I wish I had something to tell you that's exciting. Like more exciting than an afternoon at Chuck E Cheese, which ended with one red goopy eye and a sick day today. Then my itunes settings were off, so I couldn't sync the episodes of Scooby Doo I bought for the ipod entertainment during tot music class. It's all set now.

Oh and the raging virus my computer had/has, which I can't fully get rid of and don't want to rebuild my computer and lose some of my "timeshared" software.

Old navy is having a great sale right now. I got the girly a cute thermal top in orange (she needs more non-pink in her wardrobe, stat), and two little baby holiday onepieces, all for $6. I just hope that #3 is not a giant monster child, and will run true to size.

The eagles are back! I just saw one land in a tree in my backyard.

The girl is now tattooed again on her arms and legs. And today she got her face too!!

Last night we went out to dinner, where our server, Dorothy, put her name on a napkin. This week The Wizard of Oz is on heavy rotation here. So the girl knew exactly. And then I realized that what would complete the napkin would be to add the word Surrender before her name, with our provided crayons. She thought this was hysterical and hadn't seen that before (which was a surprise to me). She went to hang it up out back. And then told us that she "always makes it home just fine". I hope my husband tipped her well.

So a few weeks back, the husband made a snowman en route to the bus stop, his name was Snowbert. Snowbert died in a warm spell.

Recently, a new snowman was constructed, who they decided looks bunny-like, and therefore his name is Hoppy. But at one point we toyed with him being a robot named Ro-bert. Robot plus snowbert. So there's a song, that is "my name is Ro-bert, my friend was snowbert! He got tipped over(t)." and although this song is silly and ridiculous, it gets stuck in my head for days.

Oh it is so cold. Times like now, I half wish we hadn't done public school for the boy. You know, the bus was a big bonus to this plan, but waiting for the bus, especially tomorrow, isn't so fun. Especially when I have to suit up and drag out the babygirl.

Also, I'm doing the decaf transition. I really should do it in earnest, but what happens is, I do it over the course of a month, to where I have half decaf half regular in the morning, just one cup, and then when the hormones come a-crashing, I ramp back up again. It makes for a fun start to the cycle. But it's not that practical and becomes a lot of work over the next few weeks, again. So today, I have my half decaf cup in front of me with half and half in it. The least I can do is substitute a little fat for my caffeine.

I got close to no sleep last night. Let's just say it has to do with a piece of property and the internal strife of knowing it doesn't exactly work out for us right now. If it did, soon, that would be great, but you see we own a house in a bad market. That and hormones and I had the strangest dreams ever. I wish I had the option of taking a nap right now, I really do. Until then, the xl coffee will have to cut it.

Today we got an invitation to the inauguration! I would love to go. But 5 million people, outdoors, in January, in somewhere only slightly more temperate than here, isn't such a great idea. Maybe if we visit in June, we'll actually get to see the tall man. So we wrote him a letter about that, and drew a picture of an ice breaker/truck/sidewalk plow which the boy thinks will be very useful on the sidewalks of DC. Oh I love him.

Also, this morning, the girl said to me, "let's make cookies!" and you know, I was up for that. The pictures are really great. She is helpful when she knows she'll get to eat much dough. She called it cereal. I mean, yes, it's oatmeal based, but it differs rather substantially when done.

So, Deleria is writing every day. Go see her. Because I recognize that I can't write every day. My life isn't that interesting. Like today. Today is my first day without childcare on a Tuesday. So we're going to clean the guest room. Maybe go to Target as an activity. It's really great, my life. No, really, it really is.

Anyway, back to Deleria. The other thing she's giving me is a yen for latte. So I just googled how best to do this with my stovetop espresso maker (which, thanks google, isn't even espresso, it's moka) and I'm having the best latte my kitchen has ever seen.

So woohoo!

So I've decided to try the special K diet. Two meals, two snacks a day of special k products or fruit. Which isn't really that hard, I really like cereal. I went and bought varieties last night. I can do almost anything for two weeks, right?

Also, the stubborn girl is now 95% potty trained. It took a few weeks before I knew her schedule, but well over a month more before she told me that she needed to go. Now we don't even do overnight pullups anymore. The only accidents lately have been true accidents, not telling me in time. Thank heaven. I will have the better part of a year, at least, without diapers. Phew.

Oh it's been so long.

So I think that pms is particularly bad if you're trying. I really feel for those people who aren't doing it for the first time. Or maybe it's worse because I am making up for 4 years of not cycling. Who knows. So I haven't exactly been myself lately. My poor husband. Also, he's making it worse by telling his entire family that we're trying. I don't really want themn to ask every time I see them. Sigh.

Christmas, however, was wonderful. I think everyone should experience it with a 3 and six year old. Much purple feathers, much lego building, much candy, and it's all good.

Licking 200 envelopes will make you feel sick.

Also, if you've added a new child to your family since your last card, the very least you can do is include her name on it.

Yesterday we got our tree. Then at playgroup this morning, we had a visit from santa, and had holiday treats and crafts. Then we picked up the boy from school, whereupon we visited Santa, and then went to target to get presents from the kids to the world.

I'm exhausted.

A few things I learned. 1. I am not a good judge of tree size in field. It's really cute. 2. The girl wants a barbie and the diamond castle thing that I didn't get for her. I have to hit target. Her auntie did get her that, but I think santa will get her the horse and a friend. 3. The kids didn't really appreciate the point of the gift buying, and instead I'm exhausted from an hour in target trying to keep them on task.

However, I got home and my backordered Sukie iron ons are here. So maybe we'll make gifts. I'm not sure what would be appropriate.

So today I went to target to do the major huge bulk of shopping. I spent $237 and have my kids and my two (younger) nieces primarily done. I still have to get the darn Hess truck of the year, and maybe some stocking stuffs, but done done done! I love that I did it all within the course of about 90 minutes, and didn't have to go to the mall. Period! I will still have to visit the mall soon, as that's where the Big Man with the White Beard is. Maybe after school tomorrow?

I think for my parents I'll do a donation thing again. NPR has some nice gifts right now.

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DSC00724
Originally uploaded by archimom

The game works like this: if you use Flickr, go to the sixth page of your photostream and pick the sixth picture there, then post it to your blog, and pass it on to six other people.

If you read this, you've been tagged.

So this weekend I saw the flyer for Family Dollar, which I don't generally frequent. And they had a dressup set, including tutu, wand, tiara, slippers and *wings* for $5. So of course I needed to go buy two. Today I pull into the parking lot of Dollar Tree. Doh.

I went inside and still spent $10, on things like markers and stickers. I'm not sure why, but among the checkout necessities, there are pregnancy tests. This cracks me up. Maybe it's just a high-theft item?

The checkout lady did alert me to the fact that there *is* a Family Dollar just 1/2 mile down the road, where I went and bought a pink *and* a purple dressup set. I'm going to have to go back the week before the Big Day and finish up. I wasn't really prepared.

Again with the sporadic note making.

More later, but first I need to tell you that the two horses pulling the old-fashioned firetruck are named Midnight and Snowy Moe. Snowy Moe!!

I've been a really bad blogger lately. I'm so tired but I'm staying up to see if the husband will bring home milk. See, because earlier he got us the cutest little whoopie pies. But I want milk with them.

Today, the reason I am tired, I visited GreenBuild. It was very cool. I spent five hours on the floor getting samples and stuff. So by 3:30, I had a super heavy bag on my shoulder and had eaten a cookie (that said Armstrong Flooring on it), mints (that said Armstrong ceilings on them, apparently Armstrong was the good loot provider), about six glasses of water, and a pepsi. I was in quite a state. Then, because it was 28!!!! degrees on the train platform, I got a coffee. Which I requested in decaf and I'm pretty sure wasn't. But I did sent lots of random text messages, mostly to my sister. Of course.

I sighted the guys from This Old House, Kevin and Steve. I had to tell someone!!

We had success with potty training. Much success over the last week. In fact, yesterday, she told me she had to go, *before* going. I was all encouraged. Then, this afternoon, she came home from the sitter's with a pullup on. Apparently she had a wet nap. But still! This is a step backwards, people. Sigh. My son took about 3 days to get on board, and he was much younger. This little lady is on day 10 or so of partial success.

I send my sister the most random text messages. I recently purged or there would be more better. Here are some examples:

Oldies 103 is already holiday music!
G just said I'm jealous of his penis.
G wants to meet barack.
I am on a cloud today.
Daylight savings has brought back the nap.
38 degrees now.
Saw an obama sign w/ "do not steal this sign" on it.
I just saw a guy with a handlebar mustache chse a g sized boy around a parking lot for five minutes. The kid couldve easily gotten to the road.
At grocery, balloon says "i'm sorry".

See, the things that strike me in my life, that aren't really worth a phone call, get a text to my sister. That way, my odd life is shared with others, without disrupting those others.

It was pretty well summed up this morning, when the boy was in our bed, and we said "you know what? Obama won!" and the boy got a giant grin and did the fist pump "YES!!"

Oh and also, he said "now will the soldiers get to come home?" We explained it will take a while but yes, the soldiers will get to come home.

Please vote tomorrow. And if you know what's good for you (ie, my friendship ;o) ), please vote for Obama. It's up to you. You especially, as compared with Massachusetts Me.

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DSC01425
Originally uploaded by archimom

I'm not sure why I've been so crafty lately (aka today). I just made these delicious cake balls (thanks pioneer woman). They're super sweet so make them small. I purposely made their "costumes" a bit short. I just thought they were so cute.

Earlier I made a set of placemats and napkins, and have started on dollhouse number two.