Joey must have had a bad day...

First of all - how do you like the new blog look? Yes, I'm getting ready for Halloween already. It is the last day of September tomorrow already!

I told one of my friends today they may have to admit me soon to the looney bin. Today was one of those days.

It all started this morning. Joey wanted some water and asked me to get it for him. Normally my response is something to the ring of 'You have two legs, you can get it yourself' but I was being NICE and said, 'Ok, I'll get you a glass'. See, I'm nice like that.

So I walk to the fridge and get his water, and then notice there is already a cup of water on the counter next to the fridge. This is normally ok but my IPOD radio is there and he knocked his cup of water over near it yesterday so there is no water drinks allowed on the counter anymore - just on our kitchen table. This is ALSO a good thing because he would sometimes get multiple different glasses and leave them all over the kitchen counters.

Me: 'Is this glass (the one next to the fridge) yours and why is it on the kitchen counter?'

Joey: 'That cup isn't mine'.

Me: 'Well maybe it's from yesterday. Either way it doesn't belong on the counter'.

I walk over, give him the NEW glass I filled with water, and pour the old glass of water into the kitchen sink and place the cup into the sink.

I look over at Joey and he's crying.

He sobs, 'Mommy, why did you dump out my glass? I wanted that glass!'

Me: 'You just told me that WASN'T your glass so I gave you the other glass I just poured'.

Joey continues to sob. I put him in a time out and my blood pressure is rising. He doesn't calm down for FIFTEEN MINUTES over a GLASS OF WATER!!!! I was ready to go shut myself in the bathroom and escape this crisis.

I seriously have no idea what that was all about. He wasn't tired, he just ate breakfast. See - I do something NICE for him and he has a fit. It makes me want to go back to my 'go get it yourself' attitude and we would have avoided this whole morning meltdown.

-------------------------

Fast forward to this afternoon:

Me: Joey, do you want a grilled cheese sandwich.

Joey: No.

Me: Ok, well I'm making me one.

I grill one up for me, pull it out of the pan, perfectly cooked (of course!) and then cut it in half. I go back to my office to work and eat 1/2 of the sandwich.

Joey comes into the office and states he wants a grilled cheese sandwich now.

Me: Last time I made you one you didn't eat it and threw it away. Try mine first. I didn't even eat from it. See if you like it. If you do, I'll make you your own.

Joey: (starts to cry)....I want my OWN. I don't want YOUR grilled cheese.

Me: (again...) Joey I want you to just TRY it. One bite. If you like it, I'll make you one. I'm not going to make one just to have you not eat it. 

Joey lays on the ground and whines for 5 minutes. I think around this time I threatened to EAT the rest of the now cooling sandwich staring at me on my plate.

He finally gets up, takes a bite, states he likes it and goes back to the kitchen for me to make it - EXCEPT I'm out of butter...so I just give him the rest of mine.

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OH you think we are done? Oh not so.

I'm working (like I do!!) during the day. Joey rides his big wheel over (yes I'm easy going and allow it in my house!) and he says to me, 'Mommy, why are you on the computer so much?'

Me: I'm on the computer so much because I have a job. I work from home and I need to work during the day so I get paid.

Joey puts his head down on the handlebars on his big wheel and starts to cry.

I have no clue what was up with him today. Perhaps he just had a bad day. I don't know.

I ended up asking him if he wanted a hug. About three minutes after I asked him he ran over to me saying 'Hug Hug' and then crawled up on my lap and we hugged and cuddled. Then he was fine.

Yes, it was just one of those days. One of those that make you want to pull your hair out and at the same time makes you just love your child and his quirks even more...

What kind of blogger are you??

I snagged this from Amy's Blog!

Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You're an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends. People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support. You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone. You have a great eye for design - and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

What do you think? Right on?!

Joe's debut...

If you haven't had the chance to read Joe's first post below, do it now! I laughed so hard when I read it I CRIED. No, I'm not kididng. He's a great writer and gives you a different perspective on our life.

I've added him as an author to my blog so every now and then he will grace you with his funny wit and tell it like it is. I'm warning you it may be gross/funny and guy talk, but hey, he's a guy and that's what you get! ;)


So I added a new feature to my blog - it's called Following. You can click 'follow me' to the RIGHT and when you log into blogger, it will show you all my latest posts so you can keep up with me.

If you aren't a blogger member - you can go down a little further and join my email notification list. It will email you when I update my blog. How cool is that?!

It's been a few days since I've posted. Don't ask why, I don't know. Burnt out? Tired? Busy? Those are all great excuses, aren't they?

Friday I went out with the girls and went scrapbooking. I had such a great time. The only BAD thing about going is that I WANT WANT WANT! The newest thing I want is the cricut (to the right). It's a computer that takes cartridges and then  uses a blade to diecut titles in seconds. I mean lazer diecuts, amazing intricate titles in seconds. Everyone at the crop has it and I am constantly asking to use theirs. It's amazing and I totally want it! I would use it on EVERY PAGE. It's just so awsome. I haven't bought ANY scrapbook stuff in a YEAR - so I decided this is what I want (yes yet another gadget but in my defense I USE all my gadgets - they don't just sit around gathering dust!).

Anyway, the scrapbook get together - there were about 17 girls there (cricut - no this is not a subliminal message). I do this once a month and it's my time for ME and I get to work on my scrapbook. Well Friday I did not work on MY scrapbook, I worked on Marcie's! (cricut - no this is not a subliminal message) Marcie is one of my good friends that I met online and we have yet to meet in person. We are seriously like SISTERS. We have everything in common - we have the same struggles in life, (cricut - no this is not a subliminal message) we have kids the same age, and the list goes on.  (Yes, I want the cricut for Christmas!!!).

Every year for Christmas (well we started the tradition last year!) we send each other a stocking of fun stuff. I buy mine and she MAKES hers. I'm just not that crafty and I got the greatest stuff from her last year, including a jean apron made out of REAL blue jeans! It was so creative and cute!

So this year my gift to her is I am taking some of her photos and scrapbooking some pages for her scrapbook. She obviously knows that I'm giving her completed scrapbook pages for Christmas but she has no clue what they look like and that is the kicker. I figure it's a great gift because she'll have them forever and her whole family can cherish them. See, I can be creative like that! So sorry peeps - I won't be scanning them in until AFTER she receives them - around Christmas...but I do have to say the two pages I worked on yesterday are SWEET! :)


This whole weekend Joey and Justin were at each other's throats. CONSTANT bickering, constant fighting, pushing, teasing, the whole 9 yards.

Saturday evening during dinner Joe and I look at each other, and we agree to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE for a MUCH needed break from the kids.

After dinner we got dressed, I dressed up (make-up and all) and we drove the kids to the drop in daycare and went to the Cheesecake factory, ordered alcoholic drinks and dessert. Wow, we needed that!

Today was a lazy day. The kids went and got their hair cut. Joey looks so much older with his hair shorter. He just doesn't look like a toddler anymore - he looks 'older' - older than 4 1/2 even.

Justin and I took a nap this afternoon. Joe and Joey went with Mark, Braxton and Camille to go play a game of baseball at a local diamond. Joe had fun and Joey enjoyed getting out of the house.

That's about all. It's been quiet around here. I've been trying to 'fall' clean (if there is such a thing').

Oh and here's a question for you - Is your garage soo full of crap that you can't pull your car in? I see this so much and it amazes me. Do people really need all of that extra stuff?!! What concerns me is in Texas we get HAIL - I mean BIG HAIL. These people put their cars at risk by parking outside. It just amazes me. Maybe we need to nudge these people to flylady - what do you think?

That said - next weekend Flylady is coming to DALLAS BABY!! I'm going!!! Anyone want to join me? I guess I'm going by myself!

Here it is from her website:

DALLAS FLYFEST!!!! Yep - You heard it here! FLyLady and the Fly Crew are heading to Dallas, Texas! 

Texas FlyFest - Compliments of Yahoo

Saturday, October 4th

Yahoo is throwing a big party/FlyFest for us when we reach 500,000 members. We will be having this party in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, October 4th. We have found a lovely place. It is the Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas. We will meet for the day and we will celebrate together. There is no charge for this event! Come PARTY with us!

Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas
221 East Las Colinas Blvd.
Irving, Texas 75039

So maybe next weekend I'll have photos of me with Marla. Wouldn't that be AWESOME! I owe her so much for my clean house and no stinking thinking. She ROCKS!!

Joe's Perspective

Briana set me up with an ID where I can blog.  I'll probably write a couple short notes once in a while to keep some things straight about whats going on.  First, I did not come home to watch the Raiders last weekend, I like the Raiders about as much as the damn Cowboys - which is not much at all.  I watched the Steelers game - my other favorite team.  I just can't stand the Lions anymore.  The fact they are never on down here makes it a little easier to break away from following them as closely.  Anyway, here a just a couple funny (gross) things the boys have done lately.

#1 - On Friday night Briana went scrapbooking.  I agreed to watch the boys.  Whenever we have some activity such as golfing or scrapbooking, the other spouse will watch the boys.  Seems only fair.  Well, I got my fair share of sh!t Friday.  We (Joey, Justin and myself) were downstairs watching TV and having a snack.  We decided to go upstairs and play pool before bed.  Actually, the boys just roll the balls around the table, but hey, they have fun and it keeps them entertained. Anyway, Joey was already playing and Justin and I were on our way upstairs.  We got to the top of the stairs to where our game room is and I went to get my pool stick.  I come back around the table to where Justin is an he is just sitting there next to this brown lump on the carpet.  At first I told him to get away from the cat puke (Alex the oldest cat pukes a lot).  Upon closer inspection, I realize no, its no puke but crap.  Ok, now I'm pissed off at the cats, why can't they use the damn litter box (they sometimes leave us a surprise on the carpet if the litter is not clean enough).  As I'm moving Justin, it dawns on me that no, it wasn't the cat, but Justin who made the mess as it had rolled down his leg and his diaper was half off.  I asked Joey to go get me a package of wet wipes to help clean up.  Nasty.  What Justin had done was somehow half taken his diaper off (while still wearing shorts mind you) and pooped.  Down his leg, onto the carpet.  He must have taken a step or two, because it was ground into the carpet.  Nice.  This couldn't have happened when Bree was around, no it had to be me home alone.  Oh well.  I cleaned it up and did my best on the carpet spot.

#2 - Today before bed, we told the boys they need to brush their teeth.  Then Bree notices Joey left his pullup from the night before on the ground.  And she notices clothes on the floor.  She tells Joey to throw out the pull up and pick up his clothes (as he is making his way to the sink to brush his teeth).  Now, I believe it is a known fact that women are more adept at multi-tasking.  Men like to complete one task then move on to the next. Bree and I both fit those respective molds.  Looks like Joey fits the male profile too as he proceeds to tell Bree "Mom, focus on one thing at a time!"  I'm laughing my ass off because I tell her to just "focus" on one thing at a time when she whipes herself into a tizzy about this and that and the other thing that needs to be done.  Thats my boy!

It's all about me....

It's all about me....Yeah well it really is and always has been.

Yeah, well that's not true. Ok, well people close to me may really agree that it IS true :) Sometimes I'd like to think it is - don't we all? A lot of times though it's so much easier to put everyone else first... That what happens when you become a 'mom' and 'wife'.

Today after dinner Joey is goofing off on the couch and requests that I 'go get the camera'. In the process of taking photos of him, he takes the camera from me and proceeds to take the following photos (the ones of me), which I have to say, he did a pretty good job for being FOUR and handling my Digital Rebel! That's a heavy camera! So anyhow, without further ado - here's today's pics!

I love this photo Joey took of me because it showcases my eyes. Normally they are gray/blue but in this photo, my shirt makes them look really green.

My adorable oldest son Joey.

Another one he took of me. What a great photographer!

Justin.

Photogenic cat and the photo contest

Did I ever tell you I have FOUR cats?

Did I ever tell you how photogenic my oldest cat, Alex, is? He is so photogenic that a photo of him won me runner-up in our annual company wide photo contest and his photo will be on the back of the calendar. Yay me. 

My extremely photogenic cat - if there is such a thing.

Grandma Dziekan sent the boys these dinosaurs that grow in the water. Here's one of them that sat in a glass for three days. It got BIG.

The blue one is without water. The pink is how big it got. 

Sometimes I wish I was a cat and could lounge around all day.

Joey, right out of the shower and acting goofy tonight.

Here's the photo I submitted and won honorable mention. Yay me!

Here's the original post with photos I was going to submit. I ended up submitting the #2 bridge, #5 Chasing Rainbows, #6 curious cat and #8 summer corn. The cat photo won honorable mention (shown right above). 

Thanks for the award!!

I got me a new award. How about that? It's from Amy - Thanks Amy!

To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means:"This blog invests and believes, the proximity"[meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]

I am now instructed to pass it along to a few blog buddies (oh and sorry if you already have this - it means you are well loved so there!) and they are:

Melissa

Melissa Z 

Nancy 

Courtney 

and Janet

Our house...the place to be - again.

Here's how my day went. 

Got up late. Got Justin to daycare late. The gas light goes on as I pull in to drop him off. Drop Justin off and run all over the building to figure out exactly where he is.

Jump in the car and I go to the gas station across the street. I get gas - it takes me FOUR times to figure out the dumb nozzle on the pump. It would pump and then turn off - four times. Frustrating!

Then I went to the air pump to put air in my tires, except that she says its turned on, and it's not. Nothing is going into my tires and I'm turning BLACK because of the brake soot on my tires. Fun.

Soooo fast forward to this evening. My goal was to wash the car to get the black soot OFF of it. Then go to the gas station to get air.

I got out the car wash stuff and all the neighbor kids starting to freak out. I guess they LOVE washing cars. Anyone want a free car wash? High tail it over to my house and you'll have a bunch of eager to please employees neighbors ready to wash semi-wash the car.

Well - wash is a relative term. If you give a sponge to a 2 year old, 3 five year olds and a 8 year old, you end up with a 1/2 washed car and a ton of soap gone and most of the water is on themselves, or their heads. 

The good thing is - they had a blast and it kept them occupied for at least an hour... and my car got cleaned (well sorta) in the process!

Joey sponging off the mini.

Justin cleaning my dirty tires!

Olivia posing for the camera.

More car wash photos..

Christopher enjoying washing the car.

It wasn't long until it became an all out wet fest. Paige was only getting the kids

wet because they WANTED to get soaked.

Here's Paige. She was the only one allowed WITH the hose besides me.

If anyone was dry, it was a miracle.

Here's the video of it all - 4 min 10 seconds. You can hear a LOT of screaming (mostly Olivia) and all of the kids loved getting hosed down by Paige. At the very end Justin says, I Love you too momma. It's so cute :)

Our new toy from the Grandmas...

When the grandma's were here, they brought the kids this flying saucer that actually really did fly around the house. Even Joe got a kick out of it. 1 min 22 sec.

Our Sunday....

If you want to look into our normal Sunday routine, this is how it goes...

8am - wake up and get ready for church.
8:30 - Wake up kids and get them ready for church.
9 - Make sure kids are fed breakfast.
9:15 - Run out the door with kids in tow for church. Joe does not attend with me and usually lounges around on Sundays and gets quiet time.
9:25 - Drop kids off at Sunday school. Both go to class and Justin does not cry (yay). He knows the lady who teaches his class so that is great.
9:35 - Finally make it to our bible study class. Good topic today - Adulteress relationships and how to avoid them and work on your marriage. Whether you go to church or not, this is a great topic!
11:00 - Off to service. Today was the church's one year anniversary in this new expanded building. My nose won't stop running (thanks to my awesome cold) and I have no tissue. Great.
12:10 - Get pieces of cake for Joey and Justin (it's for the church's one year anniversary) and manage to carry two pieces of cake, my bible, the pager for Justin's class in case he needs assistance, my phone and purse.
12:13 - Get Joey from class. He's excited to see the cake.
12:15 - Get Justin from class. He's excited to see me - and the cake.
12:15 - Hustle the kids out the door to meet dad in the parking lot. Today we are meeting after church at Mi Cacina for a mexican lunch! YUM.
12:30 - Arrive at Mi Cacina. We finally get seated. It takes forever to get our drinks and our food. We are seated outside so I take the kids into the court behind the restaurant and let them run around, play games, etc. They had fun and no whining before the food came!
1:30 - Food comes. Joey ate a cheese quesadilla. He didn't want to try it but he finally did and liked it. Phew.
2:30 - We are finally done with lunch. No, I'm not kidding. It was a LONG one today and Justin is feeling a bit tired.
3:00 - Get home, Justin fell asleep in the car. Take him up to his room. Joe goes to watch the Raiders and I go to sleep. Nap time - ahhhhh......
6:00 - Wake up from a MUCH needed nap. Being that I'm under the weather, the nap did me good. I felt better and love hubby for watching the kids.
6:15 - Joe goes outside to mow the grass. I watch the kids. Braxton comes down to ask Joey to play at his house. I take Justin outside watch him and converse with the neighbor's kids.
7:30 - Joe made dinner tonight and we came inside to eat. Yum. Sausage and Chicken Rice Skillet.
8:00 - Kids play around in the house. Joe and I relax for a moment.
8:30 - Get kids ready for their shower. I fold laundry.
8:45 - Joey does his chores which include, emptying the trash (tomorrow's trash pickup), running the swiffer vacuum on the tile floor, cleaning up his plate at the table, and picking up all his toys. I load the dishwasher.
9:00 - Read Joey a book, a bible story, his AWANA (Wednesday bible study book) and kids brush teeth. Note to self - put Brush Teeth on Joey's chore list.
9:10 - Both kids in bed. Phew.
9:15 - Take a shower. Joe mops floors Sunday nights.
9:30 - Park myself in front of the computer, blog, facebook, email, relax...whew.

So there you have it - that's my Sunday.

I keep thinking to myself that I need to get to Blurb and print out 2006, 2007 blog books and have them bound. I got 2005 done and love it and I'm so glad I have memories of all of my 2005 blog entries - with photos!

My mom and dad come to visit us the beginning of November (the 1st!). I just can't wait!!

Oh and I'm already thinking I better be getting Joey and Justin their Halloween uniforms. I think Justin will be Elmo. Joey wants to be SpeedRacer so I need to see if there is a SpeedRacer type costume.

Have a good one!! :)

Recent Video of the kids...

33 seconds. Joey is so funny at the end. The kids race like this every day through our house.

Us....

Well not too much going on with us.

Joey's been saying 'no' to everything we ask him - everything. 

Please use the bathroom. Joey's response - 'No'.

Pick up your toys. Joey's response - 'No'.

Let's eat dinner. Joey's response - 'No'.

Today Joe and I had enough. We asked Joey to do something, and again, the 'No' came out. So Joe grabbed the Frank's hot sauce, snuck up on Joey, and stuck some in his mouth. He cried and cried. Joe felt really bad but I'll tell you what - he does NOT say NO anymore. When he does say  'No' by habit, Joe just says 'What did you say' and Joey back peddles really quickly and says, 'Yes'.

Just that one little incident has turned around his bad attitude.

I can't take full credit for the hot sauce idea. I do really like it a lot better than threatening, time-outs and spanking. Desiree does that with her kids and let me tell you, it isn't mean (people EAT hot sauce) but kids don't like it and they think twice about mouthing off.

So anyhow, that was our day today...

Joe and I decided that the 'Biggest Loser' is our show to watch together this season. It's inspiring to watch people fight and get healthier.

Joe has been stepping it up lately and cooking dinner on the weekends. I'm so proud of him. He's been taking our favorite recipes and making them from scratch. He's learned how many ingredients some of our favorite recipes call for and he gives me a nice break on the weekends. I cook dinner EVERY weeknight, so it's such a welcome break for me to have him cook. He made Chicken picatta tonight and it was sooooo good. Good job Joe! He also made a yummy lunch.

Wednesday we went to the Rangers game with Desiree and Mark and took the kids to SS Noah drop in daycare. When we got to the drop in daycare at 7:30 we found out it was only open until 10pm. So we booked it to the Arlington Stadium and guess what - 1st row tickets BABY!! It was so close that we could have almost touched the players. The Tigers KICKED butt too! When we got there we got run after run. One of the Tigers saw me when he came home and smiled at me because I was screaming my head off.

Desiree has been hit in the face with a softball before so she was so freaked out the entire time we were sitting there because foul balls were whizzing by. I thought it was so cool to be soooo close to the action!

Anyhow that is our week!

Well that's about it.

New addiction....

So it's not drinking.
Not smoking (those that know me know that would never happen).
Not exercise or running (though I wish I was addicted to that!).
Not drugs...
Any clues?

It allows you to take a look into your past and then into the current? Anyone?

It's..... FACEBOOK.  (there I said it...)

I can not get off the darn site. I am totally addicted. I don't know what it is about why I am on it so much. I have a myspace account but I just don't like it as much as I love Facebook.

I always told myself I would never be one of those 'people' who are addicted to the social networking websites...and now look at me.

I don't know why I'm so addicted to it. I think there are many reasons...some being

1. I can keep up with my family and friends daily by sending them little notes that I'm thinking about them. I especially love sending flowers and flair!
   
2. Finding old friends is fun.
3. Seeing how much people have changed over the years is interesting. Do I really need to go to a high school reunion? It's been 12 years since high school. Did this person have children? Who did an old boyfriend hook up with and marry? Has anyone come out of the closet?? Married? Gained weight (I have!)? 

There the top three reasons I guess I'm totally addicted to facebook.

I guess it's a healthy addiction - there are worse things to be addicted to - right? :)

Our house is the place to be...

I'm not sure why but everyone (all the kids) loves to hang out at our house. It's not like we have the coolest things - or maybe we do. Either way, everyone gathers here.

Today all the kids decided to play candy land. Everyone had a good time. A few people were slated to win and then drew a card that sent them way back to the beginning of the board. Everyone took turns nicely. Ultimately Olivia won.

They used mini micro machines as game pawns, instead of the actual game pieces because there were only 4 pieces and 5 players. Each person picked out a car, truck or motorcycle and moved those around the board. Everyone had fun with this idea.

 

Paige, Nicholas, Austin, Olivia, Joey

 

Austin's Turn. Everyone played nicely.

 

Afterwards everyone went upstairs to play with the new

Geotrack that Joe made for Joey.

It's big enough that everyone could get a train and 

control it on the large track.

 

Soon the gang all had to go home and eat dinner 

so Christopher came over to hang with Joey.

It's really funny - when I was younger I used to hang out across the street and I was really good friends with the neighbor's mom, Susan. I would go to her house to play with her daughter, Melissa (who was 4 years younger than me - my BROTHER'S age) who was so sweet and fun to play with and I would also go over there and just talk to Susan, who was such a sweetheart.

Years passed and I always wonderered why Susan was so nice to me. I mean I was like 12 and she was an 'adult'. I always looked up to her and she always trusted me. It was so nice.

Fast forward a few years. Now I'm a mom. Paige is 12 and she is so sweet and plays great with Joey and loves Justin to pieces. Her and I will hang out and talk. It's almost like back in the day when I used to talk to Susan, except now, the tables are turned. I'm the 'Susan' in this situation. Talking to Paige kinda reminds me of when I was a teenager. It was just cool to me that I thought of this today. 

Crashing Desiree's House

In the middle of making dinner today Christopher tells me he's leaving but doesn't say why.

Then Paige and Nicholas get ready to leave and I asked Paige, why did Christopher leave? I guess Desiree told the gang they could come down at 6:30 this evening and it was already 6:40. 

Joey was not allowed to go as we were going to eat dinner. He threw a major fit at first and than walked over to me and told me he was hungry. I told him dinner was ready and he could go to Desiree and Braxton's after dinner.

Joe was feeling under the weather all day. He hardly ate dinner and when I told him I was taking the kids to Desiree's, he told me he was going to go to bed. 

When I got to Desiree's everyone was in the pool swimming and having fun (it's heated). It was pretty chilly (about 70) so I had a sweatshirt on and Justin had pants on.

 

Justin decides to play in their playhouse.

 

All the kids were swimming.

 

Joey swimming.

 

Camille.

Eventually Justin and I went back to our house to change into our swimsuits and went back and took over the pool. 

Justin hung out in the pool while I tossed Camille and Christopher repeatedly into the middle. I then took Justin a few times under the waterfall, which he loved.

Of course you won't see any photos of this because - 1. I was wet. 2. Photos of me right now in a swimsuit is not allowed. Thank goodness swim suit season is almost over!