Family Movie Night

While I was busy working at the Kohls, Mr Man and the kids had movie night. They climbed in our bed and watched Indiana Jones, two nights in a row. He, of course, bragged how the kids were just like him with his love for Indiana Jones. I say, sure whatever floats your boat, just don't make me set down to watch some of the weird crap you call entertainment.

Since I didn't have to work on Wednesday night, I was asked by the kids to join movie night. Imagine my surprise when it was the last of the Indiana Jones trilogy. So, we grabbed TONS of snackies and snuggled up to watch. They, of course, were entranced by it, I was entranced by the love that my kids gave me. They actually fought over who got to sit closer. AWWWWW

School informed me that for Thursday, I got to pick the movie. I decided to go with something we hadn't seen before. I started digging through the watch instantly list on netflix. I decided on a classic, Singing in the Rain. None of us had seen it before, and it's rated G. Perfect for a family movie night. We got our snacks together and snuggled in to watch. Mr Man just knew that HIS kids wouldn't sit through a musical. Halfway through when they were good and entranced by the dance stylings of Gene Kelley, I reminded him they were MY kids too. School even got up and did a little tap dancing along with the movie.

All in all, family movie night went great. I'm sort of sad that I have to go back to work tonight. Sunday I have the day off, and since Monday is the anniversary of my birth, we will do a family celebration. It's supposed to be nice and sunny so Mr Man already knew that we'd be taking a picnic lunch to the Zoo. YAY!!

Things that I've learned on the Bargain Board...

I am completely obsessed with the bargain board on Babycenter.com. It is a bunch of fun snarky moms who look for bargains and talk about EVERYTHING. Since first reading that board I've learned that you are tacky if you let your kids wear character clothing or light up shoes. Never poison your kids by giving them McDonalds. Truly loving parents will so what it takes to be able to afford a Britax carseat and you should leave them rearfacing as long as possible in that seat. School lunches should be done bento style and completely void of anything with red dye #40 and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup).

When you have your period you should use a diva cup. Keep your feet from velcro-ing to the bed sheets by using the pedegg. Always keep your "oval office" hair free with magic cream.

Always try to purchase these items from Target, Walgreens, CVS, or Linens and Things. These are Bargain Hunter approved stores. Use coupons and try to buy on Clearance. If there is a really good bargain where you can get items free or less than a quarter with a coupon hoard them and stack them in your basement like there's no tomorrow. It doesn't matter that your whole family is allergic to Huggies wipes, you may need 400 containers of them for something.

I've learned how to lance a boil at home. You can or cannot birth your baby at home with the help of your boyfriend's cousin's sister who is a vet tech. If your child is completely sick always ask the bargain board to diagnose before leaving for the ER. If your husband is cheating these knowledgeable ladies will help you get revenge. And always always always post any tacky birthday/baby shower/bridal shower/halloween party/christmas party invites that you get so we can make fun of them for days on end.

For those of you Bargain Hunters who notice something that I've left out, feel free to leave me a comment.

Conversation from the car

I picked up the howlers from school today and this is the conversation I heard.

Frillian: I got invited to C's birthday party.
School: Where is it? Skaterz? Chuck E Cheese?
Frillian: I don't know, I'll ask her. Her birthday is in the summer. C has an Xbox, but I don't remember what number she said it was.
School: Xbox 360
Frillian: Sounds right. You can play Xbox while C and I swim in her pool. She has a big pool at her house. Do you want to swim with us?
School: No, I'll just play Xbox
Frillian: Hermie do you want to go with us too?
Hermie: No, my not know how to fwim, my will just play xbox with School.


I was totally cracking up. I am sure that C's Mom doesn't know that anyone was invited to her house. This is why I had to instill the rule that you can't go to a birthday party unless there is a written invite. We also don't let sibs tag along to parties.



Last night at the Kohls was nice. Neither of the short bus riders were scheduled and we got done an hour and a half early. Somehow I don't think I'll be as lucky tonight.

The evil place is evil...

wally world, the blue devil, the place that eats babies, voldemart, there are a million nicknames for Walmart. No matter what you call it, that place is evil. Not only do they run other companies out of business, and pay their employees jack. They take too much of my dang money. Living in the midwest, it's hard to avoid Walmart. They're really the only place to get groceries around here. I went to get a few things today, mainly bananas and these yummy little mandarins that my kids love. Well, I went to a different one that is closer to my house and dang if they didn't have the mandarins. They did lure me into buying 2 sets of flatware that were on clearance for $9 a piece. Also a label maker for NLP:RD, because according to Ashley everyone needs a label maker. So basically a quick trip for bananas, mandarins and a few other things was 190ish dollars. EEKS!!

Hooray for Mr Man

I'm so proud of Mr Man. He has lost 9lbs on his diet already. He's eating healthier, and tracking his calories and doing the workouts on sparkpeople.

Fatigued to Fantastic...

tastes like ass. Just saying.

Work It Out Wednesday

Like everyone else who is cool on the internet, I am following Ashley's New Life Plan: Rough Draft.
Today is Work It Out Wednesday, which is a day for solving big problems Since my house is way past the point of being a big problem, I've decided to actually work out on WIOW. I just purchased a kettlebell and workout video from the greatest store on earth. (That's Tar-jay for all you non-shoppers) I will be attempting the first circuit of my new video, which after 4 days is still in the package.

I am totally exhausted from Frillian getting in bed with us. I think that girl needs the sleep study, her snoring puts Mr Man to shame. I don't think I got more than 2 hours of sleep.

I am working again tonight at the Kohls. One of my people called and quit last night with no notice. Only after she shopped w/her discount an hour before. One less rider on the short bus. Yay!!

Tonight's dinner is:
crabby patties aka salmon patties...shhh don't tell the howlers it's salmon

Where are my house fairies???

I think my house fairies curled up and died somewhere, it sure smells like it anyway. My house is beyond disaster area, yet here I sit. I think I need to hire a maid. One who doesn't speak English so she can't turn me into CPS when she sees our house.

Tonight's dinner is:
Vegetarian Chili

ETA: The chili went over well with Mr Man. The kids picked quite a few things out. I did add an extra can of beans, and used portabella mushrooms. I think this one is definitely a repeat.

Damn You Mr President, Damn you all to Hell!!

I understand our forefathers were great. They made America the wonderful place that it is. Why can't our children spend they day in school learning about them instead of home with me??? We had one sick day, 2 snow days and a half day last week. Now a 3 day weekend? I really cannot be spending this much time home alone with the howlers. They are sick of me, and sick of each other. All they do is argue and fight. I am ready to put them all in separate closets.

School went to his second orthodontist appointment today. His back teeth are growing in and he'll be able to start the first step of his ortho treatments soon. He did get a little blue spacer between two teeth to make room for the permanent to come in all the way. It's all I've heard about for the past hour or so. Why is my child so damn neurotic??

Mr Man is taking a nap. He got up both weekend days with the howlers, I figured the least I could do is let him take a nap. Of course the howlers are in full fledged crazy mode. Not sure how much napping he's really getting. He's not quite as good at playing possum as I am.

I am scheduled to work 6 shifts this week at the Kohls. I may not survive. If I don't make it, please make sure to blog about the evils of Kohls. I won't expect you to quit shopping there, they have fucking righteous clearance racks!!!

Dear Aunt Flo

You are not really my Aunt, seriously, I don't even like you. Why in the hell are you back so soon? You were just here two weeks ago. You could have at least given me some warning. You should NEVER show up again during any school functions. Especially when I'm wearing a cute new outfit. As often as you are here, you should know that I don't take my purse into the school.

NEVER EVER visit on Valentines Day, are you crazy?? You really need to stick with the 28day schedule we had agreed upon.

Sincerely,
Julie

A Day For Love

As I'm sure you all know, today is Valentine's Day. I am pretty sure that this holiday was created by Hallmark and Russell Stover. Both of which can be dangerous on a woman's pocketbook. I woke up to a bouquet of lilies and a card from Mr Man. He's so sweet, he didn't buy me chocolates hoping to win our small weight loss challenge. I did splurge and eat a cupcake at each of the younger howlers' school parties. The older howler told me that it would be too embarrassing for me to show up at his party.

I got Mr Man a joke a day calendar for his new desk he built. I also got him this. Notice it's applewood scented, his favorite kind of bacon. I thought it was kind of funny since he has the high cholesterol and can no longer have regular bacon. He, of course, liked it because he's in touch with his feminine side.

Mr Man and I have been together for 12.5 years. We met while working together at a factory. I fell deeply in love with him from the moment I saw him. It took him a while of my mad flirting to make him feel the same. We had our first date at the movies. We saw Seven, what a date movie huh?? He didn't buy me popcorn or a soda and didn't kiss me good night. However he called the next day to see if I wanted to go to the Mall. You know it's love when he wants to take you to the mall. Unfortunately I was babysitting. We did go out for pizza the next day and clothing shopping for his daughter, Sneeze. She was 7 at the time. He was a single Dad raising his daughter with no help from the biomom. There's something about seeing a guy as a parent that lets you know how he truly is inside.

After about a week of seeing each other every day, we both laughed about how our cheeks hurt from smiling all of the time. It was definitely love. We moved in together a couple months together and 4 years later starting adding more howlers. We were married not long after I was pregnant with the first howler. We didn't get married because I was preggo, it just sort of happened.

Let me say that I love my husband much more today than I did in the beginning. There are many days when my cheeks hurt just like that first couple weeks. We are truly the best of friends and are perfect for each other. We never fight, but we do argue from time to time. I believe that we have the perfect marriage and I feel sorry for people who don't have what we have.

Mr Man, I know you'll be reading this some time. You truly are the love of my life. I am so glad that I slipped that love potion into those brownies.

Dear Webkinz

I heart you. Seriously, I do. I love raking the dandelions out of my gardens. There's no sweat or dirt involved. Just click, click, click and it's done. It's very zen. Whenever I put my little webbies to bed, they don't argue. They never bitch and moan that they don't like their dinner. They don't fight or argue and they are always happy to sleep in their own bed. Arte from the curio shop is always happy to see me. Tabby von Meow at the employment office never gets mad when I don't complete my job. She just tells me I can try again later.

Nobody in webkinz world ever messes up the house. Nobody expects me to clean up after them. I can play all the games I want and they even pay me kinzcash to do it.

Do you think the fact that I am coveting a world of stuffed animals on the internet means I desperately need a vacation?? Yeah, I thought so too.

Remind me to buy more apples

High produce prices kept us from eating our apple a day, so off to the doctor we'll go. Mr Man has to go tomorrow for an appointment with a neruologist about maybe having a sleep study done. He snores like a freight train and sometimes gets choked, they're thinking maybe sleep apnea. School is still running the mystery fever, so I'll be taking him to the doctor. I am hoping to be able to work all this around the other kids going to school. Frillian has already voiced that she doesn't want to walk to the bus by herself. All I know is that she's leaving this house!! Two snow days in a row is definitely torture.

The short bus riders were in full force tonight at the Kohls. We have an audit tomorrow so everything had to be perfect. Which means I had to be the bitchy slave driver. We were there an hour past when we were supposed to be. Oh well, at least it's money in the bank. I probably should spend it on apples.

Destined to stay home

School woke me up complaining that his head and throat hurt. Took his temp and it's 101.8. I gave him some Tylenol and sent him back to bed. I called Mr Man to tell him that he'd have to take Hermie to school since it's his snack day and snack day is a big deal. I got a phone call around 9am from Hermie's teacher, they're dismissing school at 11am because we're expecting snow and ice. Here it is 1:33pm and I haven't seen a drop or flake. Oh well, at least the kids are doing a good job at entertaining themselves. Frillian even cleaned her own room. SHOCK!!!

Poor School is in my bed germing it all up. At least he's sleeping. Poor kid, I probably should have taken him to the doctor, but didn't want to drag 3 kids out if we're having bad weather.

Life is fairly boring here, don't really have much to talk about. Guess I'll leave it at that.

Edited to add: I just went to check the mail and it's fraining. (frain=freezing rain according to Sasha)

I do love me some pink

But this is ridiculous. Frillian has the pink eye. Halfway through the day yesterday I looked at her and she looked as if an alien life form was on her head. I got her some drops from Target last night and luckily she was awake when I got home from working at the Kohls. Remember the scene from Gone With The Wind when Scarlet was at the make shift hospital and they were amputating a soldier's leg without knocking him out?? Frillian sounded pretty much like that when I was trying to put in the drops. Mr Man even came running in thinking that I had finally snapped. Her eye is starting to look a little better today, and Mr Man will definitely be on drop duty.

Remind me to cut the brake lines on the short bus that drops off my crew members at the Kohls. I know it takes all kinds to make the world go round, but this is getting crazy. We had a teeny tiny ad last night that should have taken no time, but yet we were there for an entire shift. I have one girl that everyone suspects is on the meth. I have one that is so utterly computer illiterate that you'd think she was Laura Ingalls Wilder reincarnated. I have one that made it through half the night before she realize that she was working with her palm pilot on the wrong date. I had one who locked her locker combination inside her locker. Totally had to play MacGuyver with a pen and scotch tape to fish it out. Don't even get me started on the day crew who can't seem to get taking down and Early Bird sale correctly. It's not hard, you take down the sign that says Early Bird leave the rest behind. Oh no, they always either leave them up, or take everything down. So I didn't get home until after midnight last night. GRRR

Today Mr Man has the plan of going to Office Max to buy paper. The howlers are totally obsessed with paper and steal it out of our printer continuously. He's decided that if they have their own, they'll leave his printer alone. I know, you're thinking exactly what I'm thinking, but we'll let him have his plan anyway. We will also be going to that evil place that eats babies because it's the only place in town to get groceries. I am out of black beans and that just can't happen.

Ahhh refreshing...

Mr Man and I actually had a babysitter last night. Gotta love Mr Man's sister, she actually likes to spend time with our howlers. We are a pretty boring couple though. We went to eat at Texas Roadhouse. Mr Man actually stuck to his diet. He had a salad with lowfat ranch, he even picked off the eggs and croutons. The shish kebab which was awesome and served on rice. I totally pigged out and ate 2 rolls with cinnamon butter, they were to die for!! I also had a sald with the lowfat ranch, a 10oz ribeye and a baked sweet potato. VERY YUMMY!!

After dinner we did a Coscto run, which is a big thing for us because it's closer to the city. It was nice to stroll around and shop without the kids. I looked for the amazing trash can that the bargain hunters are raving about. Of course our stupid Costco didn't have it. I did get some very nice camis for sleeping. They are longer than average and very soft. Mr Man bought a GIANT magnetic dry erase board for over our desk. Not sure what he's expecting to write on there. It had better not be a list of chores for me, unless it includes sleeping until noon and blogging. We did get the normal food that we always get from Costco and some enormous reusable shopping bags. I have shopping bags from just about every store, but can never remember to take them back with me. It's a sad addiction.

We left from there and ran into Target quickly. I got some cute black bootcut yogas to go with the mom uniform. I also got some exercise bands that I've been looking for. I really wanted to get the kettlebell too but $39.99 was a little much to spend on an exercise that we all know I probably won't stuck with. Got some other odds and ends and decided we had better go get the howlers.

Went and picked up the howlers came home and watched LOST. It was awesome!! I'll save the details for another entry.

Mr Man did finally get some lovin last night too. Poor guy has had it pretty rough since I started on the Effexor. Did I tell you that I saw my psychiatrist again yesterday for a followup?? She said that my craziness, I mean depression, is genetic, I could've saved her the time and told her that. I will more than likely be on the Effexor for my whole life. Poor Mr Man. It's a horrible feeling not thinking about sex at all. I asked him if he'd rather have sex and me be on the crazy side. He said to not stop the Effexor...lol. I must have been pretty bad.

I have to go work at the Kohls again tonight. Luckily I only work one day next week. I am hoping that it's a pretty short night. Not sure if I can stand 5hours with the short bus crew.

In case you live under a rock....

Lost is on tonight. Of course, I'll be slaving away at the Kohls tonight. What did we do before Tivo??? Oh and if you're reading this Mr Man, don't think about watching without me!!

For those of you who haven't watched Lost, you really should. I just started watching about a month ago. All of the past seasons are on ABC's website. You even get them in HD. If you're super cool and have firefox w/ad blocker you don't even get the boring commercials. Mr Man and I watched them all over a 2 week period. It really is a great show.

Scrapblog Rocks!!

See what I spent my night doing instead of sleeping. Thanks for recommending scrapblog Sasha.

Like totally wow!!

I feel so popular. I noticed that I made a blog roll. WOOHOO!! I am now officially on the blog roll of Mama Drama Uncensored It's where all the cool gals go to check up on the underworld of the Bargain Board.

I have to go work at the Kohls tonight. I am doing some training tonight, I will definitely need to stay away from sharp objects. I really enjoy my job, but part-time night jobs seem to draw in the strangest people.

I am proud to say that my children did indeed eat school lunch today. More than I can say for dinner. Never try to serve potato encrusted ocean perch to children. Just take my word for it.

I am still sticking with the diet thing. I am down 3lbs in about a week. I log all of my eats on sparkpeople. It's really an awesome website for tracking and meal plans. I really need to start drinking more water. I read on the bargain board today about the horrors of diet soda. I don't drink or smoke, or do drugs. Diet Coke is really my only vice. I know that I should give it up, but I really don't see it happening.

Bad Mom Alert....

I had a bad Mom day yesterday. All was going well, I got the kiddos out the door with weather appropriate clothes. Very hard to do when your weather changes from 80 degrees to 35 degrees in a 24hour period. I wrangled Mr Man into going and picking them up and even did a tiny bit of housework while he did it.

We would think that all is well in our house. Mr Man and I were discussing what we ate for lunch, since we are both dieting. School said that I didn't ask him what he had for lunch. Being the good Mom that I am, I asked. He told me that he was going to get a tray, but had to get the special lunch instead. One would think the special lunch would be, well special. Think again. The special lunch is a peanut butter sandwich and a milk. It's what you get when your parents let your lunch account go in the negative by $10. I blame the school for this. They are just updated enough that all of the lunch accounts are kept on computer, but heaven forbid they put this info for the parents online. Anyone that knows me, knows that I keep up with all things online. I am sure that if our lunch accounts were available online, my children would have an overabundance of lunch money. Ok, maybe not an overabundance because I did really need some new shoes this week.

Don't worry, my children are on the way to the bus with very cute checks tucked in their backpacks.

Mr Man was so sweet he let me take a late nap since I didn't have to go slave at the Kohls last night. I woke up after the kids were nestled in bed. It was awesome. I am glad that I didn't go past the bathroom until morning. I woke up to popice wrappers and cupcakes with the icing lucked off all over the place. Yes, I let my kids eat popice, it keeps them out of my sugar free fudgesicles. The cupcakes were courtesy of our next door neighbor's mom. She has adopted our kids and they fondly call her Grandma Monster.

School and Frillian are on the bus, Hermie is still asleep. My Roomba aka Roofus is cleaning my living room floor. All is well in the world. I am going to grab a bowl of cheerios and watch reruns of The Waltons on the Hallmark Channel.

I guess I now have a blog....

I must say that I have become obsessive about reading blogs lately. I talk about them so much that my husband, says that I need a blog of my own. I think he'd just rather me bitch, piss and moan here than to him. Either way, I now have my very own blog.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Julie, I am 30ish. I have been happily married to Mr Man for 8 years. Mr Man was a single Dad when we met, he has a 20 year old daughter who we'll refer to as Sneeze. She currently lives with my MIL (mother-in-law) is working part-time and going to school full-time.

We have 3 beautiful children together. Our oldest is 8, we'll refer to him as School. This nickname was given to him by our youngest when he was about 2. School is in the 2nd grade this year and occasionally goes to Cub Scouts. Our middle child is Frillian, she is 5 and in Kindergarten. She is a total tomboy and as whiny as all get out. This is a VERY bad combination. Our "baby" is Hermie, he is a big 4 years old. He goes to half-day preschool.

We have 2 cats, Waffle and Gordon. We also have 3 hermit crabs whose names have been changed so often, I'm not sure what to call them anymore.

I just started back to work after a 3.5 year hiatus as a SAHM (stay at home mom). I work at Kohls in the adset department. Yes folks, I am responsible for all of those little yellow sale signs. Let me tell you, it's an obsessive shopper's dream job.

I am just a regular old mom. I struggle with my sanity on a daily basis. My house is a disaster and the laundry is piling up. My kids run wild often and watch way too much TV. I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog, if all else it'll make you feel like you're doing a better job as a wife and mother.