pick one: true or false." Now lots of you may think, why is this question confusing. I was thinking true or false to what? So that's exactly what I said to him. Then he repeated the question as if the meaning had changed. With the risk of this conversation going round and round for a while, I just sat there quiet to ponder. I seriously thought about this for a minute because I was wondering what this really meant. What was he trying to ask me? Then, an epiphany! "Um...Do you mean truth or dare?" "YEAH!", he said with excitement. Obviously moms have to be mind readers, because that sure was not the same thing.
My son has been back in school for about two weeks. So far the only thing that he has learned that I actually have proof of is: which girls already have an over protective boyfriend, how to do the soulja boy dance (look it up on you tube), and his new game of choice true or false (a.k.a truth or dare). When do they actually learn third grade stuff? Or has this stuff replaced it since I have been in elementary?

Yesterday we went to the grocery store, finally. My oldest son was at school and my husband was happily off of work. So it was just me, my husband, and the monster. As soon as we get to the store we put the monster in the cart hoping he will stay there through the whole trip. That is definitely wishful thinking. The monster starts to whine by the third aisle so my husband takes him out and lets him walk around and explore. Thats his favorite thing to do in an unfamiliar place. As he runs ahead of us a little he puts his arm out to try to knock down things that are right at his level. Im sure by now everyone in the store knows his name by how many times we said, "No Scottie!"
In the next aisle there is a mom and her toddler, who is sitting in the seat and only wiggling around a little. He appears only a little older than the monster. She watches as my son runs slowly down the aisle so happy and free. Then she proceeds to tell her son, "Now look, why can't you be good like that little boy!" Um...??? Is she serious? At that point I was trying to figure out if she was blind or crazy. She was lucky her kid was still in the cart. By the time we got to the 5th or 6th aisle my husband was almost dragging the monster as a result of a breakdown.
hmm...I wonder if that other mom would give him a reward for that?!

My love, my internet!

Oh how I love thee! Today I was forced to cook things from the back of the kitchen cabinet. Those things that you bought but never really planned on cooking. It wasnt enough for dinner and sure didnt make up a fancy cuisine. So I went to my love and asked again and again what I could do. After hours and hours of trial and error, my love came through for me. I make it a point to find a way to make money on the internet (my love) and it sure is helping me when i really need it. I made 13 dollars today by signing up for free survey sites. I couldnt believe the site actually paid me. Right at dinner time I was checking my email to find I had a message from paypal. You can imagine the excitement that came directly from my stomach. This wasn't the first time I have made money on the internet, but it sure was the best time.

P.S. - Tomorrow is pay day.

Stretching the dollar or lack there of...

I told you that I would let you in on how I stretch our money to the max. Well today was a prime example. My husband gets paid on Wednesdays. And yeah that's biweekly. Well since we are now very short on food this lovely Monday evening, I had to pull out all the resources for dinner. We had about $1.70 in our bank account and about 87 cents on my paypal. Oh what shall I do!

I have been saving a coupon book I got online for free through this point program.( https://getonefree.com/rewards/create_account.php?customer_referred=lnduckworth@hotmail.com ) Well it just so happened to have a free medium pizza from Domino's in there. Since this is a family of four I am trying to feed, we will need more than that. The book also had a coupon for buy 2 get 2 free white castle burgers. I hope you are still not wondering whats for dinner. I collected as much change as I could from around my kid infested house and we all went out to "collect" our grub. We got the totally free pizza and right down the street was white castle. Even though you are not supposed to use two coupons in one transaction at many fast food restaurants, my husband felt compelled to use 2 of them, and successfully got away with it. So we ended up with 5 white castle burgers (one was fabulous, it had cheese!) and a medium Domino's pepperoni pizza. It was all for the low price of $1.02. How's that for stretching a dollar.

MY NEXT CHALLENGE: What the heck are we going to have tomorrow night?

P.S. Did I mention I ate a free sample of chex that I got in the mail for breakfast?

A new day! 8/30/07

This is my first blog spot and I would like to introduce myself. My name is Lisa. Im 25 years old. I am married to a wonderful man who always exceeds my expectations (except when he continually leaves his underwear on the floor). I have two boys. My oldest is 8 years old and my monster is 2 years old. You will find out later why he deserves that name.

I am a stay at home mom (by accident) but I do have my good days occasionally. While Im here spilling my guts out to you, I will give you any tips I have to help you save earn and penny pinch. Other than that my whole life is about my kids. There was a time when I had a real life. Maybe we will explore that too. You know, the years you actually enjoyed staying up late.