Dirty Little Secrets

A few times this week I've said or done things that I knew were going directly into a dirty little secrets post.

One afternoon I was really hungry and couldn't find the perfect snack. Finally I decided on bacon. I love bacon. And I ate bacon all by myself.

Sweetie Pie woke up from her nap and asked me if I had made bacon because she could smell it. I denied all knowledge and told her it must have been my bacon candle. Please don't tell her those don't exist... even though they should totally exist.

I justify buying a bunch of fun stuff at Joann Fabrics because I'm going to start a shop on Etsy.com. Except I haven't started one, and I'm kind of scared too.

I found the two little outfits that I had to order and go through the whole 'shipping to Alaska' fiasco sitting right at my local Walmart. I almost cried.

Little Man hasn't gone to the doctor in so long that I'm scared to take him in and see how many shots he needs. He's already terrified of everything and I don't want to make him never ever leave the house again.

My library books that I already renewed for a second month are late again.

I don't want to bring the kids back to the library because I forgot to bring them in for the last week of the reading program and they're going to want their prize.

I have at least 5 loads of laundry that are washed and dried, but not folded.

Sweetie Pie saw a drag queen on tv with green hair and reminded me that I told her people's hair turns green when they don't brush it.

There was a good candy sale so I stocked up. When I was checking out the cashier said "Wow. You must really like candy." I instinctively lied and told her it was a gift for someone. She stared at me blankly and said "Wow. They must really like candy." Judgmental *$&%#.

Share your dirty little secrets in the comments, and as always you can post your GOOD dirty little secrets anonymously.

Family Fishing

I don't like fishing. I like catching. I'm definitely not a fan of sitting in a boat and dragging a string through the water hoping that something that I don't even want bites my string. It really is a bit odd when you think about it that way, isn't it? Boat fishing is bad enough, but shore fishing really sucks... unless you bring a chair (which I didn't) and it's sunny (which it wasn't).

Normally I wouldn't even go on these outings with Mr. Wright, but remembering the discussion in church I decided that some family time could be just what we needed. We packed the kids in the car, I talked Mr. Wright into feeding me Arby's first (yum :P) and we headed up to the water. It rained on and off on the way up but once we got there it was almost sunny. The kids immediately found rocks to throw, sticks to drag, birds to watch and all that other earthy crap to do. I was bored. And had no where to sit. And it started raining.

Family time. Family time. Family time. I was trying to have fun but I don't really like to get wet, and apparently neither does my camera since it stopped working for a few minutes in the heavy rain despite my high tech ziplock back that I brought as camera protection. We all came home soaking wet and dirty, but we did indeed have a great evening as a family... even me.













The kids stayed up way past bedtime, but they all had a blast! That's why actually leaving my hosue and doing something as a family works for me!!

Motivation

So this is what it feels like... yesterday I left my computer (and best friend) downstairs and tackled some housework instead of hitting refresh a million times waiting for something to happen in my e-mail or on Farm Town. When the kids start asking who's coming over you know the house is looking better! In typical selective OCD I made a huge list of things that I wanted to accomplish, then got frustrated when I wasn't immediately crossing things off left and right.

I wrote 'empty dishwasher', did it, then crossed it out. Then I was working on 'load dishwasher' when I realized that I had way more dishes than could fit in one load and I am NOT one of those weirdos that just finishes them by hand. I ran the dishwasher and started on some other chores but was still a little peeved that I hadn't been able to cross 'load dishwasher' off the list. Sure, I could have written it again for the second load, but I was out of lines on my list and my selective OCD doesn't allow me to write across used lines *shudder*.

I only took one internet break around 1 after I had done a bunch of laundry, dishes, vacuuming, DUSTING! ( I spent 10 minutes trying to find my duster for this one. It hasn't seen the light of day in a while...) and some decluttering. After my break I put the kids down for a nap and vacuumed the stairs, 'windex mopped' the entryway floor, finally wiped that crusty stuff of the handrail on the stairs, and jackhammered the dried food off the dining room table.

I collapsed onto the couch the moment Mr. Wright came home and I gleefully awaited his reaction. In typical husband fashion he didn't say a word about the sparkling (and smelling good) house and started talking about something else while I was subtly running my hands over the clean counters. Finally I just had to blurt out "I CLEANED THE WHOLE HOUSE AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE!!!" So, maybe subtle isn't my thing...

He said he noticed and it looked like we were moving out. That made me feel better, but after working my tail off for almost 6 hours I was envisioning a better reaction from him. Maybe one with balloons. And flowers. And a huge 'thanks for getting off the couch and finding that smell' banner. I didn't think that I was asking too much...

{Blog} Hop 2009

I found this awesome blog party where you can swap links with bloggers all over the county. I love finding new blogs with all new ideas, and I love to party in my jammie pants, so I was all over this. Click here to see the blog roll and find some new bloggers to stalk follow.

If your joining me from the Blog Hop then Welcome. I'm Mrs. Wright and I suck at housework... and pretty much life in general. Take a look around and stay as long as you'd like. Just don't look under the rugs :)

My Favorite Things

The I'm running super late edition!

Skirts a plenty!
http://thirtyhandmadedays.blogspot.com/2009/07/can-you-ever-have-too-many-skirts.html

My favorite, favorite, favorite thing from the week! The wedding video that's sweeping the nation!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKheinz#play/all/uploads-all/0/4-94JhLEiN0

Cooking frozen pizza on the grill!!
http://controllingmychaos.blogspot.com/2009/07/pizza-on-grill-fresh-or-frozen.html

Pink popcorn balls!
http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2009/07/pink-popcorn-balls.html

My new favorite blog!
http://handmadegonewrong.blogspot.com/

Make an arm band for an iPod for those weird running people!
http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/07/arm-band-pouch.html

The best housewarming gift ever! I've actually given this before...
http://www.mommysideabook.com/money-matters/a-very-practical-yet-inexpensive-housewarming-gift/

I hope you enjoyed my favorite things!

Dirty Little Secrets

Once again Friday is here and it's time to let it all out. My secrets that is, not my muffin top...

-I wish more people would share their own secrets so I wouldn't look AS lazy and horrible.

-I just sent this nice note to Walmart.com's customer service department. I sure hope it makes their day on Monday...

I live in Alaska, and since the selection is limited I thought I'd try out shopping online. I did find a lot more selection and put 2 outfits for my daughter in my cart. The total? $24 I proceeded to go through all the bs of starting an account, practically giving a dna sample to use my own credit card, then see my total. $43 something. There must be a mistake. I must have ordered 4 outfits instead of 2. Nope. Shipping. $19+ for shipping. I made sure everyone on my Facebook saw what a scam that is. Ridiculous.

Instead I had it sent to my friend in Nevada. The shipping? $1.94. Now she has to help me (out of the kindness of her heart) repackage it and send it up to me the way it should have been done the first time. If it costs more than $3 I'll be shocked. But that's not price gouging or anything. Say goodbye to this online customer...

-My house is TRASHED (like more than normal) and we're having people over tonight. I also have sewing stuff all over the poker table that they'll need to use later.

-I'm going to Mr. Wright's family reunion tomorrow and I ate the broccoli salad that I was supposed to bring for the potluck. I also have nothing for the chinese auction or for my kids to open.

-I bawled through that video of the wedding dance on my Facebook/Yahoo's home page/everywhere else on the internet. It wasn't sad, but I'm a crybaby.

-I heard Sweetie Pie tell her friend today "Don't talk about kindergarten in front of my mom or she'll start crying"...

-And then I cried again that she was so sweet to be so sensitive to her overly weepy mother.

-My house is so messy that my niece lost her shoes when she was here on Wednesday. Her shoes... not her tiny ring or something. Shoes.

-I needed vinegar for the broccoli salad and had to ask my mom for some since I used all mine trying to get the stinks out of clothes that I repeatedly leave mildewing in the washing machine.

-I really really need to have my carpets cleaned... that, or just tell people that Polka Dotted carpet is all the rage in Europe and that they're lame for questioning my awesome taste. Still deciding...

Please share your dirty little secrets in the comments, and as always you can chose the anonymous option. Please share... don't make me cry :P

2 A.M.

I was up until 2 o'clock in the morning last night... er, today, redoing my blog. It was like blogger crack- I just kept going and going and going until finally I lost consciousness and went to sleep. But at least my blog is cute! And now I'm tired, and cranky, and not looking forward to running of 5 hours of sleep when I usually get 10, especially since I have a bonus kid today. *Yawn* At least I have a good reason to stay in my jammies, not clean my house, and continue to leave the garbage can at the end of the driveway AGAIN. Too bad kids don't adjust their energy level to Mama's tiredness level...

The Walk Of Shame

This morning I had to do the walk of shame AGAIN. No, I didn't sleep with someone and have to sneak out in yesterday's clothes, but I did have to get my trash can at the end of my driveway from last Thursday's trash pickup, fill it up with new trash, and walk it out there again. And of course it was 8am so everyone was leaving for work, and of course it makes this horrible clunky noise all the way down my long driveway to provide ample time and reason for everyone to check out what I'm doing. At least yesterday when they saw my trash can at the end of the driveway I appeared to be simply ahead ahead of the game by having my trash out early.

Not like having my trash can at the end of my driveway really affects our curb appeal that much anyway. The 6 feet tall fireweed and million kid toys strewn about really draw your eye away from the garbage can and that shredded diaper that my hellion precious family pet kindly brought over from the neighbor's house. We were already 'that house' in the neighborhood anyway since the "Potomac Blue" that we chose to paint our house looked perfect on the color swatch, but really should be named "Extreme Electric Aqua" to properly disclose the actually color. All I know is if the Potomac was that color it would be declared a radioactive hazard.

Luckily the house has faded in the last 5 years and now it's a 'beachy blue' that still sticks out like a sore thumb with all the cream, brown, tan, and all other colors of boring that inhabit the street. I'm just wondering when the neighbors will start collecting money to move us somewhere else to rid them of color and this killer.



I'm just going to rest up and conserve energy so I can get that trash can at least by next Wednesday.

Letting Go

Sweetie Pie has been getting more and more excited about going to kindergarten in the fall. I'm her Mama, and I'm excited for her, but I'm also stocking up on clearance tissues for the first 3 months. I started crying even telling her what she was going to do at kindergarten, and I'm tearing up now telling you what I was telling her about kindergarten. She's VERY independent and won't have a single problem with spending 5 days a week away from home, but I'm going to miss her like crazy.

This is what I was waiting for ALL those mornings when she was colicky and screaming all night long. I'd get though those tough times with the help of Tylenol (for me), some cookies, and the promise that it was only 5 more years until kindergarten. When she hit her terrible twos (and threes) I bleached and vacuumed up after her while whispering "three more years, three more years" to myself like the crazy lady that I am. When she started lying, and taking my things and hiding them I reminded myself that I only had one more year to be the only person showing her the way in life.

What you see:


What I see:


Today when we had our talk about kindergarten my little angel had to wipe the tears from my cheeks and remind me that she will indeed be coming home everyday after school. She's just so little... too little to ride a bus and get herself ready for recess. Too little to be alone with the meanie 5th graders on the playground and to find her own classroom. She's just too little.

And now it's hit me like a ton of bricks. My baby isn't a baby anymore, and almost a third of her life as a child is over... and now I'm crying. And she thinks I'm nuts. Where's the tylenol and cookies!?

Cinnamon Banana Bread

It may be July, but today sure felt like Fall to me. The wind was blowing, it was overcast and yucky outside, and it gave me a hankering for some warm banana bread. Because I'm Mrs. Wright I had some squishy bananas just begging to be squashed and baked, so the kids pulled up some chairs and we started baking. I never really think of cinnamon with bananas, but there was cinnamon in the recipes, so I decided to coat the bread in the cool Cinnamon Crumbles that Pampered Chef makes. I sold Pampered Chef way back in the day and those crumbles must have come with my samples at one point. They may be two years old, but those crumbles were the perfect addition to my warm, buttery banana bread.




As soon as the *maid* shows up (I guess that would be me) and does the banana bread dishes I've got a zucchini that's giving me "bake me in bread" eyes. Can Mama live on bread alone?? I can sure try!

My Favorite Things

I'm entirely too lazy today to hijack everyone's pictures and upload them again to show these links, so think of them more as a present that you have to open to see...

Playing and learning in one! Let your kids draw, write letters and make a huge mess with shaving cream!
http://www.livinglocurto.com/index.php/2009/07/learning-with-shaving-cream/

If I ever used the thing it might be in need of a little boost- here's a great article on how to clean your vacuum!
http://smallnotebook.org/2009/04/29/spring-clean-how-to-put-the-voom-back-in-your-vacuum/

An easy and adorable solution if you run out of cupcake papers!
http://bedifferentactnormal.blogspot.com/2009/06/parchment-cupcake-wrappers.html

An adorable way to simply alter the look of any lampshade to match any decor!
http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/06/ribbon-lamp.html

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies... need I say more?
http://bedifferentactnormal.blogspot.com/2009/07/peanut-butter-fudge-brownies.html

I hope you enjoy them!!

Car Poop Lane

Yesterday I ran to the consignment store in hopes of finding a potty to carry around in my car for potty emergencies and I struck gold since not having to stop and ask a stranger to use their toilet is worth way more than $5.50 in my book. I threw it in the back of the car and didn't realize how useful that little baby was about to be...

I ignored my to do list again today to spend some time with my mom while she is in town. She only lives an hour away, but I feel like I hardly see her since she only comes to Wasilla for work, then usually heads straight home. We packed the kids into her car since my van is currently a bit under the weather and decided to hit some garage sales.

We followed endless signs leading to nowhere, drove by a few sales that weren't worth getting out for, and walked around a few sales that looked promising but led to no purchases. After almost an hour we finally caught a sale that has a few interesting items including a new backpack for little man, some 'new' VHS tapes, and a few items for my mom. As we were walking out of the sale Boo started the MJ crotch grab and I knew it was potty time.

I potty trained all my kids on the regular toilet without an insert or anything, so I was interested to see what would happen when I offered this foreign plastic seat as a place to do her business. Without even blinking she sat on it and peed all in the back hatch of my mom's car. And I wonder why people look at me like I'm nuts... I didn't want the pee sloshing around in the potty obviously, so I had no choice but to dump the pee in the woods outside their driveway. Sorry nice garage sale people!!

Boo actually thought that peeing in a plastic seat in the back of a car was pretty freeing and repeatedly asked to go. I didn't want to deny her and I was even starting to get used to the funny look that people give you when they realize what your adorable toddler is doing in the back of the car, but I was fearing what would happen if she decided to do more than pee.

I got the chance pretty quickly after that, but it wasn't very much and I could just collect it in a baby wipe for disposal. Plus she did it at these pissy ladies' house where they wanted 50% off the cover price for books- at a GARAGE SALE. Please... even my toddler knows what to 'say' to that.

I didn't get a ton of stuff and we seemed to be those people that cleared out the free box and didn't buy anything at a few of the sales, but overall the day went well. The kids and I had a blast and we got some cheap items to boot.

Next time you see a crazy lady with unbrushed hair with a cute toddler pooping in the back of her van pull over and say hi- I love talking with my adoring fans!

Dirty Little Secrets Friday!

I missed last week's edition since I was too busy doing God knows what, but I'm back now with two weeks worth of juiciness to spill... if only I could remember anything but today!

Leave a comment with your dirty little secrets and remember, you can ALWAYS post anonymously so I can re-read it ten times looking for clues about who it could be. I have no life, remember?

I'm scared to share these because I'm link on Facebook now, and I'm only used to sharing my DLS's with my bloggy friends. (That was itself a dirty little secret!)

We went to lunch with my mom today and a huge lady with her fat hanging out of her shirt sat down right next to us. I could tell Sweetie Pie wanted to say something or ask about her and I was PRAYING that she would keep her mouth shut.

My kids had cookies and beef sticks for 'lunch' then refused to eat their real lunch.

I bought a tiny kiddie potty today to carry in my van for emergencies. I'd MUCH rather have Boo poo in the potty in my van than have her hang onto a public potty, especially one we used today. Nasty!

My kids are so deprived of clean toilet experiences that they asked really loudly why the water was blue. In my defense the toilet we used was so gross that they probably use the blue stuff to cover the stains.

I haven't made my bed in 2 weeks.

I stapled Boo's curtain (really just a thick blanket to block the 24 hour Alaskan light) to the wall because she kept pulling it down. Mr. Wright's going to be thrilled when he sees all the holes in her wall.

Somedays I want to sell Little Man on Craigslist. And throw in the dog free with purchase. I bet he wants to sell me on Craigslist too so I'm thinking we're even.

I haven't worn jammie pants in weeks! It's been too hot... I sure miss them though.

I need a shower. And to shave. And probably a haircut and brow waxing. Basically I feel like a stinky swamp monster.

There you go... now it's your turn!

My New Craftopia!

I've been so caught up in actually using my craft area that I had totally forgotten to share my awesome space! I'm back to reality now (only for a few minutes of course) and I'm so excited to show off my new favorite corner of the house.

Here's the before picture in case you missed it, and it was actually worse than that before I actually got around to organizing it:



And here's the after!



What a change! These are the awesome cabinets that my sis gave me FREE because she rocks and I've packed them full of fun sewing goodies.



Here's my felt in the left cabinet, and all my cottons and flannels and fleeces in the right. I didn't really realize what I had even though it was organized before just because I couldn't really get to where it was. It was like a shopping spree once I saw all my fun stuff that's been MIA for a few months.



Here's my giant drawer full of patterns I'll probably never use. I'm addicted to buying patterns at those $.99 sales that Joann's has and I've only hit one or two of those to collect this stash!



And my notions boxes for all my velcro, elastic and other sewing junk. I haven't gotten around to labeling them yet, but I stuck some cute scrap paper in there for right now just to spruce them up a bit. These were on sale at Joann's for $2 each, and the $12 I spent on them was the only money I put into this makeover!!



Thanks for stopping by my craft nook- I hope you like it! All I needed was one more thing to distract me from all those dishes!! :P

Apron Me Crazy!

I'm finally able to share my secret project that I was working on for an embarrassingly long time! I made my sister (Senorita Snarkalicious) a cupcake apron for her birthday. She picked out the fabric a long time ago, but she knows me well and never really expected me to actually produce something out it. I've never made an apron before and it was hardly the pattern to start on, but I'm so proud of it and may need to make my own to hang in my kitchen and never use.



The saying on my wall is actually there (except for the apron part, of course!) and this is the future home of my photo wall in my dining room. I was so jealous of my friend Linsay's impressive photo wall (take a peek here) that I had to make my own. My photos will make a border around the saying instead of making a square like hers though.

I'm unsure of what my next crafty project is going to be, but I think I'm going to take an apron break for a month or two! Maybe one of these days I'll even share the 'after' picture of my new craft area!

Clean Sweep

I've finally gotten around to cleaning up my craft area in the hopes that I will cross a few million projects off my crafty to do list. For some reason I haven't been able to get motivated with 3 square inches of open table to work on. I took before pictures over a month ago in hopes that I would do it right away, but better late than never, right? I don't have after pictures yet since I'm not 100% done but I thought I'd share what I've been working on. It's fun to organize all my stuff and see what I have! Plus folding all my fabric and stacking it together makes my OCD smile.

Anyway, here's what I'm working with... scary!



I can't wait to get off my butt and take the after so I can share my new space!

The Three Little Bigs

The other day my friend Linsay linked me to an article by Camille Roskelley, 3 Things = Happy Me. Basically the idea behind the article is to ditch giant to do lists that will never get finished and simplify with a 3 item list. Every night before bed you chose 3 things that you want to accomplish the next day. Unfortunately she already put the kibosh on putting 'feed kids' on the list but she never said I couldn't put "change out of and preferably wash skeezy jammies" or "seriously find out where that smell is coming from" on there. You aim to complete the three things, and you'll feel much more satisfied than if you had made a list with 50 items on it and complete 'only' three. I'm guilty of this, and even typed and printed my never-ending to do list, but she may have a point seeing as how I haven't even seen that list in a few weeks, much less accomplished anything on there.

I also seem to have a problem with selective overachieving, so hopefully I'll be able to do four things and be proud that I did something even though I didn't "have to". Actually I kinda do "have to" do a bunch of laundry tomorrow since the family is picky and demanding clean underwear and socks. I on the other hand don't need socks since it's summer, and it too hot to run the dryer... and the, er, washing machine because of the hot water. Just to be safe I'd better not run the vacuum either- it tends to get warm....

This is quite a rambling post, but I guess that's what I get for blogging at 1am after a warm shower. If you made it through the sleep-drunk post then I thank you, and if you're just skipping to the end because you're dying to know what kind of jammie pants I'm wearing then I'll just give you the cliff's notes:

1. Pick three things you want to accomplish today
2. Do those three things (I'm hoping mine don't involve the heat inducing chores listed above)
3. Invent cool summer pajama pants since I'm stuck in a skanky nightgown until we have a night that isn't a billion degrees.

That last one doesn't have to be done today of course, but you can make your own rules with it. What a great way to accomplish something without really doing a whole lot- Isn't that what Mrs. Wright is all about anyway??

Day 100- The First (And Last) 100 Days

Day 100... are you kidding me? In some ways I feel like I've been blogging forever, and then I look around my house and realize that I'm not quite as far into this journey as I though I would be. I can't say I'm surprised since old habits die hard, but I would have hoped to have made SOME kind of progress.

At the moment my dishes are caught up and have been for 10 days, but I'm sure like the cycles of cleaning before it will fall by the wayside and I'll be back to square one. I have an entire couch filled with clean laundry to fold, no one can find anything to wear since it's all piled there getting wrinkled, and I'm constantly battling with mildew from leaving clothes in the washing machine. I tried a chore box with no real luck, I tried daily lists, I tried a schedule- nothing really clicked with me. Unfortunately I'm going to do my 'chores' around the house when I feel like doing them, which that also has to mesh with what the kids are doing and who's biting whom at that moment, so it's no surprise that I don't get a lot done.

The OCD side of me wants to wake up at 5am every day, shower and read or sew until the family gets up when I naturally would make them a fancy (this means cooked) breakfast. The Mrs. Wright side of me knows that most days would be like today where I peeled myself out of bed at 8am and put some Hostess powdered mini donuts in a bowl for my kids while I checked my email though. Hey, my kids wouldn't even know what to do with an omelet! At least I'm not wearing jammies pants these days due to the wacky Alaskan heat wave. 85 degrees, no air conditioning and jammies just don't mix, much to my chagrin.

As I mentioned once before I'm giving up the 'Day whatever' format to relieve a little pressure on my blogging since it's turned into one more thing I have to do everyday instead of an outlet to whine about my lack of progress and tell everyone about what strange substance I sat in that day. I'm sure I'll lose readers if I don't post everyday, which I struggle with since I strive to be liked by everyone, but it is something that I have to do for my sanity.

I want to thank all my readers who have followed these first 100 days, anyone who stopped by even just for a second, anyone who ever left me a comment reminding me that I'm not just talking to myself, and my kids, husband, and sister for creating so many funny stories and situations for me to blog about. Without them I'd be giving everyone my take on the day's Regis and Kelly lineup... at least my blog is more interesting than that. Unless they have Brad Pitt on that day.

I still plan to blog 4-5 times a week and participate in blog carnivals, but the 7-9 posts a week are starting to wear on me and my unwashed hair. I feel much better even from just posting this, and today I'm going to enjoy the warm temperatures and polish off the rest of the powdered donuts. Right after I fold all that laundry of course...

Day 99- Today, Volume II

Today I'm too hot to blog. It's 85 degrees and no one in Alaska has air conditioning.

Today I wore a skanky skirt from high school because I was so hot.

Today I longed to look like I did in high school in it.

Today we drove over the top of a mountain, played in the river, and almost overheated my van about 10 times.

Today I was told that Boo is in the 5th percentile for weight.

Today I ate my weight in starbursts.

Today I hit level 17 on Farm Town. Sick... sick, sick, sick.

Today I did NOTHING around my house.

Today I was really hot... did I mention that I'm hot?

Day 98- Zombies or Spiders?

I'm so behind on blogging today, but Farm Town called! Nothing starts a day off right like fake farming. I was smirking too until I got my own farm... now I close my eyes and see farms! Scary...

Today was actually quite productive thanks to my sister Senorita Snarkalicious. She came to make sure I didn't get murdered in my crawlspace, and to save me from giant spiders. I always think that in an emergency we could stay under the house since our giant water 'bladder' is down there, but I'd rather be eaten by the rabid vampire zombies that get spider webs on me. Anyway, I finally put all my Christmas decorations, Halloween stuff, and all the other crap that I don't need out but can't get rid of under the house to free up some space under my stairs. I've lived here 5 years and never gotten around to doing it, so hurray!

If only I could hide all our other crap we need to sell down there so I could avoid the dreaded garage sale... I'm hoping that with the extra space I can get my sewing area set up and organized. Wouldn't that be nice?? Ehhh, maybe tomorrow...

Day 97- My Favorite Things

My favorite things I found in blogland this week...

Turn a garbage bag into an art smock!



You'll never guess what's in this chic do-it-yourself container!!

Make a beanbag toss game!

A wonderful charity project to do with even the youngest kids!

The best way EVER to pack kids for a trip!


I hope you enjoy this small slice of my bookmarks, and come back next Sunday for an all new edition of My Favorite Things!

Day 96- Farmed Out

Happy Independence Day! In honor of the 4th I'd like to declare my independence from diet food, exercise, leg hair stubble, and Sportscenter. Since that is just a dream I'll have to give the rundown on the housekeeping front instead. I do feel a revolution brewing though!! Viva no Sportscenter!!

I've been doing a GREAT job at keeping up with my dishes, and I even fit some laundry in there once I got the mildew-y mess out of my washing machine! The kids' room is also sparkling and for the first time in months the kids' beds were made too. The basics have been covered, but my vacuum isn't really getting used as much as I would hope.

Really the biggest issue I have these days is Farm Town on Facebook. It's addicting. Basically it's cyber farming, and I never knew it could be so fun... in fact, I have it open in another window and I'm checking back every 2 minutes. Mr. Wright thinks I have a problem (which I probably do) but now that I'm started up I can plant some stuff that takes a few days and I won't have to check as often. I'm not really sure if that is really going to solve the vacuuming problem or not unfortunately.

I have quite the to do list going, and I haven't gotten as many crafty projects done as I would have liked, but I have a whole field of wheat and corn and grapes. I know you think I'm lame now, because I thought it was lame before I tried it, but it really just sucks you in. If only I could grow real food and then my family might appreciate it more.

My goal for today is to vacuum at least the living room and stairs, and grow some more crap on my farm. Hey, at least I'm motivated to do SOMETHING! That's progress, right!?

Day 95- Dirty Little Secrets

I recorded Princess Protection Program on the Disney channel for Sweetie Pie and then watched it all by myself after they went to bed.

I may have made some brownies to go along with my movie fest... maybe.

I freaking love the Jonas Brother's music... I labeled their cd 'punk rock' so no one would know.

I may have a second copy for emergencies labeled JB.

I am scary addicted to Farm Town on Facebook.

I left laundry in my washing machine for 4 days and it smelled up my whole downstairs.

I wish that I had a million dollars just so I could put up a fence to keep all my neighbors out of my life.

I haven't washed my jeans in a week.

I panicked at dinner time yesterday and ordered pizza which I never do.

I ate three slices of that pizza, and they weren't tiny.

I totally forgot to wash a load of Mr. Wright's stuff that he had asked me to and I don't even know why I forgot.

I hate taking my kids to the park since it's always drenched in judgy moms and kids that push.

What's your dirty little secret? Leave me a comment, and remember that you can post anonymously!

Day 94- Organizing Roundup!

It that time of the month again... no, not that. It's Org Junkie's Monthly Organizing Roundup! This month focuses on our vehicles. I have to say that I was dreading this challenge as my van normally looks (and smells) like someone just fished it out of a dump... and then sprayed it with flower deodorizer, and then a nearby french fry factory exploded.

Here's the scary before... note Boo screaming at the top of her lungs, the happy meal collection, and hey- there's that roll of paper towels I've been looking for! It's like an Ispy! I spy a goldfish cracker bag, a sock, 345 french fry stubs...



Here's the nifty organizer thingy in the back that I didn't even KNOW I had! It already had the tools and crap in it (Mr. Wright must have known all along!) but I put our 'emergency' Capri Suns and DVD player in and got rid of the bag that use to hold that stuff. I left the right compartment empty so I can put snacks, wipes and other stuff in there.



Airing out the clutter free van!



Boo looking for all the snacks that she had previously shoved down the side of the seat...



My minivan... 10 pounds lighter, and smelling a whole lot better!



I sprayed half a can of smellies and shut all the doors- hopefully I'll be able to drive it in a few days without passing out from the fumes. On second thought the fumes of the dirty van weren't that great either... thanks for joining me for another edition of Org Junkie's Monthly Round Up, and check out what everyone else did with their vehicles on the I'm An Organizing Junkie Website. I always find great ideas there! Next up I'll be tackling hair and makeup supplies. I guess I should get mine out of the garage in preparation :P

To see more of Mrs. Wright's before and after posts click here!

Day 93- Does This Bag Make My Bag Look Wide?

I've stayed up the last few nights to finish what I thought would be the coolest purse/camera bag/ diaper bag ever. Unfortunately I'm still Mrs. Wright and I didn't think the measurements through so I made it too wide and too short. I still really like it, but it just isn't what I wanted. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, so I'm wondering if I should jump on the bandwagon and start a shop on Etsy. I'm so intimidated, but what's the worst that can happen?

For now, I'll just dream that people are knocking down my door to buy a bag that was sewn with Boo peeing on my leg and Spongebob blaring in the background. If they only knew...





I'm going to start over and make a smaller version with pockets now... that is after I finish the other 20 things on my crafty to do list!

Day 92- Down By The River

Today was Mr. Wright's day off, so he forced me to leave the shelter of my house AND wear shorts. I apologize to anyone who had to witness this lapse in my judgement. Tanning gift certificates are being accepted... and razors. In retaliation I made him wear his wedding ring which came off just days after our wedding 6 years ago.

We drove to a spot with shallow but fast moving waters and the kids had a great time throwing rocks into the water. There was a puddle that was no longer connected to the river filled with baby salmon, so Sweetie Pie made it her mission to save as many lives as she could. We dug through the trash that Mr. Wright had left in his car, and armed with a stick and a Carl's Jr. malt cup we collected 8 fish and transferred them back to the river.

I must admit that I did have fun leaving the house, though I (and the world) could have done without the shorty shorts!

The tiniest salmon ever!



My monkeys fishing with a cup



An Alaskan view



As we drove away Little Man and Sweetie Pie were thrilled with the fish lives that they saved, then informed us that the fish needed to grow bigger so we could catch them and eat them. Mrs. Wright doesn't eat fish, but my kids LOVE "fish chicken nuggets". They like chicken nuggets, only fishier! :-X

Friend Making Mondays

This week's edition is guest hosted by Shawn from Seriously.

What are you doing this July 4th?
I have no idea at this point. Mr. Wright has to work, but I'm sure someone in the family will have a BBQ. At least I'm hoping... I'm sure there will be potato salad there!

What's your favorite dish to pass while attending a 4th of July party or summer BBQ?
I'm usually pretty lazy about making stuff and I like to come just to eat, but I love red, white and blue desserts and have a special one in mind for this year.

Do you have any July 4th traditions?
Not really... fireworks suck in Alaska since it never gets dark enough in the summer so we usually just have a BBQ.

Share your favorite July 4th picture:



July 4th, 2008
Yep, that's snow. We went up to my parent's house to go fishing last year, and took the old road over the mountain home. At the very top the snow hardly ever melts, despite the 80 degree temperature that day! The kids loved to play in the snow for a few minutes and then be able to leave it behind!

Happy Friend Making Monday!!

Day 91- Double Trouble

On Friday I went to town to run some errands and decided to hit a garage sale near my house on the way home. It was one of those dream sales where they were in it to get rid of their crap, not make money. I found a super nice heavy glass cake plate cover (the bottom had been broken) for a dollar and I started dreaming about all the cute stuff I could put in it on my counter. I also found an adorable white scalloped shelf that would look darling in one of my girls' rooms and a few shirts for Sweetie Pie.

The big ticket item was a bunk bed set. It wasn't the bunk bed set of my dreams or anything, but it was $75 and not covered in Pokemon stickers like every other one I've seen at garage sales. I thought about it for a few minutes but wanted to talk to Mr. Wright before making any decisions. The woman running the sale gave me her number and I had to run to the car to get some money for my box of goodies. I gave her the money and walked away... totally forgetting the box of my purchases. It was lunch time and the kids were all screaming so I had a lot on my mind.

Mr. Wright and I talked about the beds but by Saturday I had decided against getting them. $75 is a lot when you don't have it, plus we didn't have a truck to get them to my house either. I was too sheepish to call the lady and ask her if she still had my box of stuff and tell her that we couldn't get the beds, but my mom told me to get some balls (yes, exact words :P) so I called and left a message. She called me back Saturday night and said that no one had bought the beds at the sale and she really needed to get rid of them. She offered to give them to me for $50 AND deliver, so who could turn down an offer like that!?

Short story long, she delivered them yesterday (along with my forgotten box of crap), I pulled 384,985 muscles in my back getting them into the house by myself, scraped the paint off 45 new places on my walls, got them stuck in 4 different doorways, and made 2 kids very happy... that is until they needed to clean the room around their new beds.

Here is the room before (I finally took down the princess decorations from months ago when it was Boo's room) and I totally shoved the MOUNTAIN of toys out of the shot...



Here is the after, and the toy mountain is now g-o-n-e and we all couldn't be happier!



Now poor Sweetie Pie will have a bed to sleep on! She has a bed in her room but 95% of the time she slept on one of those foam kid couches on Little Man's floor. Now all I have left to do is make a chiropractor appointment for myself!

Day 90- My Favorite Things

I read a LOT of blogs, like a scary amount, so I've decided to share some links to my favorite things. Hey, it beats hearing about my laundry pile, right?


A cute 4th of July craft using your kiddos hands and feet!
http://seren-zipitydoda.blogspot.com/2009/06/little-red-white-blue-project.html


A mouse pad for the kids!
http://www.currentlycrafting.com/2009/03/make-mouse-pad.html


A cash wallet for Dave Ramsey/envelope system followers!
http://www.graceviolet.com/2009/05/cash-wallet.html


A cute printable meal planner!
http://tangarangblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/mondays-free-download.html


A skirt from dishtowels!
http://www.graceviolet.com/2009/02/how-to-make-skirt-from-dish-towels.html

I hope you enjoy a few of my million bookmarked posts!

Day 89- Housekeeping Update

In case you haven't noticed I like to write about other stuff than the current state of my house, usually for good reason. Luckily the last few days I've been keeping up with the dishes, and even crossing a few things off my giant perpetual to do list and getting some sewing in. I'm going to pretend that I don't hear Boo spilling beans all over the kitchen floor at this very second from this project and assume that it's still clean in there.

I'm wearing pajama pants, but at least I had the courtesy to put on a clean pair this morning. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. Is it better to just not get dressed but wear dirty jammie pants, or is it better to purposely wear jammies all day that are clean? These are the tough questions that Mrs. Wright has to face on a daily basis. This is serious, people!

My kitchen is clean, my dishwasher is empty, and except for a giant pile of crap in one spot the counters are clear too. If only I could get motivated to clean that pile... On second thought Mr. Wright might think he came home to the wrong house if I change too much, so I better leave that be for a while.

My house could really use a good vacuuming and my windows have so many fingerprints on them that you can't see out, but overall I'm making progress, albeit slow. I have a bunch of homeless stuff down in the game room that really needs to be dealt with. Ideally I'd have a garage sale and make some cash off my broken crap quality pre-owned crap but I live in a less populated area and I don't really want to sit in my yard with all my stuff while no one comes by. Garage sales are way more fun with a friend anyway... I sure wish I had some of those!

I'll skip the good mom update and you can catch up with my awesome parenting moment of the week here. I think that pretty much sums it up for the week. I'm still waiting for those butt crack pictures to surface on the internet. Darn paparazzi!

Day 88- Dirty Little Secrets Friday!

Welcome to another edition of my confessions of a burnt out, unshowered, pajama pants wearing, literally staying at home mom. Who's ready for some juice?

-Sweetie Pie always has this nasty rat's nest in the back of her hair because I only brush it when we leave the house. In my defense I could brush it every couple hours and it would still appear after every nap.

-Boo pooped her pants twice this week and it made me really sad. I didn't want to be mean about it obviously, but "oh no, you crapped your pants again." didn't really get the 'please don't do this again EVER because it's nasty' message across like I was hoping.

-I forgot to take the trash out 2 weeks ago and last week's trash wouldn't fit in the trash can because of it. I went to put it in the can last night and there were maggots on one of the bags. *BARF* OMG it was sooooo gross, and then I had to fess up to Mr. Wright.

-I stopped the online timer for almost an hour yesterday so Mr. Wright wouldn't see. Here's to hoping that he stopped reading at 'maggots'.

-I made that huge 'to do' list and only mark one or two things a day off of it, if that. If I ever complete everything on that list it will be a miracle... like an actual real miracle with angels and stuff.

- I haven't cleaned my shower since before CHRISTMAS. Seriously. How hard is it to spray some Scrubbing Bubbles, wait 20 minutes, then spray it down with the wand!? Pretty hard apparently.

- I quit posting on Extreme Makeover, Me Edition since I NEVER work out, think about working out, or have the desire to workout. I miss those ladies, but I think they're sick of my 100 posts about how I still didn't work out this week...

- I put the stool to the trampoline up high because I was tired of putting the kids' socks and shoes on over and over again after they jumped on it every 3 minutes.

-I love the smell of bleach so much that after I (rarely) clean something with it I smell my hands a few times. I'm a junkie!

- I shove a whole cookie in my mouth all at once just so the kids won't see what I have in there and ask for their own.

Your turn! What's your dirty little secret? You can always post anonymously.

Day 87- Alaskan Experiences

Library day... I haven't been to the library in quite a while and I finally got sick of the kids whining every time we drove by. I wanted to go too, but I had $4.50 in late fees that I never got around to paying. The freaking library is stuck in the 80's and doesn't have a credit card machine, and I NEVER have cash unless pennies count. Sticky pennies of course. In anticipation of library day I gathered my money from all the random places that I had seen a crumpled dollar and shoved it in my pocket.

I get the kids in the car, checked my mail, and headed to town. I was a few miles away from home when I noticed something moving in my peripheral vision and zeroed in on a nasty spider crawling down the door frame towards the dashboard. I wanted to pull over but there is no shoulder on the particular road I was on, and no side roads for a while. I started to hit him with my mail while driving down the road and I got him pretty good with one of the swats. I kept checking for his creepy spider legs on the envelope and they stayed there for a while until he was gone. All this time I'm driving down the road TRYING to stay between the lines and not alert my kids to the fact that we may just die because Mama is so freaked out by spiders that she's having trouble watching the road. I saw him running across the dashboard so I started to hit him with the second envelope and finally squashed him to the point of no return. Take that spidey!!

We arrived at the library with all three kids salivating at the thought of bringing home weird books (they always pick the strange 'what do YOU think it means?' books) but I was already pissed. Let me start by saying that our library has 8 parking spots. Yes, 8. Usually people park in the "museum" spots that are right there too so that brings the grand total to 12, 14 if you count handicap spots. It is hard to park there any day, but on Wednesday all hell breaks loose. About 15 feet from the last library parking spot is a tiny historical block of town that now holds the Wednesday market. I actually remembered that it was market day ahead of time, but knew that it started at noon and I left at 10:30.

Unfortunately when I got there I learned that they changed the opening of the market to 11am, and it was now 10:45. I was lucky enough to get the last library parking spot right next to the market and we proceeded to the library. The visit was pretty uneventful except for me being "that lady" when my cell phone rang every five minutes for the entire 30 minutes we were there. Boo was getting tired and cranky so we got out of there before it turned into a screaming wrestling match to the tune of my ringing phone.

We got to the van and Boo snapped. She was screaming, hitting, and arching her back making it impossible to buckle her into her carseat. I had no choice but to gently shove her into her seat while I buckled her in, and yell over her screaming to command the older kids to sit down and buckle up. I was almost in a sweat and about to cry myself by the time I had all three buckled and halfway not crying. I back my butt out of the side door of the van and turn around to realize that a freaking TOUR BUS is parked 10 feet from my van and every person on board has witnessed my awesome parenting. They sure got their Alaskan experience alright and some scenery too when I was backing out of the van!

If anyone knows someone who took a Royal Celebrity tour in Wasilla yesterday please give them my apologies. I should really buy a belt!

Day 86- Boring Blog Post

Firefox has this little add-on that you can download and it will track the time that you spend online. I downloaded just to see what it was all about and I can now confidently say that this little bugger was sent from hell to make me feel badly about myself... it was off for a bit of the morning and it is currently reading FOUR hours and seven minutes. Part of that was Mr. Wright, but most of it was me. I love my e-mail and crackbook and my mommy board and blog reader, but FOUR hours!? That just makes me sad for my poor babies. Yes, they know all the hot entertainment news the moment it breaks (Matthew McConaughey is going to be a daddy again!) , but they don't know who Dr. Suess is...

I never really thought about it when I started this blog, but by using the "day 1, day 2" format and combining that with my selective OCD I locked myself into posting every.single.day. I couldn't skip a day because then my numbering would be all random and that just wouldn't be okay. Unfortunately my "content" (I use that word loosely :P ) has suffered. This will be my 102nd post in 86 days and I don't have any more secrets left... at least none that I really want to share on the internet.

I'm getting a little bit 'Kate Gosselin' on the subject (I totally just made that a verb!) and feel like I have to have experiences just so I can write about them. I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about people coming to my blog and always loving it, but I hate pushing publish when it's not something that I can read back to myself and laugh. I haven't decided if I'm going to post less often or just make a posting schedule where I don't have to spend an hour writing a brand new post every day.

Either way I've decided to ditch the 'Day whatever' format once I reach 100 days. I may even celebrate my first 100 days with a giveaway! That's what fun blogs do, right!? They give stuff away... I, for one, and glad to be doing away with the day thing since I can NEVER remember what day I'm on and have to look at yesterday's every time.

So what do YOU want to read about? My crafts? What I made for dinner? All the cleaning I DIDN'T get done today? Boo shoplifting from the store? What color my pajama pants are today? Leave me a comment so I can make my blog even better!

Day 85- To Don't List

Yesterday I woke up to find that Boo had left me a little brown potty training surprise in the night. Needless to say she went straight in the bath. Shockingly I started cleaning at 8am and yada, yada, yada I got all these chores done! I made a list to stay accountable and I'm hoping to cross more things off tomorrow. I'm not quite used to having to do SO much work just to cross one little thing off the list. Usually my lists look like this:
get out of bed
make list

I know everyone is itching to see exactly what has fallen behind in my home, so now, without further delay, duhn, duhn duhhhhhhhhhhhhhn...

My Master List!
Clear counters
Wash dishes
Fold laundry
Clean Boo's room & organize closet
Move changing table out to sell
Go through Boo's clothes to reduce amount
Clean Little Man's room & organize closet
Move princess decorations from months ago to the girls' rooms
Move kids' name letters to the right rooms
Rotate kids toys
Move games from hall closet to game room
Clean under bathroom sink and purge drawer
Clean kids bathtub after poop incident
Move shelf in dining room downstairs
Move dining room table
Clean out crap 'in-box'
Clean out junk drawer
Move emergency kit project downstairs
Purge cabinet contents
Get rid of crap pile on counter
Clean/vacuum tops of cabinets
Re-arrange living room furniture
Sweep/Mop/de-stink entryway
Vacuum stairs
Clean Sweetie Pie's room
Organize sad sickly stockpile pantry
Wash bed skirt and put back on
Make my bed
Do all the laundry all over my floor
Clean off dresser and nightstand
Clean shower and sweep/mop bathroom
Vacuum game room and hall
Clean off craft table
Sell high chair, exersaucer, poker table, changing table and other baby crap on Craigslist
Take all other donations to charity or have garage sale
Clean laundry room AGAIN
Make menu plan and grocery list
Make a list of lists :P

What's on your list?

Day 84- Sew Cranky

Yesterday was a good day potty training wise. I'll spare you the details, but Boo only had 2 accidents all day. She really gets it and makes a little sad face when she does have an accident. Hopefully I can give away my extra diapers later this week and never have a baby in diapers again. <---- This statement alone makes me want to jump for joy and scream with baby fever at the same time. I could probably do those things simultaneously but I maydefinitely need to stretch first.

I hope that Mr. Wright had a good Father's Day, but unfortunately he had to work for most of the day. I spent the day being a slave to Boo again, but it was great to see her progress. I also got to deal with these super cranksters who stayed up too late watching movies. When you're preschoolers are staying up later than you on a Saturday night you may need to get a life...



We had a barbecue to go to so the kids got to run around and tire themselves out. We pretty much came home and they went to bed, but Mrs. Wright was feeling crafty. I whipped up this little beauty with some scrap fabric that I had and I think it will be the perfect reward for Boo's new 'lifestyle change' of no longer crapping her pants.



I didn't get a thing done around the house the last few days, so I really need to focus on that this week. Too bad ALL I want to do is sew...

Day 83- Undie Count, 2009

I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing about how many times Boo can pee herself in a 24 hour period, but with the potty training consuming my life I don't really have much else to blog about. We are making s-l-o-w progress, but everyone assures me that most kids magically 'get-it' around day 3, but it could take longer. I really hope that we're almost done, and I'm sure that my carpet agrees. This will all be worth it even if she's potty trained in 10 days, but for now I get to whine about the constant peeing.

Here's the rundown of my day:
8:00am- Boo woke up damp, tried to pee, put on undies #1
9:03am- peed a tiny bit in undies, tried to pee on potty, put on undies #2
9:12am- peed a tiny bit in undies, peed in the potty, put on undies #3
9:55am-peed a tiny bit in undies, tried in potty, put on undies #4
10:03am- super peed a TON in dining room, tried on potty, put on undies #5
11:28am- tried on potty, left for Walmart with pee pad in hand!
11:35am- I smelled something stinky from the back of the van, hoped it wasn't what I thought it was
11:41am- false alarm confirmed
1:07pm- back from Walmart, tried to pee, changed into new Elmo undies (#6)
1:12pm- peed a tiny bit in brand new Elmo undies, tried on potty while crying "Melmo!! NOOOO!", put on undies #7
1:15pm- down for nap
3:25pm- woke up during nap to scream POTTY!, dry undies, tried in potty
4:01pm- woke up wet, peed in potty, put on undies #8
4:47pm- peed a tiny bit in undies, tried on potty, put on undies #9
4:49pm- (seriously!) peed in undies, peed on potty, put on undies #10
5:04pm- peed a tiny bit in undies, peed on potty, put on undies #11
5:25pm- peed a tiny but in undies, tried on potty, put on undies #12
6:35pm- tried on potty
7:10pm- tried on potty
7:25pm-7:30pm- tried FIVE FREAKING TIMES...ugg!
7:31pm- pooped in the potty!! Whoo hoo! I've never been so excited for that smell...
7:40pm- peed on the potty
7:45pm- in bed, in undies, for the night.
7:46 pm- I wash a BILLION pairs of undies to prepare for tomorrow, and forward this post to frisky teenagers who think kids are easy :P

Boo's made so much progress in the last two days that I don't want to stop and send mixed signals, but pee SUCKS. I'm just looking forward to less and less accidents and I'm so proud of my little girl. I never would have dreamed of potty training at 24 months, but she made the decision for me with all the diaper ditching. Here's hoping that the 3 Day Potty Training is literal for us!

Day 82- Potty Party

You know those things that you've never, ever heard of and then all of a sudden you hear about it 5 or 6 times in one day? That's what happened with this Three Day Potty Training. I had bought a book with Sweetie Pie that had a similar time frame. Unfortunately that whole method was centered around throwing a 'potty party' in the bathroom. I have toddlers so I'm no stranger to acting like an ass in the name of silliness, but throwing a farm animal themed party in my bathroom complete with balloons and streamers was a but too much for me. Needless to say I skimmed the book once (since it was really categorized by all the different weirdo potty parties you could have) and never touched it again.

Anyway, back to the Three Day Potty Training... I was worried that this was going to be one of those things where I have to set a timer for every 3 minutes and pretty much spend the whole day in the bathroom neglecting the older kids. Plus all that parenting would really cut into my computer time! Fortunately the potty training guru must also be addicted to the internet since her method doesn't require any timers, or pull ups, or Excedrin.

Basically you put your monster child (her method works for 22 months+) in underwear and ask them to keep their underwear dry. Instead of asking a million times if they need to go pee you have to ask them a million times to "tell Mama if you need to go potty". The guru also suggests that you stay home as much as possible for the three days. Of course I had one quick errand that I had to run, so I 'woman-ed up', but Boo in undies and headed to Lowes.

Once we were in the car I didn't really want to remind her to tell me if she needed to go potty since I don't own a potty chair and didn't want to stop, so I just kept asking her if she was dry. It's about 15 minutes to Lowes, and I must have asked her 20 times on the way there alone.

Me: Are you still dry?

Boo: (Grabs crotch like Michael Jackson) Yah!!

Me: Hooray!! Good job!

Boo: Hahahahahahah!

(wait 30 seconds and repeat)

Of course once I got to Lowes I stuck her in a giant plastic car cart that had rain water in the seat so she was soaking wet anyway, but still dry in the front. I zipped through the paint section to steal paint chips for this, but apparently they only have them at Home Depot. I'm looking like I have psychiatric issues at this point since I'm still quizzing Boo on the contents of her pants every two seconds in public, but I don't think I was every really in the running for the Mrs. Sane crown so I'm alright about it. I got my errand done, loaded the kids back in the car, and continued the inquisition all the way home.

I congratulate her as we walk in the door since we went ALL the way to Lowes and back without her peeing her pants (where's my gold star for that!?) and she's just glowing with pride. I was going to have her try to pee then since she had held it for a while, but the guru was VERY clear about trusting Boo to tell me when she had to go. I reminder her AGAIN to tell Mama if she had to pee, but she probably didn't hear me since she was up to her elbows in Apple Jacks. I made a phone call for 2 minutes, hung up the phone and noticed Boo 3 feet away from me doing the MJ crotch grab again screaming "butt, butt, butt!!". Whoops.

I cleaned her up and replaced her panties, but by then it was naptime. I figured she's already thoroughly marked her territory on her bed already this week so what's one more time. She actually stayed dry for her 90 minute morning nap- woo hoo! At lunch she started to pee but notified me as soon as it happened. Maybe she is hearing me every 5 seconds when I ask her to tell me! Little Man also alerted me to the presence of "lemonaid" on Boo's chair. She finished her business in the potty, which marks the first time she's peed in the potty ever. I won't even tell you how excited I was because it will reveal how lame the rest of my life is. She was just as proud...

The big question was naptime. She loves to sleep and drool like her Mama so she take a long nap in the afternoon. I tried to get her to go before bed but she just pretended to go and then spent the next 3 minutes flushing my stuff down the toilet. She didn't really sleep, I got her up a few times, but she still peed her undies. The evening was also quite eventful, but we're getting there. Hopefully we'll make some progress before I totally run out of clean underwear.

Tomorrow, we tackle day two... I'm already tired!

Day 81- Twisted

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day chore wise. I got the dishes done which was good since I was starting some interesting science experiments with some old milky sippy cups. Unfortunately Boo decided to do some more diaper removal during naptime. On a good note her blankie is the cleanest that it has ever been since I'm washing it 3 times a day lately...

One of my readers Tiffany commented on my post the other day and suggested that I put her in backwards zippered jammies with the feet cut off. I didn't really want to ruin a pair of her jammies so I tried just twisting the feet around and then putting them on backwards. It worked like a charm and she even sat through the photo shoot of her Kriss-Kross impression. Anything to postpone bedtime, right?



Unfortunately this morning I opened her door and she was buck naked. Yep, my little Houdini got out of backward zippy jammies. In the dark. There on her floor were her jammies layed out perfectly flat, still zipped AND snapped. She shimmied her boyish figure out the neck hole of those pajamas. That's like Babies Have Talent worthy. She could be a STAR!!



The kids were actually all pretty worn out from a birthday party that we went to last night. I got to hold a tiny newborn and rock her to sleep while my wild monkeys ran around crazy trashing my poor friend's house. I've been down with the baby fever for a few weeks now, but holding a sleeping newborn really kicks it into full swing. If only the old baby makin' factory wasn't closed... maybe Angelina wants to share with me.

I spent all day yesterday making a fabric travel art thingy for the birthday boy but I forgot to take a picture of it before we left. It turned out really cute if I do say so myself... my kids loved it so I guess I'll be making a few more to keep in my purse for the next time they all decide to meltdown at the same time while I'm waiting in line with $300 of groceries in my car shaped cart. Maybe I'll even do a tutorial and pretend that I'm crafty!

I'll get right on that as soon as I figure out what to do for Father's Day... nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Day 80- Mom Tips

*It's official, Blogger hates me! I keep getting signed out, my scheduled post didn't show up, and half my blog is crossed out. Must be a super mommy running the show that wants me to quiet down. Sorry for the technical difficulties!*

Oatmeal stuck on your arm then rubbed off is a great alternative to waxing.

If you ask your 2 year old to scratch the itch on your foot it almost feels like a foot massage.

Sometimes when everyone is screaming, the tv is too loud and I'm worn out I close my eyes and pretend that I'm at a noisy airport waiting to jet away somewhere... alone.

If you fill a sink with Pine-sol and water and leave it all day then drain it before your husband gets home it smells like you've been cleaning all day. This also works for mother in law's and general visitors. Of course I wouldn't know because my sink is never empty to attempt this.

Hide yummy snacks in the pantry behind the extra flour... no one will ever look there. I also find that frozen treats wrapped in foil and labeled 'pork chops' never move either.

When you're hair is in a bun you can get it wet, let it dry and it will 'curl'. White trash chic...

DVR was created for mom's who need to pause a show a.million.times to get juice/snacks then ghetto mop with windex and a paper towel when said juice/snacks are spilled.

Wii and wii fit are much more fun after the kids are in bed.

Clearance holiday candy lasts a LONG time. Even better yet you can tell your kids that holidays happen a week after they really do and catch the 75% off Target clearance. Score one for the parents!

If your kid thinks that a calculator is a cell phone and you're still jealous of their 'phone' you may need to update your phone.

Stuck up moms most likely have stuck up kids. Don't befriend the moms unless you're really really in need of one more person in your life to cater to.

Dogs will clean up almost any food mess. If they won't then try the vacuum. If that doesn't work then pretend you didn't see it. There's spaghettios all over the table!?

Black yoga pants and a nice top look almost identical to black slacks and a nice top. Not that I would know or anything...

Share your secret mom tips in the comments- I'm always lookin' for new moves!!

Day 79- Pee Brained

I mentioned in a post a few days ago about how I got Boo up from her nap to find that she had removed her diapers and marked her territory all over her bedroom. Apparently that wasn't an isolated incident but the beginning of a new pee filled stage of my life. For the past few days every time I've put her down for a nap or for bed she's woken up naked. I tried jammies with snaps... she can escape. Buttons.. no go. She just loves being naked. I don't think that her poor mattress feels the same way.

On a related note I've never done so much laundry in my life. The pee covered items started the trend, but I actually kept going after than. And don't freak out, but I even folded most of it and put it away. I know... something must be wrong with me. I also ended up making dinner, doing some dishes, and made my bed. The kids started asking me who was coming over. I really wish they wouldn't do that...

I even had some time this afternoon to get some sewing in AND call India Toshiba to get my computer mess figured out. I didn't really realize how productive my day was until I put it all on the table here. Oh, oh!! I even showered AND got dressed today AND ran errands. That's like the triple word score of my life. If every day was like today I'd almost call myself 'cured' but unfortunately I don't really know how realistic that is.

I always find it interesting how I have more free time for hobbies/crafts/plucking my eyebrows until I cry when I do more around the house. What the heck is that about? You'd think that I'd do a bunch of chores so I'd have a bunch of free time, but I'm stubborn and apparently believe that sitting on my butt all day letting the dishes pile up is the way to go.

It's obviously working SO well for me...

Extreme Makeover: Me Edition

I knew from Amber Filkins' little teaser that her weekly Extreme Makeover: Me Edition question was going to have something to do with the contents of my fridge. I was praying to the blog gods that she wasn't going to make me show the demons in my icebox, but alas, that was EXACTLY what she was planning on doing.

Super packed and messy fridge:


See why I need to hide my drumsticks in the icemaker!?


Of course today was the best day to do this because Mr. Wright brought home new ice cream and chocolate syrup today, plus I'm loaded up with sale chicken breasts so I appear to be on a very odd high protein & dairy diet... plus hotdogs. Hmm, I do see some carrots and onions in the drawer. That's healthy, right? Just ignore all the cheese and sundae products. My friend asked me to hold them for her. I swear...

I guess if I ever cleaned out the month old leftovers I'd have room for some healthy food. Or I could fit some potato salad and jello there instead. Decisions, decisions...

Since Amber kept me up so late to answer the EMME question I thought I'd share a picture that I took at 11:15pm. Seriously people, try getting your kids to sleep in this!

Day 78- Power Punched

I'm sure it is fairly obvious that I love my computer. I love my blog, I love my e-mail, I love Crackbook, and I love my bulletin boards and I love interacting with all the friends I've made online in the past few years. I can quite honestly say that I have more friends online than I do in real life. It seems so weird to people who don't have 'friends they've never met', but I don't see how standing in the same room as someone makes them a better friend than talking every day for over two years across the country.

Why the internet friend vent? I had a bit of a scare today with my laptop and all I could think of was how I was going to read blogs, post threads, blog and check my e-mail. My friends live in there darnit! It turns out that my power cord wasn't charging the computer even though it was plugged it. I tried a few different outlets and nothing worked. I turned the computer off and on hoping the icon was just 'stuck' and nothing. I was watching my computer slowly die and I didn't know when she would have power again. So sad.

After about 10 minutes of wiggling I saw the power light come on, then turn off again. Finally I realized that if I angled the cord just right it would feed power to charge up my baby. I literally held the cord in this position for 10 minutes before my arm got tired. I never claimed to have a life, but even I think it is pathetic to manually hold the cord into the computer while it charges. I finally was able to lay the computer on the floor and wedge Elmo under the cord just right to charge up without my help. I knew we had 15 billion Elmo's for a reason!

I called Toshiba after finding their number online on the desktop and of course I had to spend an hour telling the story over and over to all different Indian people named 'Jenny' and 'Lucky'. First they told me that I had to register the computer so I had to be transferred, then hold, then spell out my name and address s-l-o-w-l-y 5 different times. I got transferred again, held again, had to register again, blah, blah, blah. I know everyone is pining for more details but I may start rocking in the corner if I have to remember all the steps.

'Randy' set up a pickup for my sick computer and told me the wait time would be 6-8 weeks PLUS shipping. That's a long time to go without my laptop, even with my desktop to keep me somewhat connected! I figured that it would be best to run to the in-law's and try my FIL's identical power cord before I spent the next 12 hours backing up my 80GB's of photos and videos.

Luckily they're used to my brand of crazy and didn't even flinch when I asked to come over and plug my computer in without an explanation. I waited for the older ones to get up from their 'rest time' and went in to get Boo up. It was warm today so I had put her down for a nap in just her diaper. Any parent with a 2 year old knows what's coming next... she had tried to change her own diaper with a clean one that she had found, was apparently unsuccessful, then found some jeans to put on instead.

I didn't even think it was weird that she was wearing jeans since she loves to dress herself, but when I went to pick her up and her butt was soaking wet and warm I put it all together. I was trying to get to the in-law's and back quickly so I could get dinner started before Mr. Wright got home from work so I just gave her the classy "baby wipe bath" and left.

I show up at their house in yoga pants and a wrinkled shirt, Sweetie Pie is wearing the same thing she wore the day before, and Boo still has a bit of odor on her. I'm sure they were thrilled to smell see us. I plugged my laptop into FIL's power cord and it lit right up like I do when there's a sale on jammies. I'm glad it was a simple fix but now I have to spend part of tomorrow trying to track down 'Randy' to cancel the pickup and get a new cord shipped. At least I can spend my time on hold folding laundry... pssshh! THAT will happen :P

Day 77- Clean Sweep

I know that kids should be taught to clean up after themselves and develop good habits for the future, but these are MY kids were talking about, so there's just no hope for them. Every few weeks I go through Little Man's room (where they all play and leave their stuff everywhere) and have the kids help me clean up. Usually that involves me cleaning and them whining about how long I'm taking. Yeah, so I let Little Man's room get a bit out of hand and for at least 2 weeks I've had to make a foot wide path through all the crap on the floor just to kiss the kids goodnight. (Sweetie Pie insists on keeping her big girl room downstairs, yet she never sleeps in there because apparently she prefers to sleep surrounded by a bunch of toys on Little Man's floor)

Last night I finally got sick of inadvertently trying on Barbie's shoes every time I went in there but didn't really want to spend 2 hours trying to get the kids to help at 8pm either. While they were playing in the bath (don't judge, Boo was already asleep and I could see them from the room) I shoveled all the toys, clothes, stray animals, garbage, movies into a giant pile and started sorting. I swear a third of that pile was clothes... The good news is that I found their missing everything, but the bad news is now I have to wash it all.



I made all different piles for Barbies, Polly Pockets, books, blocks, garbage, movies and all the other crap and just started sorting like lightening. This mother of the year told the kids that they needed 5 more minutes in the bath to be "extra clean" when they asked to get out of the bath when in reality I just didn't want them messing up my piles. After I had stretched their patience as far as I could I transferred the piles as closely to their homes as possible and shoved the remainder into a corner of his room and instructed him NOT to touch it without Mama.

Is that wrong? I just don't need him to "help" clean his room when I already have it mostly done. We can always work on the sorting/cleaning/organizing habits next time, right? And until then all the Barbie shoes, Polly Pocket wigs (scary!), and tiny little pieces of anything are 'lost'. Oops! :P Sometimes it's fun to be the boss.

FMM 6/15/09

I'm so excited that Friend Making Monday wants some confessions this week so I can combine my favorite 'dirty little secrets' posts and FMM!

Hmm, I'll have to come up with something pretty juicy to justify having a Monday version of dirty little secrets.

I went to the store yesterday just to buy cheap cereal and ate almost a whole box yesterday alone.

I've had the same basket of laundry filled with the same clothes that never got put away from at least 10 days ago.

Sometimes if I don't feel like folding any more I put some clean laundry in the dirty pile. Shh, don't tell anyone.

I change Boo's diaper like, 4 times a day... seriously.

I dream about puffy cheetos and butterfingers at night.

I eat in bed sometimes even though Mr. Wright has a strict 'no food in bed' policy.

I put tv show premiers on my calendar just so I don't forget.

I also do all my 'stuff' ahead of time so I can watch Wipeout without interruptions.

Leave your dirty little secrets in the comments and click over to All That Is Good to read everyone else's confessions!

Day 76- Photo Finished

Mother of the year strikes again... while I slumbered peacefully just a few mornings ago my children were awake and up to no good. I had no idea when I came upstairs what my monkeys had been doing in the 15 minutes that they were unsupervised between Mr. Wright leaving for work and me hauling my lazy butt upstairs. I continued my day as usual totally unaware of their actions...until yesterday morning.

I love photography but don't have tons of experience so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to take some engagement photos for Mr. Wright's sister and her fiance. I spent yesterday morning getting all my crap equipment out and set up, charging my battery and clearing off my photo card. My photo card has been in my little point and shoot camera so I stuck it in my computer, hit import, and just about died.

There, in plain sight are some pictures that Sweetie Pie has taken of Little Man while I was snoozing the morning away. At first they were silly and then it got shocking. Let's just say that there is one that Photobucket would delete if I put it on here. I don't know why they felt that would be a funny picture, but they took it either way.

I didn't really know what to say to address it and I didn't want to embarrass them but Mr. Wright felt something needed to be said. I'm glad he went with the simple "Please don't take pictures without Mommy or Daddy" instead of the more direct "Please don't take pictures of your pee pee on mommy's camera and then don't even warn her" that I wanted to say.

Now I just need to find a place to hide all my cameras so I'm able to continue to sleep the morning away... those whole 15 minutes anyway!