Mommy Haiku

I stumbled upon a fun little challenge over at Two Peas in a Pie and just had to play along.  She invited us to pen a little ode to motherhood in 5-7-5.  And I loves me some haiku!  Here goes:

Scream, yell, pinch and poke.

Mine! No mine! Leave it alone!

Crappy McPlastic.

A tiny tyrant

and an empress in training

search for minions.

Funny little guy

Pretty girl so very smart

Can't believe they're mine.

Checkity Check!

Apparently, all I needed to do to get the ball rolling on home improvement was wave my shame flag to blog-land.  Items completed thus far:

• Hang art in entryway.
• Find a place for the painting that used to hang over the fireplace in the living room. 
• Hang curtains that mom-in-law bought me for the guest room.
• Hang art in guest room.
• Hang art - especially cool David Bromstad-esque deer portrait I made T for Christmas - in kids' den

Yay, me!

Don't quote me on this, but there are even plans afoot to get started on priming the kids' bath tomorrow.  Will the wonders never cease?

Sterner Stuff

I think that housewives of the early '60's - military wives, in particular - were a lot more hard core than housewives of today.  Or at least a lot more hard core than I am.  Every mom I knew growing up (admittedly a sample skewed toward military families), had to spend a year or more at a time as a single parent while their husbands were overseas on an unaccompanied tour and/or fighting a war.  It was just something that had to be done, and no one thought anything more about it. 

That was kind of a non sequitur of an opening.  Let me back up.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, the sergeant position opened up here in Wester.  We were very excited about it because if T got the position, we would be able to stay here forever.  We LOVE it here.  Our house, the weather, the schools, the people, the proximity to the ranch - all of it!  T was a really strong candidate and we felt very hopeful going into the interview. 

Unfortunately, at the last minute, one of his co-workers decided he was really excited about the position, too.  As he has 20+ years experience on T, we weren't terribly surprised when he got the position instead of T.  And we like him, so we can't even be mad at him for it.  Rats.

There are a few nebulous promotional prospects that might be coming up out here, but they depend on the cards falling just so.  And even if they do open up, they would be available for guys who are already sergeants before they are open to guys that want to promote to sergeant.  So now T is in a fever to promote.

So.  There aren't any positions here.

Today T applied for a position six hours away near Ginormousville.  A year and a half ago, I would have been turning cartwheels and packing boxes.  Now?  Not so much.  If he gets it, we won't be going with him.  At least not at first.  Since the end goal is to get back here, we aren't in a hurry to move out there.  For at least the remainder of the school year, the kids and I would be staying in Wester.  From there, who knows?  Back and forth for the summer, for sure.  But the next school year?  A total question mark.

I am zero percent excited about being a single parent.  I know I can do it, but it is SO not what I signed up for.  On the other hand, I need to support T in his career and this is what that looks like right now.  So I'll do it.  But I'm not gonna like it.

See?  Not hard core.

Re-sale

Now that I have hit 40 and the baby-making-factory is officially closed for business, I have to liquidate all of the kid stuff that I optimistically hoarded held on to.  I have kept every stitch of clothing either of my kiddos ever wore in the hopes that there would be a third - and very well dressed - kid.  So, that makes almost six years of girl clothes and four years of boy clothes. Not to mention all of the accouterments two kids require: pop-up cribs (like five of them); monitors; strollers; changing pads; diaper bags; baby carriers; breast pump; boppies.  The list goes on and on.

I have been dressing the kids from consignment sales forever, so now it is my turn to contribute to a sale.  Q had a growth spurt recently, so yesterday I was culling the stuff that was too little as I folded the laundry.  That snowballed into ridding his closet of everything that was too small, which led to dragging out the bin of outgrown clothes.  The poor kid hardly has anything left!  He stayed the same size for so long that I haven't had a chance to buy anything in his current size! 

Once I had sorted all of the clothes into summer and winter stacks (the sales are seasonal, I can only sell stuff for spring/summer in the upcoming sale) I was already tired of the project.  There is just SO MUCH STUFF.  And nowhere to put them until the sale.  Blah.

Oh, my poor laundry room: dumping ground for all things homeless in Casa Critical Mass.  I need a place to hang the clothes until they are prepped for the sale.  With closet space at a premium, the laundry room it is.  The only place available is in front of the window, so that will be pretty.  Or not. Blah.  Maybe I can call it a window treatment?

I managed to cobble together the pieces for a hanging rack from leftover parts of other projects.  The stuff the contractor left on my front porch for a year has finally paid off!  I had a closet-bar-hanger-thingy from building T's closet last year, and another one that didn't work out from Z's closet.  There is about 40 feet of closet rod collecting dirt on my front porch.  Luckily, there was a piece just the right size for my project!

Once my cordless drill is done charging (the cold sucked the charge right out of it!) I will be cooking with gas.  Now all I have to do is attack the many bales of clothes in the attic... yikes!  Once I get them all sorted, all I will have to do is enter them into the computer.  And print the tags.  And iron every stitch.  And pin the clothes to the hangers.  And pin the tags on. And cart them to the convention center.

Man, I am exhausted just thinking about it!

2011 House Plans

The hubs is dead set on paying off the house this year, so we are officially in poverty mode.  That said, there are still a bunch of projects around the house that I can do that a.) I already have the stuff for and b.) are free/cheaper than dirt.  Here is a list from front to back:

Front Porch:

• Install new front porch lights that I got for Christmas
• Paint front door red
• Paint porch swing (and possibly wooden rockers from my parents' house) black.

Foyer/Stairs:

• Browbeat David-the-Contractor into finishing the stair railing (it still wobbles).  You'd think that he would want to get this project finished before we hit the one-year mark next week.  He said he'd be here today, but here I am writing this...
• Hang family portraits on stair wall.  This would include finally framing Q's baby portraits.  The second child SO gets the shaft.
• Hang art in entryway.
• Get mirror for empty frame above entry table.
• Paint hideous brass chandy black and top with adorable mini-shades that were in my formal dining room in my last house to replace the much-too-small fixture in the entry.

Living Room:

• Find a place for the painting that used to hang over the fireplace.  It was replaced by a gorg painting from my parents' house that was a better size.
• Repair giant wicker flamingo that Holly mauled.  I think I am actually going to cover the wicker form with braided fabric rope a la a braided rug.  Colorful and not not missing vital parts!  Cool!

Kitchen and Dining Room:
(Not pictured: messy/embarrassing state of my kitchen)

• Remove hideous wallpaper.
• Remove chair rail and upside-down crown molding.
• Paint beige-on-beige harlequins on kitchen walls.  I'm so stinkin' excited about this!
• Build banquette.
• Raise and re-cover Craig's-list wingback chairs to use as host chairs.

There are a ton of other non-cheap projects in the kitchen (new counters not held on with Scotch tape, an actual bar-height bar, built-ins, etc.), but alas, they won't be happening this year.

Laundry Room:
(Not pictured: hideously messy/embarrassing state of the dumping ground laundry room)

• Make cafe curtains to hide my shame from the neighbors but still let in enough light to work.
• Install more shelving/open storage for the less-used items from the kitchen
• Possibly paint, but I have no idea what color.

Master Bedroom:

• Install crown molding
• Touch up paint (in the right light some areas are quite patchy).

Z's Room:

• Paint yellow pine corner cabinet white
• Wallpaper (okay, Contact Paper) the back of her shelves with SO cute green pattern
• Sew pillow shams and second dust ruffle

If I want to get really crazy, I have an idea for a 'border' treatment around the ceiling that could be really cute, but I may save that for when other things are looking more finished.



Q's Room:

• Finish rope detail around his ceiling
• Put together his big-boy bed.
• Buy/make big-boy bedding.

Kids' Bathroom:

• Prime/paint sand and sky colors (like I had in the old house).  Possibly with chair rail, but probably just paint treatment with palm trees.
• Make frames to hang over the builder-grade giant mirror
• Spray paint the TP holder to match other finishes in the bathroom.

 Sewing Room/My Office:

• Paint walls palest aqua.
• Convert daybed to 'couch' (a small construction project) and upholster with fabulous cocoa-polka-dotted fabric.
• Build custom desk that runs the length of the room with space for both my sewing machine and computer, with plenty of storage for sewing and crafting supplies.
• Make a window treatment.

Guest Room:

• Hang curtains that mom-in-law bought me.
• Hang art.
• Add accessories that haven't make it out of storage.

Guest Bath:

• Find some art.
• Circle border treatment like I saw at House*Tweaking, but with more colors.

Kids' Den:

• Hang art - especially cool David Bromstad-esque deer portrait I made T for Christmas
• Get kids' computer stations set up and running.
• Find a home for all of the stuff in boxes from my parents' house.

I found the fabric I want to use for curtains in this room, but it will require some serious yardage (five windows!), so this may be a project for another year.

Oh, is that all?  Looks like it will be a busy year, poverty-mode or not!

PS - I joined the Home Plans party at Nesting Place.  People have big plans for this year!

Vile

Short version:  I made cauliflower and bacon gratin.  I didn't even make the kids try it.  Blech.

Long version:  I signed up with a group called Bountiful Baskets in an effort to eat more and/or locally grown produce.  For $15 you get literally a laundry basket of fresh fruit and vegetables.  Now I don't have the best track record with veggies.  They enter my fridge all fresh and hopeful and leave it wilted and slimy.  The round's basket included a head of cauliflower.  I am not opposed to broccoli's pale cousin, but my family?  Not so much.  So I decided to disguise it in make make it into a yummy cheese-butter-and-breadcrumb casserole.

OMG.  It was SO awful.  I wanted to wipe off my tongue with my napkin after the first bite.  But then it was like a train wreck:  I couldn't look away.  I kept taking bites thinking that this one would taste okay; that I would finally get to the good part.  Um, no.

Too many breadcrumbs and not enough cheese.  It somehow managed to be both over seasoned and too bland.  There wasn't enough liquid to even get the breadcrumbs damp and the minimum cooking time charred the cheese on the top.  It was like eating an unseasoned shrub with a coating of sawdust sprinkled with charcoal. Gag!

I should have just served it with Ranch.

So I Have This Blog...

So.  December happened.  Not that you could tell from the trusty ol' blog!

Lots of things happened:

• Finally attended my first PTA meeting as a parent.  Turned out to be just a 5th grade Christmas concert.  Figures.
• Got portraits taken of the spawn in their adorable Christmas regalia.  They turned out... okay.
• I hosted a cookie exchange.  The hidden side benny to hosting?  I got all the extra cookies for the gal who didn't show!
• Z had her dance recital.  Very cute.  But quick.  So quick that she was done with her number before GanGan got the video camera going.  Rats!  At least I got lots of stills.
• Daddy's house sold, so I went down for several days to gather up the things from my childhood that I couldn't live without. Total sob fest.  Lucked out and got movers to arrive my second day there.  They beat me back to Wester!
• Attended a Girls' Night/Gift Exchange with my besties.  Was so nice hanging out with them without having to mess with kiddos every few minutes.
• Took Z to her first ballet.  We watched her cousins dance in The Nutcracker.  Z was a little distracted by the cousin and friend that went with us, but had a great time and enjoyed the dancing.
• Hosted Christmas for the in-laws and two of my friends and their families.  It was lovely.  Great family.  Great friends.  Great food.  Made it most of the way through without crying, but still missed Daddy a lot.
• Had a fun New Year's Eve at home playing games with friends.  Watched fireworks from the (new) upstairs window.

And a few things didn't happen:

• I didn't ever finish decorating the house.  The stair rail on the wall had garland, but only a few ornaments and no bows.  (But the living room looked FABULOUS!)
• I didn't send out the family gifties.  They are sitting forlornly in the laundry room waiting for me to make the dreaded trip to the post office.  Blech.
• I didn't take the kids to look at Christmas lights.  This is a bummer because Wester does a nice drive-through display and I had hoped to do this whole I'm-a-good-parent-building-memories-with-my-children thing.  With hot cocoa.
• I didn't finish my Christmas cards.  So now I have 80+ copies of the (much doctored) aforementioned Christmas portraits sitting forlornly in the laundry room waiting for me to make them into Christmas New Year's cards.
• I didn't stick to my diet.  (See:  'Hosted cookie exchange' above)

Hope your December/Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa/New Year was great!