Day of Dislike: Sleeping In

Nothing has as much potential to ruin my day as sleeping late.  It's not just the "I need to make the bed" mentality that gets me up in the morning.  I enjoy the early morning hours because it's the only time of the day when my house is quiet.  Perfectly quiet.  Even at night, when the kids are in bed, my husband is still up.  As much as I enjoy his company, he usually has a hockey game or news program on at night so the only time I'm really alone, in silence, is first thing in the morning.

My life has been constant noise for the last eleven years.  Someone is always crying, whining, or yelling.  HeyMom, HeyMom, HeyMom.  The television, the computer, the Wii, the handheld games, the battery operated toys... something is always interrupting my quiet.  Oh, and the sound effects!  My kids cannot sit down in a chair without making some kind of weird noises.  Great for their imaginations but not great for my mind.  But... not at 6 a.m.  The house is so still and my brain can actually put together clear thoughts.  

I try to escape the noise during the day wherever I can.  When the kids were babies and I had the luxury of watching TV, I would watch in mute and read the captions.  I don't listen to the radio in the car when I'm alone.  My computer is always on mute and the mouse is silent, no clicking noise.

 Many mornings I will wake up, look at the clock, and force myself to stay in bed at least until I know the coffee maker has done its job.  I try not to get up too early because I know I will regret it by 9 a.m. when the coffee starts to wear off, but beating the sun is always a goal.

Made Beds

I don't know the criteria that needs to be met to qualify as OCD, but my issues with unmade beds might be one of them.  The rest of my house may be a mess but I can assure you the beds are made.  Everyday.  And the pillows are turned the right way.

Some mornings, I will be downstairs and have an uneasy feeling.  I don't know how to describe it exactly.  It's the opposite of a warm fuzzy.  The problem is that the beds upstairs are not made.  I can't see them but I know they're not.  I know they're not because I'm the only one awake and there are people still in the beds.  This is how crazy unmade beds make me.

There have been mornings when I get up and do my best to make my side of the bed while my husband still sleeps.  I'm sure he appreciates that.  If my sleeping beauty daughter doesn't get up early enough, I will go in and just start trying to make her bed.  That usually gets her out.

I know I'm doing a disservice to my kids by not having them make their own beds.  This is a skill I would like them to have.  Every so often, I try to hold back and give them the opportunity to do it themselves.  This usually doesn't last for more than a week.

About once every six months, for whatever reason, the beds won't get made in the morning.  I cannot get into an unmade bed.  I will make the bed and then immediately get into it.

The last time I had to take a trip away from my family, my husband was so kind to let me know that he had made the beds at home for me.  Maybe my crazy is spreading.  By the way, while on that trip, I made my own bed at the hotel the next morning.

I've actually tried to be better about this lately.  I read an article that said your bed is healthier if you get out and wait a few hours to make it.  That lets the sheets and blankets air out a bit.  Makes sense to me.  I try to wait now.

As for the pillows, they have to have their case openings facing the edge of the bed, not the center.  I don't care how it looks.  It's all about spiders.  If a spider were to be in my pillow case and crawl out, he would likely fall to the floor.  If the pillow case openings are toward the center, the spider would crawl out and be in bed with me.  None of this has ever actually happened to me but it could.

Find Your Calm: Messy Bed, Messy Head

Mother Nature's Generosity

Finishing Second

Daniel's scout pack held its annual Blue and Gold Ceremony last Saturday and as part of it, they had a dessert contest.  There weren't really any rules and the whole thing was just supposed to be fun.  Last week, we were still recovering from illness and the blizzard that hit Tuesday night so the Blue and Gold was the last thing on my mind.  It wasn't until Thursday that I remembered the dessert thing and wanted to make something.  I only had two days to come up with an idea and make it.  Here is what I did:

It was really very simple but turned out rather cute.  The theme for the event was "backyard BBQ."  The hamburger buns are made from yellow cupcakes cut in half with brownie circles for patties.  Red, yellow, and green icing were supposed to be ketchup, mustard, and lettuce.  I could not find any jelly bellies at the store so I used candy covered sunflower seeds to make the corn on the cob.  My sister-in-law had the idea for Boston Baked Bean candy.  When we left the house, I forgot to take the Jello lemonade but I think the whole thing worked without it.

There were seven categories and certificates were awarded to the top three entries in each.  The categories were best decorated, least decorated, least homemade, best Blue and Gold, best on theme, scout favorite, and family choice.

Here's what some of my competition looked like:

My dessert won second place in three categories:  best decorated, scout favorite, and family choice.  The cake that took first place in the same categories as well as best on theme, for a total of four first place awards, was this one (sorry for the blurry photo, my hands must have been shaking at the sight of such craftsmanship):

Here's the fun part:  The woman that counted the votes is the same woman who made the winning cake.  Really.  I'm going to sound like a sore loser but look at her cake.  It's a green sheet cake with teddy grahams and a blue Jello swimming pool surrounded by gum.  Mine may not have been the best but I'm pretty sure it was better than this one.

So, how do I like finishing second?  Well, this makes for a much better story than if I said I won a first place crappy printed-off-a-home-computer-printer-with-an-ink-cartridge-that-needs-replacing certificate at a Blue and Gold scout ceremony.  I mean, it's not like it was Cake Boss or something.

Oh, and the story gets a little more interesting.  On the way home, my husband said he overheard the son of winning cake woman say that his car was the only one from the pack to advance to the Pinewood Derby District race.  Not sure if that's true but it might be.  His father, winning cake woman's husband, is Committee Chairman for the pack and was running the time clock at the Derby two weeks ago.  Really.

Let's recap:  Woman counting votes wins 4 times.  Only 3 other categories she didn't win were least decorated, least homemade, and blue/gold.  Woman's son's car possibly only car in the pack to advance to district.  Woman's husband is pack committee chairman and ran time clock at race.  Something smells funny.

I like the idea of a Cub Scout Conspiracy.  Much more fun than winning first place.

My brother had the best reaction:  "Is there an anonymous tip line for the Boy Scouts?"

P.S.  If you find out that the Derby part is not accurate, don't bother telling me.  It would ruin my fun.

Day of Dislike: Disposing of the Children's Artwork

Artwork, schoolwork, church crafts, scouting...  the papers pile up quickly.  I've read many ideas over the years of how other parents handle it.  Some scan things into the computer and save digital copies.  Some take photographs of the artwork and then make a picture book for the child.  I remember Daniel's preschool teacher telling me she had saved every piece of paper her son had ever brought home from school.  (I'm waiting to catch her on Hoarders.) 

Sorry, I won't do any of that.  I don't have the patience to scan or photograph spelling tests and rainbows.  I do save some of it but most of it gets "lost" after a few weeks.  If the item has anything to do with a holiday, it goes in the plastic tub with that holiday's decorations.  That way, each year, I get to see it again.  Other things are just in my nightstand drawer for now.  I suppose I need a better system.

Sometimes there's a slight pang of guilt when I toss something.  I don't like getting rid of their creations but I just can't keep it all.

Grace's Ability to Find a Canvas

Ikea Shovels

We bought these sandbox shovels at Ikea last spring and they are great.  I love how long the handles are.  I guess the longer the handle the more leverage you get.  Also, they are super sturdy.  They're made of plastic so I suppose you could break one but these have lasted longer than any other sandbox toy we've ever had.

Okay, it's January.  The kids haven't played in a sandbox for months.  Guess what?  Sandbox toys are great in the snow, too.  I wish I had thought of this years ago.  The weight of the snow and the freezing ice have not been kind to some of the buckets but these Ikea shovels have held up beautifully.