Friday, February 25, 2011

On Quick Take Friday- Feb 25

1. I haven't felt like posting all week because my face was busy having a gross infection.

2. I want to thank the doctor at OSF Prompt Care who totally misdiagnosed my gross face and gave me the wrong antibiotic basically prolonging my misery for 2 days.

3. I non-ironically want to thank the doctor I went to yesterday that seemed to get it right and prescribed 2 different antibiotics that seem to be clearing things up.

4. OMG, face infections are painful. I think the only 2 things that hurt worse were my c-section and cutting my leg open with my bike in 4th grade.

5. I am glad it was not shingles or MRSA, just good old fashioned impetigo. And yes, when my doctor asked me if I knew what impetigo was I answered, "Um, sorta, I saw it once on America's Next Top Model." And I totally loved that she knew which episode I was talking about.

6. How hard is it not to itch something that itches???? OMG my stupid face itches and I can't touch it.

7. Um, on another note, Happy Birthday little sister! You are my favorite 3rd pizza.

Friday, February 18, 2011

On Quick Take Friday- Feb 18 Edition

7 Random Thoughts

1. I took the kids to Menards this morning and got a big girl swing to replace my daughter's baby swing. I also got some chocolate. Why does Menards have chocolate?

2. I want to replace the red rock in our front yard with gray river rock. It is going to be a bit of a pain in the ass though. I want an easy button. I am also going to rip out most of the bushes and plant new ones.

3. I told my daughter to go get some pants out of her drawer this morning and she returned with shorts. Then she asked, "Can I wear these? There is only a itty bitty bit of snow left outside." Um, no.

4. My sinuses hurt.

5. I want to go to Jamaica with my sister next week. Too bad for me. I don not, however, want to wear the tie dye shirts she made. I have never cared for tiedye, even at camp.

6. Why did I think camp was fun as a kid? Those mattresses sucked, the food was cruddy, there was bugs, and you had to shower with other people.

7. When I was on bedrest with my son I found the best program ever made for tv. MTV's Fat Camp. Poor Diane. So funny. I am glad someone made a montage of her more entertaining moments.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

On How Much You Should Explain to a Three Year Old- Part Two

The first blog post in this series was meant to be sort of funny.

This one is meant to be more reflective.

As those who are acquainted with me already know, I am a big supporter of breastfeeding.

The stay at home mom circle I run with is pretty breastfeeding friendly. Contrary to national trends, almost all of my stay-at-home mom friends nurse or have nursed their kids. Even ones who would not identify as AP, for the most part, nurse their kids.

I try not to be to militant about breastfeeding, but it can be hard when you hear LLL leaders and friends telling you advocate, advocate, advocate. And they are right, you can't make breastfeeding the norm without normalizing the act.

In an attempt to normalize breastfeeding at our house I tried not to let my daughter play with bottles. Most that came with dolls got tossed in the garbage. Somehow, though, one slipped through the cracks. Incidentally, my daughter is in love with it. She started exclusively bottle feeding her "girls".

Then one day she told me one day that she was going to go to the store to get "baby milk".

I have no idea where that came from. We have always called breast milk "mama milk" and the kid can't possibly remember having a bottle since the last one she took was when she was, like, 3 weeks old.

I was at a loss. All the lactivists tell you to treat breastfeeding as the norm. I don't really want her to think that you can get baby milk from a store, I want her to think it comes from boobs. But, obviously, you can get formula from the store. So I told her that baby milk doesn't come from a store, it comes from mamas. Then I told her that some mamas can't feed their babies from their breasts so they buy baby milk from the store.

I kind of felt like I should tell her about donated breast milk or something or go into how formula marketing can be evil, but I refrained. I don't think her 3 year old mind can handle all that.

So, how do you treat bottles and dolls at your house?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

On How Much You Should Explain to a Three Year Old- Part One

I have always been an explainer.

I seldom can just let things go, and like to fill empty quiet space with chatter.

So when my children ask their bazillion questions everyday I try to give legitimate answers to most of them. I try to talk to them like little adults, and not underestimate what they are capable of understanding.

This doesn't always turn out, however, because although I am preeeety sure my kids are smart, I am also pretty sure they aren't geniuses either.

I don't know if sometimes I am talking above their heads, and I am not sure what they really get out of some explanations.

Example.

One day I somehow got suckered into explaining how babies were made. I decided to take a scientific approach and told my (then) 2 and 4 year old that babies were made from a cell from each parent. Details included naming sperm and eggs as the cells and telling how they joined together and made a baby in the mother's uterus, which was underneath her tummy.

From this, my son took away that I layed eggs like a chicken, and when he was a baby he lived in my butt. (Hey, butts are underneath stomachs I guess.)

And btw, If your 3 year old kid come home from playing with my 3 year old and know that babies come from sperm and eggs, you are welcome. :P

Friday, February 11, 2011

On Quick Take Friday- Feb 11 Edition

7 Random Thoughts

1. I am freezer cooking today. If I can make myself. I bought supposedly a months worth of food at the grocery store today. We will see how long we can last. Our grocery budget is pretty up there and I think the act of not going to the store every week should help.

2. My husband wrote a blog post today.

3. The 4 things I am freezer cooking today are potato bacon soup, spanish rice w/sausage, pork fried rice, and chili.

4. I got a new lamp this weekend and I heart it.

5. Kindergarten registration starts a the end of this month. Jaw drop. I will have a school age child next year. I am glad I know some nice moms, whose opinions I trust, that have kids that currently go to our elementary school. All the kindergarten teachers are supposed to be good so at least I don't have to worry about getting a clunker. I am pretty sure my son will like school. He is quite a little sponge.

6. I have weird scratches on my arm. I don't remember getting them at all. They just appeared randomly last night. I hope I don't have arm stigmatas.

7. Happy birthday Mom! Since only you and 4 other people read this blog I figure you deserve your own random thought. :)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

On Physics and Clocking In

Song Prompt Wednesday!

"Our nearest neighboring star is called proxima centuri and it's 4 light years away. We need some bread........but it's really hot outside and I can't be bothered to walk around the corner." - Ben Folds and Nick Hornby, Things You Think

This makes me laugh.

And really, how true.

I suppose it is a good thing people like Stephen Hawking exist to proselytize about physics and the universe, because most of us are just clocking in, or changing a diaper, or going to the store for bread.

Physics has always made my head hurt.

(Oh and doesn't the lady from Pomplamoose kind of look like Justin Bieber?)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

On Shireland and Crazytown

OMG!

If you ever lived in northern IL/ the northwestern suburbs and you remember Shireland you have to go look at this website.

Shireland was a kinda sorta amusement park. I remember visiting there in the late '80's. It was an odd place devoted to Shire horses. It was made out of a bunch of tents. One tent had, like, movies and stuff, a few tents had rides, and the big tent had a circus thing going on where the Shire horses put on a show.

Despite the fact that I didn't really like horses I remember really liking the place. So much so, that when my cat had kittens I named the biggest kitten of the litter Shirecat.

Anywho, the place did not last long, but you could still see some of the buildings from the highway until, according to the above website, a fire wiped out the remaining buildings.

The Super Bowl Ads featuring the Clydesdale Horses made me google Shire horses to see how different they were from Shires, which led to me googling Shireland.

Ho-ree Kwap.

Northern Illinois had its very own mini Howard Hughes in its midst!

Apparently the dude who owned and ran Shireland is an eccentric self made millionaire inventor. He is bat crap crazy and created Shireland to be (think Michael Jackson) his childhood playland since he apparently had a crappy upbringing.

He has been involved in a crap ton of lawsuits. He has a ghost town of empty houses and Shireland equipment/structures on his property.

The whole story seems kinda sad and sorrid and I feel sorry for the poor horses that it sounds like go caught in the middle of crazytown.

Shireland then:


Shireland now:

Sunday, February 6, 2011

On Music and Getting Old

They don't make them like they used to.

Every generation says that.

And really it is true. Things change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. But very few things are made exactly the same.

I was flipping through channels last night before bed and I stopped on VH1's repeat of Hip Hop Honors. It made me feel really old.

From about '93-'03 (so teenage years and early 20's) I liked pretty much all music, with the exception of country. Rap, R & B, alternative, rock, pop, pretty much any genre was agreeable to me as long as it was "good" music. It was like the music was geared to me. And retrospectively, from a marketing perspective, it probably was.

Around 5 years ago I started to get way more picky. I still like everything from the time period above, but new stuff that comes out I am much more selective over.

And Buddha on a Biscuit, I could not handle most of the Hip Hop honors program. I was amused but the fat guy lifting up his shirt, but not by his music. So I turned the channel to Saturday Night Live. I didn't like whoever was playing. My husband told me it was Lincoln Park. I used to not mind them in 2001 and now I can't stand to watch them do a 3 minute song. And don't get me started on all the autotune songs out there right now. Learn to sing people.

It seems I don't like any new music anymore.

So I will live in my '90's bubble and listen to my Dave Mathews, Barenaked Ladies, and Tori Amos albums.

MTV stopped caring about me about 7 years ago and now even VH1 is forsaking me.

It sucks to grow up. :P

Friday, February 4, 2011

On Quick Take Friday- Feb 4 Edition

7 Random Thoughts

1. Red Rum! Red Rum! *Cough* I mean I am really sick of being snowed in. We finally got out today and as punishment I get the Imapala stuck in the snow drift that was pushed in front of our driveway by the snow plows.

2. I am kind of proud of myself for solving my snow stuck car problem by myself. Go me.

3. I love amazon subscribe and save. It plays both to my love of saving money and of getting packages delivered. Screw Sam's Club. The Walton family gets enough of my money as it is.

4. I am sick of hearing about pox parties. My tongue is red from all the biting. It is not my business.

5. Diet Dr. Pepper has replaced Diet Coke as my favorite fountain beverage.

6. If you missed this segment on the daily show last week you should watch it. Doing crap like that reminds me why I will never be a Republican. Really? This is one of the first bills you try to get through? Oy.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape Victim Abortion Funding
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook


7. I have finally got decorations up on my walls! It only took 6 years. It looks like someone lives here! :P Now I need to get my husband to build me some stuff from Knock Off Wood. Hint hint.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

On Why My 3-Year-Old Is Kinda Like a Cliched Rapper

My 3 year old is a funny girl.

She was very verbal at a young age and I love to brag about how smart and awesome she is.

Like every child she has her quirks.

Her current quirk? At times she kind of resembles a stereotypical 90's/early 00's rapper.

Why you ask?

Let me tell ya.

5 Reasons My Daughter Resembles a Cliched Rapper

1. She pronounces the word yeah, "yee-ah-yah". Think Lil Jon. I live with Lil' lil' Jon.

2. She loves her bling. The more bling the better. She would pee her pants (literally since she is not potty trained) over a chunky gold necklace.

3. She randomly bursts out in rhyme.

4. She has an established rivalry. Some days my house feels like an east coast/west coast feud when she and her brother fight.

5. She really likes money. She has been known to throw pennies in the air. Not 100 dollar bills, but a kid has to work her way up.