Mancave Monday

I interrupt Monday's Mommyhood Moments to write about the mancave...

We bought our house 6 years ago. One of the things I really wanted was a basement to hide in when there are storms. The Coach wants the basement to be his mancave.

The one problem was that the mancave got water when it rained. Not tons of water but just enough to go from point a to the sump pump. Carpet was a definite no-no.

So, here I am going to post some pics of the mancave in it's unaltered state. Some work has been done on the mancave in the past 4 or 5 months but we will save that for another Monday :)







Now isn't that just soooooo interesting????

Better things are yet to come!

Broke the news to the kiddos....

And it actually went pretty well. Dos says "She's dead?" Uno cried, of course.

I told them that I found her Tuesday in the jacuzzi tub and I buried her back behind the garden. Dos said "Can I see where you buried her?" So we will go out later (once I get a bra on - lol) and see where I put her. Uno wants absolutely nothing to do with seeing it.

So Uno cried for about 30 minutes and was done. Then she said "I think Skittles would get along well with a dog." hahaha....

The kids want a dog really, really bad. Some days I want a dog a little bad. The Coach doesn't want one right now.

We have told the kids that most of the cats have to die off before we get a dog. Well, we are getting closer...hahaha. That is where that comment from Uno came from.

The Coach says two more to go and it's DOG TIME!

Do you think animals mourn???

Because I do.

We had "my cat" put down last year at the vets office. You couldn't have told that she was gone by the other 5 cat's behavior.

But NOW - these cats are mopey!

I'm wondering if it makes a difference that our cat died in the house. Maybe in the wee hours of the night on Tuesday, the other cats all gathered around and gave their last respects to the dead cat....hmmmmm....funny visual.

The Coach said that people say that death has a smell. Maybe they smelled death on her? I watched one of the cats smell her the night before and walk away.

Our cats just aren't acting the same. They just seem to be depressed. Poor things.

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Now me - I think I must be the worst cat owner ever. Or maybe I should just own up to the fact that the cat that died just wasn't my favorite.

Honestly, she got on my nerves.

She was pushy and needy.

She had really sharp claws in back and liked to use them accidentally. When I was in my last month of pregnancy with Uno, she cut my preggo belly vertically so that it looked like the old-time c-section scars.

She had white fur (calico) and insisted on spreading it everywhere. If there was a dark piece of clothing out, you could lay money on the fact that she would be on it by the time you got back into the room.

She would meow and meow to be fed and then scarf it down.....then puke it back up.

She would poop right outside the litter box.

We always joked that we would like to "kick her off the island" but never had the heart too.

She's jumped ship now...

I'm mean aren't I?

Woot Woot Wednesday

Let me tell you, I needed something to Woot Woot about!

Yesterday, I started my morning bleary-eyed because Tres had a tummy ache all night and was restless and fussy. I was hot because the a/c decided not to work in the middle of the night. And I was well, sad and put-out because on of our cats kicked the bucket in our jacuzzi tub - and I had to dig the hole. So, that was no way to start the morning!

So today, Dos had his first full-day of kindergarten. Rewind 3 years and Uno was starting kindergarten. She wanted me to walk her in and stay with her until she went to her classroom while she boo-hooed and got blotchy in the face. BROKE MY HEART!

I'm gearing up for a repeat session of that fun with Dos. But what does the little sucker give me????? I want Sissy to walk me into the gym! What??? You mean I carried you for 10 months, pushed you out of my netherplaces and I don't even get to graduate you into your school-life??????

So, that is what happened. He and Uno gave me kisses and went happily into school together. No tears, no fuss, nothing. Amazing!

Then I go to pick him up - there were no tears during the day & he had fun. He did however, forget to put his lunch box in the rubbermaid where it is suppose to go so he ended up eating hot lunch. It didn't faze him - he just went with the flow. Now Uno, that would have been the end of the world and the source of all tears and drama!

My son amazes me.

So, needless to say, given that he was so happy to go to school, the sending of him to school was much easier on me. I won't say that I didn't cry, because I did - a little. But if he would have done the same as Uno did in kindergarten (and incidentally 1st & 2nd grades but not this year!) I would have been a royal mess.

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Oh and the cat. We don't know why she died. She was acting weird for a week or so but she really was a strange cat. We noticed her breathing was labored last night but it was too late to go to the vet. She must have passed some time in the early morning. It's amazing how quickly they get...ummmm...stiff. When I found her around 6am she was still a bit moveable but solid. But by 8:00am after I had took the kids where they needed to go and had dug the hole, she was...ummmmm....pretty stiff. It was gross. The Coach owes me BIG TIME for that one. And I mean BIG TIME!

We have decided not to tell the kids about it until this weekend. Uno will be really upset and Dos just doesn't need another thing on his mind with school starting. It absolutely AMAZES me that they haven't noticed though - AMAZES ME! We have....well now....4 cats so it isn't like she was the only one. But she was "Uno's cat." Unreal.

My quirky kids!

I stole this from Jen at Buried with Children and thought it sounded fun!

I am suppose to list 2 quirky things about each of my kids so here it goes!

Uno

Uno is a girly, girl. She is very prissy, very sensitive, very emotional, but also very intelligent and very loving. She can have quite a bit of drama at home over little things but has yet to get into the drama at school.

Uno is very creative. She is always making up these little scenarios in her head that are totally, and I mean totally off the wall. She says that she wants to be a children's book writer when she grows up - she has the mind for it.

Dos

I could write a lot on Dos because his little personality is in the process of changing. He is becoming more aware of things that could be embarassing and it is fuuny but sad at the same time - because Mom is one of those things :(

Dos has always had a facination with drawing on something with some thing. When he was a toddler, it was a crayon and board book. Then it was the Blues Clues Notebooks. Then we moved to small notebooks with pencils or crayons. NOW, we like legal pads with pens.

Dos is an emotion stuffer but isn't good at it. He likes to have 'tude when he has had enough and gets in trouble every day for how he choses to react to things. He's getting better but it's a sllllooooow process.

Tres

Tres has been sooooo funny with baby dolls lately! She is our first to like babies that much. I sat with her in her room last night while she would take two different babies and lay them next to each other, then pick them up, then lay them down the same way some place else, and repeat. Then she would take the plastic headed one and rub it's head and pat it's back. It just brought me so much joy to watch her.

When we go to my parent's house, Tres is the sippy cup snatcher. She is an equal opportunity sippy cup drinker. She will walk around with two sippy cups - whatever ones she grabs, and will drink from them both. Then she will take Uno or Dos' sippy and drink it while looking them straight in the eye. She knows what she is doing!!!
(And I gave up fighting my dad to not give Uno & Dos sippy cups. They are concerned about spills on their carpet. I can see their point. We NEVER do sippy cups at home for Uno & Dos though......but our carpet is pretty crappy!)

So, anyone who wants can do this and link it back to me :)

Salve to my broken heart...

Where have the last 5 years gone? What happen to this little baby boy I brought home from the hospital? How did he grow up so fast?

For some reason, him going to kindergarten is feeling much harder than when Uno went. I don't know if it is because he is "my boy" or what. But it is going to be SOOO hard to hold my tears until he is out of sight.

All day long I have been dreading tomorrow even though he only goes a half day to start and I actually go with him. But still it is the closing of a chapter - and I'm not ready for the book to close.

Then as I'm having my little pity party today, he comes up on the couch and snuggles with me. Then what does he do that makes me realize he is still my little boy in that big body - he plays with my hair....just as he did from 6 months until a year or so ago. He takes it between his fingers and rubs it back and forth - for his comfort.

Thank the Lord for that hair pulling.....

Friday's Fab Favs!

I'm having a hard time thinking of favs today ....



This is my favorite candy of all time! It has to be the real thing - no imitations. I could down a whole 1 lb bag of these!



This is my absolute favorite place to buy kids clothes! The closests TCP is an over hour away so we don't go there very often. But they have $5 shipping!!!




And this is my new favorite channel. We just got Direct Tv and along with that, we got this channel!

Two things....

The Coach and I had special lunch with Uno today at Dairy Queen. There was this little girl acting silly and giggling in another both. Uno was sitting there watching her and this is how it went...

Me: "Your trying not to laugh aren't you?"

Uno: (cracks a smile with a little giggle) "I'm trying not to L-O-L"

The Coach: crazy loud laughing....

Me: "What did she say?"

The Coach: "I'm trying not to L-O-L"

Me: laughing not as crazily but laughing none the less...to Uno "You are so funny.."

Uno: "The kids at school say it ALL the time!"

The Coach: "Well, I L-O-L'ed!"

She's growing up too quick :(.......

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And #2 - did you know there is such a thing as fantasy fishing????? As if fantasy football and baseball weren't enough! Next thing there will be fantasy nascar, fantasy deer hunting, fantasy poker, fantasy bowling....the list could go on and on....

My Dad is setting next to me all engrossed on his puter with this fantasy fishing stuff...craziness...

Shirley signs away her life....

Apparently my name is Shirley - or so it is said by the real estate notary that came to our house today.

We FINALLY closed on our refinance today!! FINALLY! It has been a long process filled with "Well, I need a copy of this..." and "Underwriting needs a copy of that..." and "It needs to be an official W2." We are SO happy to have this over.

No, we didn't have one of those adjustable rate mortgages that seem to be bankrupting so many Americans. We just decided to use the equity in our home to finish the basement, put up a fence (possibly), and pay off some stupid debt. Yes, we did sign on for another 30 years of working for the mortgage company but we have high hopes of chopping down the loan given that by getting rid of the stupid debt, we will be ahead over $200/month even with a higher mortgage payment. Super yeah for that!

But the whole entire time we were signing the papers the lady would say "Now, Shirley you need to sign here....." My name is not Shirley....but then it isn't Adelaine either! :)

The Coach come up to me after and said "So Shirley.....(followed by something I don't rememeber)" and I said "Well, since I'm not Shirley, I'm not responsible for paying on this mortgage!!"

So the loan officially closes on Monday and we will get our $$$ soon after! Come on basement!!! We have the electrician here today to do the lighting - woohooo!!!

Try This Tuesday!

If you are a magazine reader, you should pic up a copy of this! But you have to be one that wants to really READ the magazine. If you are a flipper, you will totally miss out.

I got a subscription to this last year as a "Bonus" to the Family Fun subscription I bought from my daughter's school fundraiser. I thought - eh, I like magazines and this will be another one to pass my time. Honestly, I probably would have never picked one up to buy it. Now I'm contemplating the renewal coming up!!

I LOVE the stories in here. They are written so creatively and you can tell the people that wrote the articles actually have children.

I like to set down with this magazine and get all wrapped up in the stories - it's truely a great read!!!

10 years together...... :)

The Coach and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last night!!! The Coach was totally responsible for all the planning and he really outdid himself!! We had a great time :)

Here is a pic of what I got before we left the house...I was instructed to wear something that went with "this" as the black box appeared.....

 

Here is where we ate - The Giant City Lodge. I had been here before but The Coach hadn't. We had the family dinner of fried chicken, corn, coleslaw, biscuits, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, and chicken & dumplings. Yum!



We stayed at the Davies School Inn. It is a old school building that a young couple bought and opened as a bed and breakfast 4 years ago. My dear husband splurged and got us the honeymoon suite!



Here is our suite....








When The Coach proposed to me 12+ years ago, he said that he would get me something "bigger" when we celebrated our 10th anniversary....and he was true to his word!!! I thought that the necklace was my gift and I was completely happy with that - boy was I suprised!




I do have to say that I also love my engagement ring even though it doesn't fit at the moment. My Grandma, who passed away the year after we were married, gave me her engagement ring to be reset into my own engagement ring. So, it has special meaning to me :)

We had a great night spending time together WITHOUT the kids - big thanks to our 3 favorite babysitting sisters!! Our bed was a tempurpedic matress...can you say we need to start saving the money for a new matress!!!

As part of our package, The Coach ordered breakfast to be served in our suite. We woke up 7 minutes before it was to be served - at 9:00am! Yeah for sleeping in!

Our breakfast was amazing! We had a glorified omlet, fried potatoes, bacon, watermelon, apple stollen, and OJ. Then I had to have coffee...




Here is a pic of a little planter that was in the hallway on the way to our room :)

Bad Mommy....

I meant to post this on Monday as a Motherhood Moment but life has been a bit busy this week!!

So, sometime this weekend or Monday or ....well I don't remember.....anyways, I was trying to explain to Uno why I go to the gym.

I told her that I go to the gym to try and make myself healthier. I said that my family has a lot of people in it with Diabetes (Type II) and that her MawMaw, my Mom, has Type I diabetes. Then I went on to explain that people who are heavier have a higher risk of getting diabetes and with so many people in my family with it, I really needed to lose some weight to lessen my chances of getting it.

THEN I went on to tell her that she needs to eat more fruits and veggies and not just all carbs because if she would continue eating that way when she is older she will be more likely to be heavier. Then if she is heavier, she will be at a higher risk for diabetes because of her family history.....

SHE CRIED!!! and not just cry but splotchy face crying!!!!

I'm a mean Momma aren't I!?!?!?!?

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The mancave is starting next week!!! YEAH!!!! The electrician is coming to put in lighting :)

Woot Woot Wednesday!!

Let's see, what to be excited about this Wednesday...

Well, as a job, I work for a grant funded program at a university. We go into communities using portable dental equipment and do exams, cleanings, fluoride and sealants on children. During the school year we go into the public schools. During the summer, we go to churches, health departments, community centers, and social service places.

Today was our last clinic of the summer - big woot woot for that!!

This clinic was also a new one to us and the one that had the least amount of publicity. We ended up seeing about 50 kids today!! I was super excited about that. I only expected there to be maybe 20 kids and for it to be a slow and easy day. Not so! We were very busy and had hardly no down time!

Then in order to beef up the number of kids we see during the school year, we go to school registrations to get face to face contact with parents in hopes of them signing up the kids for our services. Myself and two other people attended one the past few days in shifts. At this particular school, we only saw 7 kids last year. This year we had 80-90 parents sign up their kids!!! Huge Woot Woot!

Hmmmmmm.....the big 10 years for the Coach and I on Friday. Dinner out, night with out the kids, and apparently him and Uno went to buy my present today :) Wonder what it is.....

Question for you all - what should I get the Coach for out anniversary???


We have always done cards in the past but 10 years calls for a present. I'm at a loss and he is no help....He is the hardest to buy for!!

Fabulous Friday Favorites!

Long time no post, eh?

I'm gonna get back on the train with a few favs!




This is my favorite machine at the gym. At 2.0 mph for 20 minutes, I can burn 170 calories on this bad boy!!!!



These are soooo tasty! They are the South Beach Diet Cinnamon Raisin bars. They taste just like a cinnamon roll - no joke!



These aren't necessarily my favorite - i just eat cleanup after Tres. But Uno, Tres, and the Coach LOVE these. The Coach and Uno prefer the blueberry ones and Tres prefers the chocolate chip ones. I think they both taste good. But Tres wants to eat these all the time - and I'm not above feeding them too her a couple times a day!

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The Coach and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this coming week. I LOVE the fact that I know absolutely nothing about our plans. Well, I know that our plans involve leaving on Friday and spending the night somewhere without children. I guess that part about gifts I appreciate the most is the thought - the planning - the thinking of what I would like. And to let him make all the decisions about this means a lot to me.