I have had the same Valentine for over 23 years! And...I am happy to say that in yesterday's day of reflection, I am still happy he is my Valentine!!! Oh let me count the ways...
There are the great days when he is full of humor and fun, teasing the kids, the dogs and the bird. Yeah, he is a big tease.
He has this thing we call the "Nyun Nyun Man." We have two long sets of stairs in our house and we are often terrorized and chased up the stairs by the "Nyun Nyun Man." When I was young I used to have this nightmare about a crazy-black-skinny monkey with lots of arms chasing me up the stairs. To my dismay, and the dismay of my children, we have the Nyun Nyun Man who is instantly behind us with a deep voice yelling, "NYUN NYUN NYUN NYUN NYUN..." all the way up the stairs as we flee, taking two steps at a time! I relapse back to when I was a child having my multi-armed monkey nightmare. Instantly sweat pours out including shivers up the spine with a flight or fight psyche all induced by the words "Nyun Nyun" being called out as we go into panic mode running up the stairs. Poking and pinching are not even involved.
This occurrence has stricken us with the need for Nyun Nyun therapy. We are physically unable to go up the stairs at our home with someone behind us. Let alone at the Mall or any other public place with stairs, or escalators.
Clearly there is no sane reason behind this intense response we have to the Nyun Nyun man! But, he keeps things fun at home and we love him for it.
Another addition to the Valentine counter would be not having to sleep alone! When we first got married I looked forward to being able to cuddle every night! Of course reality stepped in and (I have been told that this is the case with most men) this lasted only during the honeymoon. After that I was TOO HOT! Apparently men enjoy an internal temperature that measures everything in polar regions and women measure by the temperatures along the equator.
I am ok with this turn of events since I found out he (like many men) picks his nails while watching the news in bed. I discovered this one morning when I awoke to find toe nails stuck in my knotted morning hair! It was disconcerting to see the nails hanging in my locks, randomly situated in my hair after he had been unable to sleep and had turned on the TV during the night. Apparently, immersed in the headlines and unaware of where he was casting his picked off toenails. But, he will make the bed occasionally and I love him for it--even if he does it because he is brushing off the abandoned nails!
I recently saw an interview with the actress, Julie Andrews where she mentioned that her husband was "delicious" including his irritations and all! This must be a British phrase, but I picked up on it immediately. How wonderful to view everything about the love of your life as "delicious" even the idiosyncrasies. I have used this term on occasion as I found myself miffed by something that my Valentine did and have found it to be a positive way of lifting myself above the "pricking" at him.
There are so many ways that I am grateful for my Valentine that I could go on and on! Mainly I'm thankful that he makes me laugh and feel loved and that we can continue to grow together, even during those "delicious" moments!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Housekeeping or Keeping House?
We are in that time of year when organizing our homes often becomes a priority and spring cleaning becomes an issue for many of us. In the past I have oftentimes become completely overburdened with the idea of a total organization makeover. Those were the times when my children were small and I actually thought that keeping the house clean with small children was difficult. I now know that cleaning the house with teenagers is much more of a chore! After all, they don't like the Barney song anymore--so I hired a Housekeeper.
This was a few years ago. I had a friend that was fabulous at cleaning and I hired her--unfortunately, this lasted only 30 days. It was a lovely 30 days! Although I always seemed to straighten before she came and I can't think why. But, she was wonderful and it ended tooooooo soon!
Why did it end, you ask? Well, one day I told Peter and Neuman to clean their rooms and they informed me--in a very snooty fashion--"We have a housekeeper for that!" So, of course I had to let my cleaning friend go. "M" and I were not raising Paris Hilton's. Basically, I was punishing myself, because my kids said they were quite fine with a messy room!
For quite a while I resorted to taking the car keys away and I even broke a cell phone during a 'mommy fit'--once again--only punishing myself. Who do you think had to call and request another cell phone AND pay for it? CLEARLY, I am not proud of this--and if you are rolling your eyes either you still have young children or you're lying to yourself.
It was after this that I began to think of some creative way to get the help I needed with the house chores. I do need to make it clear that I don't live with complete slobs, and they do help out--it is just difficult to GET them to FINALLY do it AND to DO IT WELL!
One day I had this incredible burst of energy and cleaned the whole house, the 4 bathrooms and the kids rooms which included all kinds of dirty items on their floors and I did this because I had a crazy, but very creative plan...
My daughter's Peter and Neuman came home first.
"Wow! The house looks great, mom!"
"Yeah! I hired a housekeeper!" I lied--this was part of my crazy plan.
"You did?"
"Yeah! It's this girl named Maria and her younger brother who is on work release from High School, the same high school you go to." I continued my lie. There was a lot at stake and I was being very convincing.
"He goes to our high school? How cute is he?" Neuman said.
(Great! They were buying it! But, I couldn't sound too excited about his looks--that would be weird!)
"I guess you'd say he was way cute...kinda like a younger X-men guy." I said very nonchalantly.
"Like the wolf man?" My oldest daughter said. (This was sooooooooo working!)
"Yeah."
"So which one cleaned my room?" My younger daughter said.
"He did. Maria did the bathrooms." I was even convinced myself.
"Mooooooommmmmm! I had dirty underwear on the floor!" She said.
"Oh..." I said.
"I'll never be able to show my face at school."
"Well, they fit our home in today and they have a very odd schedule and will be unable to give me more than an hours notice. So you will just have to keep your rooms clean. Then they can concentrate on the rest of the house. Keep your bathrooms picked up too. I'm sorry, but they do a great job." I absolutely wasn't sorry and was very excited that this crazy plan was going to actually work!
It worked great! My husband didn't even know until one day I was scrubbing the floor and he came home early! He thought I was absolutely nutso! But, I convinced him to keep it quiet and I let him in on my reasoning. This went on for about 6 weeks. Until.........
One evening after dinner I was doing laundry and asked for help with folding the clothes and it backfired on me!
"Girls, come fold these clothes, I just finished dinner and it's the least you can do," I said.
"We have homework," said Neuman.
My older daughter then said to me, "It's not like you do much anymore anyway with Maria and her brother coming."
Are you kidding! I suddenly felt an aneurysm coming on! Out of the corner of my eye I could see my husband smirking.
The girls went on until "M" stood up and said, "YOUR MOTHER IS MARIA! SHE MADE MARIA UP! NOW START FOLDING THOSE CLOTHES!"
It was dead quiet! What was I supposed to say? I've flipped and I now have several personalities? Maria and her brother are two of them? Doing this to myself would create a good blog post someday?
We all laugh about this now. But, I have to say, I think it was worth it. Without spending any money I had a clean house and I was in better shape, like getting a gym pass and a clean house--all for free! If anyone has ideas or ways you have enabled your kids to clean, I am all ears!
This was a few years ago. I had a friend that was fabulous at cleaning and I hired her--unfortunately, this lasted only 30 days. It was a lovely 30 days! Although I always seemed to straighten before she came and I can't think why. But, she was wonderful and it ended tooooooo soon!
Why did it end, you ask? Well, one day I told Peter and Neuman to clean their rooms and they informed me--in a very snooty fashion--"We have a housekeeper for that!" So, of course I had to let my cleaning friend go. "M" and I were not raising Paris Hilton's. Basically, I was punishing myself, because my kids said they were quite fine with a messy room!
For quite a while I resorted to taking the car keys away and I even broke a cell phone during a 'mommy fit'--once again--only punishing myself. Who do you think had to call and request another cell phone AND pay for it? CLEARLY, I am not proud of this--and if you are rolling your eyes either you still have young children or you're lying to yourself.
It was after this that I began to think of some creative way to get the help I needed with the house chores. I do need to make it clear that I don't live with complete slobs, and they do help out--it is just difficult to GET them to FINALLY do it AND to DO IT WELL!
One day I had this incredible burst of energy and cleaned the whole house, the 4 bathrooms and the kids rooms which included all kinds of dirty items on their floors and I did this because I had a crazy, but very creative plan...
My daughter's Peter and Neuman came home first.
"Wow! The house looks great, mom!"
"Yeah! I hired a housekeeper!" I lied--this was part of my crazy plan.
"You did?"
"Yeah! It's this girl named Maria and her younger brother who is on work release from High School, the same high school you go to." I continued my lie. There was a lot at stake and I was being very convincing.
"He goes to our high school? How cute is he?" Neuman said.
(Great! They were buying it! But, I couldn't sound too excited about his looks--that would be weird!)
"I guess you'd say he was way cute...kinda like a younger X-men guy." I said very nonchalantly.
"Like the wolf man?" My oldest daughter said. (This was sooooooooo working!)
"Yeah."
"So which one cleaned my room?" My younger daughter said.
"He did. Maria did the bathrooms." I was even convinced myself.
"Mooooooommmmmm! I had dirty underwear on the floor!" She said.
"Oh..." I said.
"I'll never be able to show my face at school."
"Well, they fit our home in today and they have a very odd schedule and will be unable to give me more than an hours notice. So you will just have to keep your rooms clean. Then they can concentrate on the rest of the house. Keep your bathrooms picked up too. I'm sorry, but they do a great job." I absolutely wasn't sorry and was very excited that this crazy plan was going to actually work!
It worked great! My husband didn't even know until one day I was scrubbing the floor and he came home early! He thought I was absolutely nutso! But, I convinced him to keep it quiet and I let him in on my reasoning. This went on for about 6 weeks. Until.........
One evening after dinner I was doing laundry and asked for help with folding the clothes and it backfired on me!
"Girls, come fold these clothes, I just finished dinner and it's the least you can do," I said.
"We have homework," said Neuman.
My older daughter then said to me, "It's not like you do much anymore anyway with Maria and her brother coming."
Are you kidding! I suddenly felt an aneurysm coming on! Out of the corner of my eye I could see my husband smirking.
The girls went on until "M" stood up and said, "YOUR MOTHER IS MARIA! SHE MADE MARIA UP! NOW START FOLDING THOSE CLOTHES!"
It was dead quiet! What was I supposed to say? I've flipped and I now have several personalities? Maria and her brother are two of them? Doing this to myself would create a good blog post someday?
We all laugh about this now. But, I have to say, I think it was worth it. Without spending any money I had a clean house and I was in better shape, like getting a gym pass and a clean house--all for free! If anyone has ideas or ways you have enabled your kids to clean, I am all ears!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
My Blog Facelift
Today I was able to give my blog a facelift thanks to a friend and neighbor. Thanks to her, my blog is more fun and more me!
But, first let me back up: A couple weeks ago I discovered that this wonderful friend was into blogging too! I was amazed by her knowledge and expertise, wrote down her sites and then she said she would be willing to come over and help me gain more knowledge.
So that evening after we talked I came home and pulled up her blogs. WOW! I had no idea that she was actually the QUEEN of BLOGGING! Yeah! Mine was but a pre-school image compared to hers. In many circles she is known as Motherboard and she is one of the creators of Mormon Mommy Blogs. Yet somehow she still found time to come over and teach me how to make my blog better.
Don't you love it when someone who could totally say, "I only play with the big girls now" is willing to still teach the lowly! Thank you MOTHERBOARD! Now if I could only remember what I learned about linking, which proves once again I can be a very slow learner!
But, first let me back up: A couple weeks ago I discovered that this wonderful friend was into blogging too! I was amazed by her knowledge and expertise, wrote down her sites and then she said she would be willing to come over and help me gain more knowledge.
So that evening after we talked I came home and pulled up her blogs. WOW! I had no idea that she was actually the QUEEN of BLOGGING! Yeah! Mine was but a pre-school image compared to hers. In many circles she is known as Motherboard and she is one of the creators of Mormon Mommy Blogs. Yet somehow she still found time to come over and teach me how to make my blog better.
Don't you love it when someone who could totally say, "I only play with the big girls now" is willing to still teach the lowly! Thank you MOTHERBOARD! Now if I could only remember what I learned about linking, which proves once again I can be a very slow learner!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Think Twice Before Saying YES!
If you have read my past posts than you know our dog had 6 puppies in November. One of the families who took a pup home is a neighbor and friend. They were very excited about their new pup, but had a family vacation this past week and I unwittingly declared I would watch him while they enjoyed themselves. This was basically a nice thing to do and I have always thought of myself as a nice person! But...this has been a week from &#** and because of my constant complaining about this...loveable puppy...I have come to grips with the fact that I am NOT a nice person.
Firstly, I did not mistreat this...loveable puppy...my family and I were very nice to him...considering! Secondly, I do not have any...animosity...towards anyone...Yes you do!...No! I don't!...Yes, you do!...NO I DO NOT! I AM A NICE PERSON!!! Really, I believe the mother of this family has reached Sainthood.
I believe she has reached Sainthood because she has this dog in the house, whereas, we keep the pups mother outside. They are large dogs!
You know how when you go to Seaworld and barking seals are cute? Well, barking, crying seal screeching from a puppy at 2:00 am & 3:00 am & 5:00 am because you did not allow him to sleep in bed with you is NOT CUTE! OH! And did I say he does it during the day too?
He whines during the day because he isn't potty trained and whenever I'm trying to do things like put the laundry away or take out the trash he is trying to pull everything out of my arms so I oftentimes need to lock him up to get stuff done.
Needless to say I have had to become pretty creative when it comes to keeping this active puppy busy. He is a bird dog & our African Grey parrot, Jumanji, has been very entertaining for him. In fact, he has been an outright babysitter! They will stare at each other and Jumanji will say "Good Boy!" which boosts Champs (the pup) self confidence, especially when the rest of us are constantly yelling things like "down!" "No!" "Give that back you #@$$##!!#@" "Get off of Louis!" (That last one is about our little Yorkie who has been victimized all week)
Champ has also taken up licking up all Jumanji's feathers and eating the food Jumanji willingly shares with him by hucking pieces of sunflower seeds and corn out of his cage. Personally, I can see the wicked look in Jumanji's beedy eyes which clearly states he views the seeds like a human views spit wads. Champ has become entertainment for Jumanji!
We soon learned that it was a bad idea to allow Champ to clean up after Jumanji. This was unfortunate for me because I hadn't had to vacuum up around the cage for days! Yesterday after Champ had cleaned up the floor, we put him in his cage for 2 hours so we could go to the hospital and visit a friend. We returned to find Champ had evacuated the seeds in a way that we needed Hazmat suits to clean the mess in his kennel! Since we didn't have hazmat suits and my kids informed me that it was all my idea to have him stay with us, I had to be the one to....go in! Thank goodness for Clorox Wipes which work wonders when you wad them up and stick them up your nose. This was the only thing that stopped my gagging reflex.
Well, tonight Champs family will be coming to pick him up. Oh, so sad! We will tell them, "Great to see them" and focus on their trip, not on our week with the pup. I really am a terrible liar. My only hope is that Jumanji will not give away how we really spent the week by yelling his new words: "Damn you Champ!"
Firstly, I did not mistreat this...loveable puppy...my family and I were very nice to him...considering! Secondly, I do not have any...animosity...towards anyone...Yes you do!...No! I don't!...Yes, you do!...NO I DO NOT! I AM A NICE PERSON!!! Really, I believe the mother of this family has reached Sainthood.
I believe she has reached Sainthood because she has this dog in the house, whereas, we keep the pups mother outside. They are large dogs!
You know how when you go to Seaworld and barking seals are cute? Well, barking, crying seal screeching from a puppy at 2:00 am & 3:00 am & 5:00 am because you did not allow him to sleep in bed with you is NOT CUTE! OH! And did I say he does it during the day too?
He whines during the day because he isn't potty trained and whenever I'm trying to do things like put the laundry away or take out the trash he is trying to pull everything out of my arms so I oftentimes need to lock him up to get stuff done.
Needless to say I have had to become pretty creative when it comes to keeping this active puppy busy. He is a bird dog & our African Grey parrot, Jumanji, has been very entertaining for him. In fact, he has been an outright babysitter! They will stare at each other and Jumanji will say "Good Boy!" which boosts Champs (the pup) self confidence, especially when the rest of us are constantly yelling things like "down!" "No!" "Give that back you #@$$##!!#@" "Get off of Louis!" (That last one is about our little Yorkie who has been victimized all week)
Champ has also taken up licking up all Jumanji's feathers and eating the food Jumanji willingly shares with him by hucking pieces of sunflower seeds and corn out of his cage. Personally, I can see the wicked look in Jumanji's beedy eyes which clearly states he views the seeds like a human views spit wads. Champ has become entertainment for Jumanji!
We soon learned that it was a bad idea to allow Champ to clean up after Jumanji. This was unfortunate for me because I hadn't had to vacuum up around the cage for days! Yesterday after Champ had cleaned up the floor, we put him in his cage for 2 hours so we could go to the hospital and visit a friend. We returned to find Champ had evacuated the seeds in a way that we needed Hazmat suits to clean the mess in his kennel! Since we didn't have hazmat suits and my kids informed me that it was all my idea to have him stay with us, I had to be the one to....go in! Thank goodness for Clorox Wipes which work wonders when you wad them up and stick them up your nose. This was the only thing that stopped my gagging reflex.
Well, tonight Champs family will be coming to pick him up. Oh, so sad! We will tell them, "Great to see them" and focus on their trip, not on our week with the pup. I really am a terrible liar. My only hope is that Jumanji will not give away how we really spent the week by yelling his new words: "Damn you Champ!"
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