I'm Thinking Grandpa is Going to Regret This...

On Thursday mornings my 4 year old goes to grandma and grandpa's house.

Today when I went to go pick him up, he came running in from the garage with this.

Minus the color, of course.

.

I oohed and aahed the appropriate motherly amount and asked him where it came from.

"Grandpa made it for me! I asked for a canoe, but he said, 'How about an airplane?'"

I was trying to swallow my laughter and was thinking grandpa was pretty smart for making that suggestion.

He continued, "Look, the propeller spins! I told grandpa that planes don't have propellers, but he said that older planes do, so this is a great plane." And in the next breath, "Can I paint it when I get home?"

Nearly two hours later, he was still doing this.

Two hours of sitting still in a chair, and he did not once ask to watch TV.

Grandpa better be practicing his canoes.

Here's To Hoping This Is Not a Pattern

So far January has not turned out to be a banner month.

Don't get me wrong, it has not been TERRIBLE by any means, but I am seriously hoping we are not forming a pattern for 2011.

So far January has looked like this:

*A devastating funeral.

*Stomach flu for my dad.

*Two snow days (I love snow days as much as the next person, but any more and we are talking make-up days during Easter or Spring Break!)

*A major cough/cold for my 4 year old.

*Two teeth lost for my 8 year old. One would think this is no big deal, but obviously one has not yet met my son. Since this event typically involves blood, the process includes much screaming, crying, and fit throwing. It has not yet included tackling, holding down, and forced tooth extraction, but it may come to that on the next one.

*A weekend of sickness for my husband.

*News that a couple of my amazing colleagues may be moving on to other ventures.

*A day last week of sickness for me.

*Stomach flu for me today.

Move on out January! I am DONE with you!

Let's Celebrate?

All around me people are celebrating their achievements....starting bachelor's or master's programs, fitness and weight goals, and job successes to name a few.

So I've been thinking....

...what am I celebrating?

Here is what I have come up with:

*My children have had clean clothes to wear to school every day this month.

*The egg shells I just found on the counter are from earlier today and not 2 or 3 days ago.

*When I dropped the entire tray of veggies and dip in my car yesterday, only the veggies flew everywhere. The dip amazingly stayed in the container.

*I am nearing my 1.5 year anniversary of gaining 10 lbs. I can't pretend it didn't happen, so why not celebrate it? Chocolate anyone?

*I only had two meetings Monday night and two meetings last night. At least it's not three or four.....

* The spider webs in the corners of my bedroom are only visible if you lay on my bed and look at just the right angle, in just the right light. I feel fairly safe that no one else will be doing that. And, yes, I realize that I could have gotten rid of said spider web in the amount of time it took me to type these three sentences.

*I am home sick today. Why am I celebrating this? Because of all the days to feel cruddy, this one required no sub plans, no meeting cancelations, and only one dentist appt. to reschedule.

Go Me!!

There Must Be Something About Men and Time....

....they are too stinkin' early!!

My father leaves 40 minutes ahead of time to get to an appointment in a town 18 miles away.

My father-in-law says he'll be here at 9:00. He comes at 8:50.

My husband says, "Let's leave at 7:00". What he really means is, "If we don't leave by 7:00 we are LATE!".

Don't get me wrong, I am a bit of a time freak myself. Habitually late people raise my blood pressure slightly (I still love them anyway). But the men in my life are over the top!

Let me introduce you to our bug guy. I'm sure he prefers the title of exterminator. We live in the country, where one will find more creepy crawlers than should be allowed, and I don't particularly love living with spiders. Enter bug guy.

Literally. We let the bug guy come and go whether we are home or not. He used to work with my dad, and knows my mom from when he was an EMT delivering patients to the ER where she worked. So we have a top-secret 'how to get into the house when we are not home' system for his quarterly appointments.

Here's the thing. The bug guy always calls the night before to let us know when he is going to be in the area. It is always at that point that I remember (I should know this by now) that he is going to walk through every.square.inch of every.single.room in the house. That does not fit with my project-planning, paper-grading, kid-bathing evenings.

He told me he'd be here at 2:00 today. Perfect. My plan was to get home at 1:15 and do a quick overhaul of the house.

I ran in the door at 1:15, sent my 4 year old to clean the playroom, and flew around the house making my bed, closing my underwear drawer, picking up the boys' pajamas, putting dishes in the dishwasher, wiping down the bathroom counters....

And at 1:45 I noticed a piece of paper on the table. He had already been here. Here. Done. Gone. By 1:15.

Soooo embarrassing.

I may need to get a new bug guy.

One who understands female time.

New Year Thoughts

After 13 years of marriage and three years of dating, I have finally come around to my husband's point of view on New Year's Resolutions. At least for this year.

His theory is that if there is something a person needs to change, he/she should not wait until a new year to get started.

I see his point, but there has always been something that I like about a "new start", "new goals", and "new possibilities".

Until this year. I'm just not feeling it.

It may have something to do with the blog reading I have done lately, especially my own. Of all the 'New Year's Resolutions' and 'Self-Improvement Goals', that I have made, I am not sure that I have fully accomplished even ONE of them.

That is just depressing. Especially when you consider that 2009 was the "Year of Lowered Expectations".

I've been thinking about any accomplishments I've made in the past several years. I'm pretty sure not one of them had to do with a New Year's Resolution.

So, that's it, no resolutions for me.

Sure, I have a few thoughts of things I would like to do. We'll see where they go.

In the mean time, I am looking forward to taking 2011 as it comes....moment by moment.

Happy New Year!