Robin the Wonderoo...

Robin's brain never ceases to amaze me.

I have cut his hair since he was a baby.

I used to do it with scissors and then as he got to be a toddler we moved on to electric clippers.

Now, for the most part, it's a very simple process, I don't have a cape, so we've kept the whole ordeal pretty basic.  I turn the shower on, while he strips down to his underwear and plops on a stool in our bathroom.  I buzz his head pretty quickly....taking extra care around his neck and ears and then he hops off the stool, unders are tossed over his shoulder and he hops in the shower.

We've done this routine for a few years now.

I have my hair cut by my "too cute for her own good" friend Sara.  She's young, blonde, and extremely adorable and Robin is, of course is completely aware of this fact.

The other day I told Robin I was going to have Sara cut his hair.

His face went blank, his eyes wide and a panicked look started to set in on his face.

And then he asked me, "she won't have to see my in my unders will she?!"

"Nope Robin, she won't see you in your unders."

Robin the Wonderoo....gotta love that kiddo.

H :)

Goobers...

One of those goober days...don't ask me why...

Goober crazy hair.

Goober gunky teeth.

Goobers on my shirt.

Goobers on my feet.

Goober smeared carpet.

Goober stuck sheets.

Goober spackled ceiling.

Goober on the cleats.

Goobers on the fridge.

Only goobers left to eat.

Goobers in the bathroom.

Goober slobbered seats.

Goobers on the porch.

Goobered sloppy kids.

Goobers, goobers everywhere.

Smile and say, "I don't care."

:)

Bye, Bye Baby...

There are people that write amazing blogs about decorating....like my friend Sharyl, she's at http://thelittlebrownhouse.us/, she has great stuff on buying and crafting and decorating things.....I am not her....in fact, I am so far removed from all of that super cool stuff, her blog is even decorated cooler than mine.  (Nice work by the way Sharyl.) =)

I love looking at people's houses.  I love the thought of living in a Pottery Barn catalog....but my brain just doesn't quite work that way.  I'm a girl of laziness and necessity; a girl of ease and least work, most benefit.  If Jane Austen were to describe me in Pride and Prejudice she would have called me, "a modest woman, of ordinary means, not following the fashion of the time, but rather a woman of convenience."

That being said, I attempted to be all Pottery Barn cool this weekend.....but, all I ended up with was sore calves.

We just sold our black satin baby grand piano.  It left our home on Thursday morning to go live on a nice farm with a large family....where it can run free.  And while the baby grand was too large for the space we tried to fit it into....when it was gone, the space left was pretty big....and then the wheels started spinning....how can I best make this space fit my life?  A few ideas crossed my mind.....installing a pop dispenser or a gumball machine...but in the end I decided to make it practical for homeschool....so we opted for the ever so exciting bookshelf.

Sean decided he wanted to paint and he wanted the whole wall to be red.  I said, "Sure."  I have no idea if it's still cool to have a red wall....or if that is more circa 2004....I figure if I'm somewhere within the style of the past ten years that's close enough for me.

So, my girlfriend and I set out to upgrade a few things.  I bought a can of red paint and a white board for the kitchen....too much change at one time can mess up my whole "convenience" thing...mostly because then I don't know where anything is.

We now have a red wall, a cleaned and organized bookshelf, the living room looks exactly the same even with my three different attempts to move it around.  I have sore calves (don't ask me why), a pile of things to be donated, a white board, bunnies of dust removed, a great time with a girlfriend, a kitchen disaster, no baby grand, paint stains on my hands, and garlic breath.

I think I earned a couple of Pottery Barn coolness points, but I'm still no Little Brown House....but for me, this is progress....and last I checked progress was a good thing.



Before.....

And after....

More work still to be done, guitar needs to be hung on the wall and the book shelf needs more bins (we kinda have a lot more movies than I thought we did...)....but my Pottery Barn effort is complete.

Looking at the pictures I kinda like the "before"....but it is what it is.... "Penelope" the piano is much happier now and the kids and I have more room to dance. :)

H :)

Ode to my mama...

I was glancing at a picture of my parents today and it provided the inspiration for today's blog.  I love my mom, she's great.  She's funny and crazy smart, and usually knows the right thing to do in any situation.  And while I do LOOK like my dad in drag,  I have however noticed there's a couple of my mom's crazy quirks that are seeping thru the genetic gene pool I never really thought I'd see...

• I'm beginning to truly appreciate bacon so crispy it's actually dusty.

• I dance in the grocery store and don't realize it....until the kids say something.

• I value a good fleece vest.

• I like the imaginary break on the passenger side of the car....I use it often.

• I try with all my might to not to swear....but if I do, I make it good.

• Uck....no matter what pants I buy....no matter what style.....they are still mom jeans.

• Everything is better with balsalmic vinegar and olive oil.

• Poptarts are to be toasted and buttered.

• There is no better time to plan for the next meal than while I am stuffed from the last one.

• Don't go to bed angry.

• Smile and nod.

• Thank you notes.....okay, so that one is always in the back of my mind....not so much on the actual writing of them, gotta admit.

• I talk to myself and when the kids catch me, I tell them I'm just singing...

• I will look for my cell phone in my purse, and panic thinking I've lost it, while talking on my cell phone...

• Try to always comb the kid's hair so it looks like no matter what, "somebody loves them".

• Date your husband.

• Wine is good and often necessary.

• Finally, say "goodnight" whenever you leave or hangup the phone...never say "goodbye".  Goodbye can be forever while goodnight is see ya soon.

My dad is great and gave me my quirky sense of humor and large calves, but my mom is responsible for a lot more than I tend to give her credit for....love ya mamasita....oh you too Pops.

Smarty pants...

These were Robin's excuses for why he was unable to do school today:

• "I have to stretch before I read,"  so he did....for ten minutes.
• "I have to finish licking my knee."
• "But my eyelashes are burning!"
• "Hungry."
• "Too many boogers mom, I can't concentrate."
• "But I only got to play for two hours!!"
• "I can't see anything when my eyes are rolled back in my head."
• "My fingers are too busy shooting lasers out of them."
• "I'm smarter than a cowboy jumping off a hill, why do I have to do this?!"

Homeschooling is so easy anyone can do it!  And the kids never complain and they always sit still and answer with "yes mom," "thank you, mom,"  and my personal favorite, "please mom, can you teach me some more?"

Are you swimming in the sarcasm?  'Cause I'm literally scooping it up in giant handfulls and heaving it at your head.

I really am glad we made this decision for our family....but I'm wiped....and my sarcasm levels are dangerously low.

H :)

All you need is love...

Listening to the kids run around upstairs this morning.

Jumping, giggling, ka-powing, toilet flushing loveliness....until the inevitable....crying and then blaming.

Katie's threatening to come downstairs and tell me what's happened, Robin's frantically apologizing.

I hear Katie's footsteps down the stairs....and half way down, the footsteps stop.  Robin's upset with her, saying she blames him for everything.  He's preventing her from coming down the stairs to talk to me.  He's overreacting and she can't even get a word out of her mouth without an interruption from him.

I decide it's time for me to stop making breakfast and get involved in the altercation.

I stand at the bottom of the stairs, looking at them.  They are eyeball to eyeball, no one is standing down.  Robin breaks eye contact first and looks at me.  "Mom, she blames me for everything!  Is everything my fault?!"

I say, "Yes, Robin.  Absolutely everything is your fault.  Get used to it."

He plops down on the stairs, crosses his arms and pouts, definitely not in the mood for my teasing.  Meanwhile Katie has walked down the stairs and is standing behind me, peaking up the stairs at Robin.  

I ask Robin for the story...I still don't know what happened....something about forgetting to flush the toilet....I'm trying to sort it out.  Robin's just getting more frustrated and flustered and aware of where he's wrong but still has no desire to admit or own any of his part in this whole thing.

His arms are waving around, he's loud and angry....and then Katie decides to walk back up the stairs.   

She plops on the step next to him.

He's still mad, pointing out where she's wrong and he isn't...and she scoots closer to him.

The more flustered he gets the closer she gets to him....one little cheek shuffle at a time.

Finally, she's right next to him, practically in his lap....he finally notices what she's doing and leans away, still irritated with her....and she gets closer to one flailing arm and plants a kiss on his shoulder.

"I love you Robin."

He immediately stops....looks at her and starts to laugh.....the anger gone, then they run up the stairs together and the giggling, ka-powing, super-heroing starts up again.

Jesus talked about loving your enemy. He said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." 

Katie showed Jesus to her brother today.  But what I love even more was Robin's heart in the whole ordeal.  He knew love and he accepted it....and I couldn't be more proud.

H :)

Bracketology....

So....it's March Madness time.

For the past ten years we've done the whole bracket thing with a group of friends.  Some of our friends now have kids that are participating in the bracket....which is kinda weird, but I'm still not afraid to trash talk with a nine year old, that's how thick skin is developed, right?

Anyway, I usually do okay most years.  I really only care about beating my husband....I could come in 2nd to last place as long as his name is right below mine.  I'm not competitive or anything, I just really have to beat him!

So, this year I pulled my usual trick, while Sean is paying attention for weeks before the tournament, reading articles, following ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN HD, ESPN 85....and then diligently following selection Sunday and weighing out all of the scenarios teams are playing under, I could care less.  In fact, the soothing sounds of the jibber jabber on selection Sunday tend to lull me into a delicious slumber.

I wake up from my nap, refreshed, hungry, and awaiting the e-mail from my husband where I get to make my picks....which historically has consisted of random upsets, picking teams because I like their mascots or not picking teams because they rejected me when I was submitting college applications (yeah, Washington...I'm talkin' to you!).

This year though I'm a little worried about my selections and my reputation....my husband is quite a few points ahead of me and has made some rather smart choices, once I actually started paying attention.

Oh well, I guess I could let him win just this once....and I won't be bitter about it...I swear!  Hey check me out....I'm maturing.

H :)

Some days you gotta dance...

Playing brokety-broke ball for too many weeks lately.  Not so much on the side of really fun things I like to do.

So, we've been getting creative around here.

For instance instead of going to the bounce house place...the kids get to jump up and down in the living room....whenever they want.

Instead of going to the movies, we watch one of the 75 million cable channels and I talk the kids out of every toy and cleaning product they see advertised.  Apparently we have dirty showers and they are quite concerned about this fact and Kaboom would be great to get because there's no scrubbing!

It's Thursday, so I decided to submit an application for a reality show....I'm sure nothing will come of it, and I wasted a whole five minutes of my day....but it was break time for school and the kidlets where occupied upstairs so I figured why not?

Kids have been bored out of their gourd with all of the lovely rain we've had, so we've spent lots of time encouraging our imaginations.  The kids played with Auntie Sarg and Uncle J Wadd the other night.  Katie put on a sailor hat and pulled out a globe and a magic blanket that would transport them anywhere....but of course Auntie Sarg had to paddle and I think J Wadd was steering the blanket....I don't know, I was off playing guitar with my pops.  Anyway, from what I could hear they spent time in Canada looking for silverware and then they moved onto Iraq...just to look around.  Katie has a very curious finger and she tends to pick spots on the globe that are colored in pinks and purples....so look out Uzbekistan....you might be next.

And we dance a lot.  Katie and I prefer to dance while doing the dishes....Robin prefers to dance while he should be writing in his journal.  I can take away all distractions to get him to get his work done....but I can't take away his love of the dance.....unless I introduce electric shock therapy...but I'm afraid I might end up too trigger happy with that one.

So, in summary...broke sucks, jumping, TV, amazing scrubbing bubbles, Thursday, Uzbekistan and some days you gotta dance.

And that concludes my blogging experimenting for today.

H :)