Just Grow Up Already!

Hi! Apparently, I blog once a month. Or it is just a coincidence that my last entry was on October 16th, and today is November 16th.

I really have nothing mind-boggling to say. I just felt like rambling for a bit.

Sometimes the internet is a really great thing. People forge great friendships, hear from old friends, find instructions on how to do basic stitching, buy widgets and what-nots, play all sorts of games, and much more. And sometimes the internet really stinks. As someone who has been on the receiving end of an ex-communication from a chat-group (for deleting a deluge of unwanted and unappreciated forwarded jokes, inspirational stories, and pictures without opening them), I know how obnoxious internet "friends" can get. Thank God I have many actual friends--in and out of the computer.

I have a list of friends and acquaintances that have dropped from the face of the earth--or at least from the old familiar groups--because of pettiness, misunderstandings, lack of ability to forgive and forget, or just plain immaturity. I happen to really like my friends so I don't like it when they go away. I don't even like it when my non-computer friends move away.

One would think that now that the most recent victim of internet ex-communication has removed herself from the group that people could get on with their lives, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I despise pettiness. I despise meanness. I live in Happy World, and these situations really taint things for me.

Recently, someone asked me why no one was posting in a place that used to be rampant with fun conversation. It is because . . . it isn't any fun anymore. Having to tiptoe around talking about issues because someone might accidentally mention someone who had a disagreement with someone--see? I even lost myself with that last sentence. It's too hard, and if it is more work than it is fun, I don't see much reason to bother with it. I have better ways to spend my time.

/Rant.

I know, I know. Nothing ever happens here.

By "here", I mean in this blog. :D

If you're talking about "here" as in my household, the opposite is true. This past Sunday afternoon, I took the boys to "More than a Movie" at church. We saw "Game Plan". Later that evening, I went to the movies and saw "Quarantine". [Worst.movie.ever. Don't waste your $.] In the middle of the night Monday night, Mark woke us up because he threw up. Twice. Wednesday afternoon and evening, we had chimes practice, dinner, and then choir practice where practically every kid in the church practiced for Children's Sunday which is this coming Sunday. Glen picked up the boys, and I stayed for a Children's Council meeting. Last night, Henry threw up throughout the night. Fun times.

I also found out that my nephew threw up throughout the night last night but went to school today anyway. My mom went and got him a little while ago.

Now I'm wondering how many children will be sick tomorrow night or miss Children's Sunday altogether.

Speaking of Children's Sunday, we have a gazillion things to do this weekend. As far as I can tell, none of them overlap (much). Tomorrow, if Henry is feeling better, there is a fund-raiser called the RamRun during which the kids run laps for pledges. Third grade goes from 9:10 to 9:40, and of course Mark has to be at preschool at 9:30. I'll be taking pictures of the RamRun since I'm PTA Historian. Tomorrow night, I'm going to a Craft night to do some scrapbooking. Saturday midday, there is a Family Fun Day at Henry's school. Saturday afternoon, my Sunday school class is having a family social at a local Pumpkin Patch. Sunday morning, I'm going to get to church EARLY to blow up balloons and help decorate for Children's Sunday. Henry's choir is singing at both services; Mark's choir is singing at the late service. There is a pumpkin painting party in the afternoon. Then I hope to go see "The Secret Life of Bees" that evening.

See? Nothing ever happens here.

The Neighbor Project

Some of you may know that I'm working on being a better neighbor. So far, I have given a pan of brownies to 2 different neighbors. Okay, it was two separate pans of brownies. Now those neighbors think I'm awesome. ;D

There are only 5 more families on my street to go. It's a good thing that a WalMart bag of brownie mix is only 86 cents! Who knew that it only cost approximately 86 cents per house to become a better neighbor?

I've always thought it would be so fun to have a big cookout in front of the house. We could put our grill in the driveway. The other families in our cul-de-sac could grill out front or use our grill. I could put our picnic table in the front yard plus all of our lawn chairs. We could have a big fun neighborhood party.

Do you know what my husband would think about this idea? He would HATE it. To him, that would be pure torture.

I guess opposites really do attract.

I did it!!

I got home from having lunch at Brad's BBQ yesterday, and I couldn't stand it one more minute. I pulled up that carpet and padding from the bathroom and the hallway. It just had to be done. The padding was still soggy. So nasty!

Once I got that outside and swept all the dirt and stuff, my dad came over with a pry-bar and got the little wooden strips loose so I could get rid of those.

I got a flashlight and lifted the edge of Mark's carpet in his doorway, and it was damp too. Ugh. So I pulled his carpet up along that edge. It was a small section that was wet so I just cut a similarly-sized section from some dry pad that I removed from the hallway to replace it.

Next, I concocted a bleach/water mixture in a spray bottle and sprayed the heck out of the floor everywhere that it had gotten wet. I set the box fan to blow that way, and it started drying pretty quickly. Mark's floor dried the quickest so I went ahead and replaced his padding and put his carpet back the right way. It's a little lumpy but I did my best.

Finally, I dug out a box of carpet runner that I had bought ages ago when my dogs were not housebroken. This stuff was supposed to go over the carpet and then easily washed. We never used it, so now I have that on the concrete in our bathroom and hallway. It looks pretty awful but it's just a temporary fix. It may take a couple paydays before we can afford to put something more permanent there.

But anyway--I did it!! I got rid of the smell, I got it clean, and I didn't spend any money.

Smell, smell, go away!

The night before last, we had a toilet incident in the kids' bathroom. The toilet had a massive overflow--from the bowl AND the tank. It is a small bathroom with linoleum on the half of the floor by the toilet/tub and carpet on the half by the sink. Well, the floor filled up with water--completely soaking the carpet. Toilet water even seeped into the carpet in the hallway. I used every towel in my house just to attempt to soak up all the water. I had to stop my efforts after an hour to wash and dry the first load of towels just so I could continue the process.

I have now sprayed Resolve and scrubbed it with towels several times. Glen has had the box-fan blowing into that room for 2 days. I've resorted to leaving all the windows on that side of the house open and spraying them with Lysol and/or Oust.

It just smells so bad. I wasn't noticing it too much yesterday but when Henry got home from school, he announced that our house smelled horrible. Then he went outside to do his homework and refused to come back inside.

I don't know what to do. No one who lives in my house knows anything about household maintenance or repair. I'd love to rip up the carpet in the bathroom (and the hallway) and put something else there. BUT--I don't know how, and we don't have any money anyway.

How can we live with that stench?

Clouds

Today I decided to participate in the MomSquawk Photo of the Day Challenge. The theme was "Clouds". The picture I chose is first, but I am going to share my others here as well. In many of the shots, I am lying down on a trampoline while Mark is standing or jumping beside me.

I love the opposite-ness!

Henry and Mark could not be any more different from each other. Every day, I discover even more fascinating things about my children that make them even more opposite from one another.

I'm sure quite a bit of it is their ages but Henry never really acted his age.

8-year-old Henry disappears if there is the possibility of work to be done. He gets that from me. 3-year-old Mark is always asking to help, helping without being asked, and putting things where they belong. He is so tidy that I would wonder if he were switched in the hospital but he looks just like his daddy so I guess not. Maybe being tidy is a recessive trait . . .

At around age 2 1/2, Henry announced that he was NEVER going to use the potty. [Thank goodness it wasn't true.] Mark practically potty-trained himself.

Henry hardly ever wanted to watch TV unless it was Cedarmont Kids videos and would never have watched a full-length feature film at age 3. Mark has been sitting through whole movies for over a year.

Henry always wanted to be in my lap or next to me wherever we went. He was quiet and still and generally well-behaved in public. Mark is also fairly well-behaved in public but he is much more independent and wants to do everything the big kids do--even if it means leaving me behind.

I always had to worry about Henry choking because he put EVERYTHING in his mouth--way past age 3. Even in kindergarten, I couldn't give him "choking-hazard" toys. Mark almost never puts things in his mouth--except food. However, Mark is much worse about getting into stuff than Henry ever was. Mark likes to wallow in dirt and mud outside, he smeared an entire tub of Vaseline all over his bathroom once, and the list continues.

I love those kids!