observations and a 'why'

Today is a quiet day. She's over the worst of being sick and just trying to get back into the eating groove and get her strength back. It's amazing what just one day of being sick can do to a girl. And she's such a thin little thing anyway, so she just looks gaunt very quickly to me when she's sick. I hate that.

So today is all about observations.

Homework isn't any fun when you'd rather just lay around and try to start feeling better. Of course homework isn't fun on any day. But you know what I mean. Not feeling bad enough just to lay around, but not totally with it either. This is where we are today.

And yesterday was a 'kid tv' watching sort of day. Oh joy.

She watches iCarly sometimes on Nickelodeon. It's not my faaaavorite show, but other than benign humor and corny put down sort of stuff, I haven't ever seen anything baaaaad. I guess I haven't been listening hard enough. I caught parts of two episodes yesterday when I wasn't busy taking care of her.

And it made me very sad. I know that I 'know' tv isn't the best and I 'know' I should be more on the alert for trash, but sometimes the reality of it takes me by surprise. I guess that's where I was yesterday.

I won't bore you with plot lines here...because face it.. there isn't much to speak of LOL... and because it's not that important. But I will attempt to discuss a couple of the alarming things I heard/felt while she watched. One of them was about a boy that had never been kissed. A girl mentioned to others that he had not been kissed and he got laughed at at school. Finally the girl goes to the boy and tells him she's never been kissed either. They proceed to kiss, even though they dislike each other and cut each other down in every episode. That just made me sad. Affection and something that perhaps could be shared only with one true love was thrown around like it was brushing up against someone's coat on accident or something. It really disturbed me. And the other weird thing was a thing where, Carly, the girl in the show, is trying to give out prizes or something and mentions this list of strange things but included in the list is a picture of a man that get's pregnant. Hmmm... snatched that one right out of the headlines. I just about died. Boo caught that one too and made a comment that it was a pretty nasty thing to say. But I just kept thinking...why??? Why did they have to say that rather than something else that was just plain ol' silly?

I tend to forget that there is an enemy that is out to get her soul.

It made me wonder.... what else has she heard in that show that I've missed. I haven't sat down and watched every episode of this show with her like I did with Hannah Montana.

Maybe I should.

because she's sleeping

I can sit and type a post now because she's sleeping. My girl is sick today.

And I had to get out 'the buckets'. I hate the buckets. They represent a lot.

I feel weird when she's sick and it's just one of those things. It's so minor in the grand scheme of things.

But it can evoke some pretty powerful feelings.

So that's my day. Helping her when she needs it. Putting her hair in a ponytail for her and covering her while she sleeps on the couch. Jumping if she moves. Washing her face for her 'after'.

Poor girl. She feels so bad. She's growing up, but then on a day like today, she's still so small and vulnerable. My baby.

I hope I don't catch it. : p

laundry fiasco in shades of blue

For those of you that followed my little drama yesterday on Twitter, you had to know there was a post in there begging to be written. Well here it is!

I was doing great yesterday. The day had gotten off to a pretty good start. I had done my WiiFit time and I felt pretty good about that. The other big thing on the agenda was laundry. (cue the ominous music) So I grabbed a stack of jeans and tossed them in the wash without a second thought. After all, I do this several times a week evvvvery single week. I've got this thing down.

I waited on the washer to finish and this is what I found! It is exactly what it looks like. Ink. Blue ink to be exact. A ballpoint pen exploded in my washer! I gathered up the BLUE jeans and put them in the dryer after giving them a quick once over.. after all, from the looks of the side of the drum there, it kinda stayed in one place. You may laugh out loud at me right now.. go ahead.. I'll wait! So! I had to figure out how to clean the drum. I checked and the ink was still very wet, which in my mind, at the time, seemed like a good thing. So I grabbed the rubbing alcohol and some paper towels and got to work.



I got most of it out, but it left a blue-ish stain on the drum. I worried that it would get on the clothes I washed in the future. But I put everything I could think of it on it and this is the best it got in there. I tried the alcohol, of course. And the Magic Eraser (which did nothing), Goof Off (which did nothing), and WD40 (which also did nothing). So I left it alone for a bit while I thought about my predicament.

By that time, dryer had gone off and I could take a look at my jeans. It was probably my lifesaver that they were still damp! Come to find out, wet jeans look exactly like blue ink. Who'dathunkit! So! I had two more messes on my hands. The jeans and the dryer drum. It had gotten on several spots on the jeans. And little bitty smears all over the dryer drum. So I first off set to work on the drum. I mainly used the alcohol and the Goof Off. Goof Off is sort of petroleum-y smelling. I don't even want to think about how many brain cells I lost with my head inside my dryer while I scrubbed at little spots of blue all over the drum. But I finally got the dryer to a passable state.

And then it was time to tackle the jeans. I hit them with everything in the world. I did online searches, I Twittered and I hit the ladies email at church and tried every single suggestion that came in. I did hairspray, alcohol, Goof Off and finally Dawn dishwashing liquid. Dawn was the last suggestion I got and it was the thing that got the last bits of blue out of the jeans. WHEW. It took me most of the day to get the jeans clean, but I was so thankful I was able to save them. It was worth all the blotting and the two ruined cloth diapers!

Somewhere along the line, I had to drop everything and run to Kroger. I hadn't picked up anything for Friday night or what we would need over the weekend. So I put everything I had been scrubbing down and just walked away. It was a nice break from the scrubbing and the smell of cleaners. I grabbed the few things I needed and came home and went about quickly unloading the groceries so I could get back to my laundry fiasco.

But the grocery bag handle broke. And pizza sauce and marinaded mushrooms splatted all over the place. So I had to get on my hands and knees and clean up THAT mess too. Thankfully the bag caught most of the glass and sauce etc. Not all. Most. So I got all of that cleaned up and by then it was lunchtime and I stopped long enough to sit down and eat some reheated leftovers.

That's when I saw this! You can barely see it on the picture, but it's pizza sauce splatted against the toe kick of the cabinets. So I got on my hands and knees AGAIN to clean up more sauce. Finally, that mess was completely done.

And all I had to contend with was the jeans. It took the better part of the day. I had not finished scrubbing jeans yet when it was time to pick up my daughter from school. When we got home, she immediately said WHAT HAPPENED HERE??? as we walked through the laundry room into the house. I washed a load of old towels in hot water and bleach and the drum came completely clean! I was shocked... but thrilled! Then I rewashed the jeans after I finally got them clean, and hung them to dry. When they had dried enough to see that they were indeed 'ok', I tossed them in the dryer. I hung them up around bedtime.

We ordered a pizza last night. I was too tired to care about anything by mealtime!

In the words of the famous anchorwoman, Rosanne RosannaDana "It's always something. If it's not one thing, it's another." By the end of the day, I was tired. T.I.R.E.D. But in the famous words of Scarlet O'Hara, "tomarrah is anuthu day".

And on a side note.. you know you're a blogger when you drop everything mid-mess and run for the camera. More than once.

WiiFit Friday update # 2

I feel like I don't have much to report this week. A bad quality about me is that I can be strong out of the gate and then kinda lose my mojo uummph not very far into things. I think that's what happened this week.

That and a snow day and a half and a regular schedule thrown out the window for a bit.

But here's my week. The good, the bad and the ugly. Mostly the bad, I'm sorry to say, this week.

Friday: I did 30 minutes.

Saturday: I did 30 minutes and I was proud of it! LOL I did not want to do it. It was cold and all I wanted to do was chill out on the couch under a blanket, but I did my time anyway and felt better afterwards.

Sunday through Wednesday: I didn't do it. I should have listened to myself on Saturday and made myself do it anyway. But I didn't. I hate that.

Thursday: I did it! Yay! I was going to be getting out with a friend yesterday but I had to wait on her to finish working out at the gym and I thought I'd feel really horrible about myself if I sat there on the couch and watched tv while I waited on her... so I got off my sitter and got after it. I was glad I did. I increased the time on hula hooping to the 6 minutes. Wow, I was ready for that time to be over! LOL I am learning how to use hula hooping correctly still. I tend to hula with my legs and while my legs need help too, I'm trying to concentrate on actually using my abs and I can tell the difference. It's kinda like one looong crunch. Well, sorta anyway. Definitely feel the tightening there if I'm working on keeping the focus there.

I'm still unlocking more things and trying to increase some times on things I already do. And like most of us I'm sure, I've found what works best for me as far as warming up and then getting started. And I'm trying to add things in that I'm not very good at or that hurt since that is a sign that I need to do it more! When I was out yesterday, we ended up at a sporting goods store and I saw some ankle and wrist weights, but I didn't buy them. I'm not ready for them yet. But it made me see how far I have go to to just be ready to add weights.

One thing about posting every week, is that it keeps me accountable. And without that, I would have stopped altogether already, I'm afraid. So thanks for the nudge, y'all! : ) Looking forward to the day when I need to buy weights. And that day will come if I stick with it!

To check out other's progress or join the fun, click here.

snow day of 09

So we ended up with a "snow" day... which basically turned out to be a thin layer of ice. It threatened yesterday and the school let out at noon because they seemed to be expecting it any minute. There was much rejoicing all the way home in the car. It fiiiinally hit late in the evening. So today is our 'full snow day'. Of course, here in Texas, ice or snow of any kind is a major freak out, run to Walmart and stock up EVENT. Except I didn't run to Walmart and now we're out of bread. So here we are on day two of our 'weather event'... which is more like day one since we were already snug as a bug in a rug last night when it all actually started. The temp has finally crept to 33* and with full sun, the ice is melting like rain from the trees and eaves. So basically... the event is over. The hubs stayed home and is doing a Chick-fil-a run for us as I type.

Yesterday I had planned on staying in, so I made the best of it and got a little sewing project done.

With a little bit of 'help'.

Action shot!

And watching it fall on the floor (and yes my dining room is a mess in the pics.. I had 'project stuff' scattered all over AND the table was a mess from homework and studying.. that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!)

Do you like my pin cushion? You'll never guess what it's made out of! OK.. I'll tell ya...wait for it..wait for it.... it's made from a two liter screw top lid! And scrap fabric, batting, glue, a sharp punch, some elastic and some ribbon. Can you figure out how to wear it? I'll give you a hint... my other rings are tiny in comparison..yes.. it's worn like a ring on my finger. So it's always at the ready. Can you say handy?

And these are the results! A finished curtain.. I hate looking at what I think of as window guts.. the blinds and icky stuff at the top of the window. And now it's hidden! Turned out cute.. of course the shape of it isn't rocket science or anything. It's an easy one, but it does the trick and it looks cute in Miss Boo's new room!
Looking forward to having Chick-fil-a after being trapped for 24 whole hours by the horrible ice storm of 09. Yeah right.

I've been tagged!

Rina at Into Still Waters has tagged me for a meme! It's 25 random things about me. It's always fun to meet new bloggy friends and get to know them a little better, so here goes!

**get ready.. to get sleepy**

1. I always buy groceries on Monday. As a matter of fact, I should be making out my grocery list right now. : )
   
2. 2. I love my Walmart. It's really nice.. for a Walmart.
   
3. I am terrible at video games...
4. ...but I love the Wii. Bowling is a blast.
5. I am not a fan of cold weather. I probably mentioned that in my 100 list but it's cold today so it bears repeating.
   
6. I dream of moving somewhere that it's warm all the time.
7. But I hate bugs and I'm sure locales like that are very buggy!
8. I have a sewing and a craft project in the works right now.
9. I don't read random books unless I want to read them. I have a few I would like to knock out this year.
10. One is The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
11. Another is The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee.. I am reading this one. But I'm only on chapter 5 and it is a slooooow read.
12. Vicki Courtney's 5 Conversations book
13. My goal for Bible reading this year is to complete the first 5 books of the Old Testament.
14. I like to travel.. no I like to BE THERE.. the getting there part, not so much.
15. I can be inflexible if I know I am in the right.
16. But I can see all sides in everyday issues so much it bugs my friends when they tell a story and want me to automatically see it 'their way'. LOL
17. I have 'mom hair'.. or 90's hair or something.. I am not into flat hair on me. I guess Beth Moore could be a hair heroine of mine since she's not afraid of the root lifter.
18. I bought THE $5 scarf because of Angie at Bring the Rain and BigMama, of course!
    
19. The scarf feels weird on me because I'm not a fashiony kinda girl. But it's cute and I do know how to tie one now.
20. I would like to learn to knit
21. and quilt.
22. I spent years wishing we could/would move to a 'bigger house'.
23. But God has brought me great peace and contentment in this little house.
24. I am a Food Network junkie and especially like to watch Alton Brown.
25. I am feeling led not to say what is tugging at my heart here at this last one so I will leave it blank. Is 24 enough?? I've gotta get crackin' on that grocery list anyway! : )
    

Thanks again, Rina for the tag. I am supposed to tag some people.. so if you're reading and would like to carry this forward, then TAG, you're IT! : )

WiiFit Friday update #1

I decided last week after reading Donna's post about doing the WiiFit, that I was going to give Fitness Friday at Wiifit Mommies a try. I have it at home. It is free and I can do it at anytime. So this is my update on just now my week went. I'm trying to do it for 30 minutes each day. (I'm working on not being bored at the end of 30 minutes.)

Friday - yes
Saturday- yes
Sunday - no.. by design a day of rest.
Monday - yes
Tuesday - no.. I was a news junkie that day.
Wednesday - yes
Thursday - no... I felt bad for most of the morning. Cramps will do that to ya. I should have done it later in the day, but never did. Grrrr.
Friday - the day is still young!

First off.. the eating... I am trying to eat less, basically. I'm not doing a certain plan. Just trying to watch what I eat and cut out a lot of the snacking. Thank you everyone for wishing me luck on that one!

Secondly.. the WiiFit itself... wow, am I outa shape! It's kinda depressing! We got our WF right when they came out and we all did it some and then it started collecting dust. So I had weights and skill levels from way back then. First of all, I had gained 7.5 pounds. Very sad. And there were things I could do 'back then' that I can't do now.. some things I can do poorly and other things, not at all. It's depressing to me that 'back in the day' I used to do crunches with a 20 lb weight sitting on my chest and now 'jack knifes' make me wanna throw up. But it just shows I am out of shape. It is a needed nudge to get going. I have opened up quite a few thing just by doing it this week. And have started adding reps to some of the things I do sorta well. So that's encouraging. I enjoy just about all the cardio work.. I like the hula hooping.. and have finally mastered going my backwards way. I seem to be much getter at going right then left. And I like the step. I am way uncoordinated, so there is no clapping for me. I am doing good to do it plain. LOL I do hope to add weights to this one though. I had an ah-ha moment and realized I could put the remote down for some of these things and free up my hands (for when weights enter the picture) Yeah.. I'm slow!

To check on others or join the fun, visit WiiFit Mommies.