Calling the doggy police April 4, 2007

I am thoroughly annoyed with our neighbor across the street. Today was the second time I caught their dog leaving his waste in our lawn. This dog, being as old as it is, will not leave even when I shouted and it and even proceeded to bark at me even though he was in MY yard. You see, they think it’s okay to just let their dog out to do it’s business …not only in their yard but in anyone else’s yard. I have seen the dog pooping in their next door neighbor’s yard and I know they have gotten in arguments with the neighbor on the other side (they eventually moved for reason I’m not aware of). I bet they have so much poop in their own yard that their dog is venturing out to other “cleaner” yards. The gross thing is that their kids always play in their yard too - “YUCK!!!” I have NEVER seen them pick up the poop. And even when I went over there to tell them their dog pooped in our yard (for probably more than the second time), they said they would clean it up…have they? NO and it’s pitch dark out now. If I see it in our lawn tomorrow morning I’m taking a shovel and pitching it in their yard.

Don’t get me wrong..I’m not an animal hater. My kids play in our front yard and they have the right to play in their own POOP FREE yard. So what’s the solution…very simple..

1. Walk your dog!!! And like all the other dog owners in this neighborhood - bring along some bags and pick up after your dog. Geez, you have two kids who are more than capable of walking the dog around the block.

2. If you are too lazy to do that, get an electric fence.

Otherwise, I am more than ready to call Animal Services. I am completely fed up!!!

All those readers who made it this far…thank you for letting me vent.

Why work? March 22, 2007

I’ve had several people pose this question to me after I’ve told them that I would love to find that part-time job that will allow me to work out of a home office and most importantly utilize my education and work experience. And I know some wonder it although they may not verbalize it. The real reason everyone asks/wonders is that in a little over a year, my husband should be making a decent income that would allow us to live far more comfortably than we ever had. It’s all relative though - I mean, before kids, I was bringing in all or most of the household income.

So why work when I don’t really have to? Well, to be honest, I miss it in some ways. I don’t miss the corporate world at all. But I miss finishing a project and getting the appreciation/recognition for it and I miss learning. Sounds self centered and egotistical, doesn’t it? Well, as many of you know, what they say is true - “Being a mom is the most thankless job.”

So where do I go from here? I have already found it to be very difficult to find a part-time, work from home job in my area. It appears the competition for the few positions out there is fierce. So I trudge along, making contacts, searching the internet for potential opportunities. Any advice?

The Little Artist March 22, 2007

Yesterday, all afternoon M was only interested in drawing with his crayons.  The problem comes when his drawing strays off his easel onto books, the baby monitor, etc.  Because I couldn’t supervise his drawing since I was making dinner, I had to take his crayons away from him temporarily.  But somehow, everytime I looked up he had a crayon in his hands toddling around the house looking for something to add color to.  Each time I found one in his hands, I had to take it away and put it in his crayon box which was high up on a shelf.  But somehow he kept getting his hands on one - like he had a secret stash somewhere.

When I was about 3 of 4 years old, a friend and I added some color to the bay window in our house.  Our window was floor to ceiling in height and had at least 15 panes to it in total.  Somehow we managed to add a lot of color with my crayons to each and every window pane.   I was reminded of this incident when I caught M adding some red to two of our window panes.  (Amazingly enough, M did not draw on any of our white walls.)

My husband uses this incident to support his belief in karma - what goes around comes around.  If that’s the case…I’m in big trouble.

Wish List Item #1 March 16, 2007

As some of my loyal visitors (those few that are out there) may note, I’ve really been horrible at keeping up with this blog. But I really do “think” about all the things I want to blog about, but when I finally have the time to sit down at my laptop, I’ve forgotten everything.

But one thing I’ve noticed lately, is my ever-growing *wish* list. You see, living on our family’s frugal budget prevents me from buying all those things that my materialistic side tries to convince my “down to earth” side that I need. Oddly enough, my husband has no problem with me buying stuff for myself - because I really never do buy myself anything. Anything I buy is usually for someone else - like the kids.

So I live vicariously through others, drool at the cool things I come across on the Internet, and mentally add it to my looooong wish list thinking someday I’ll remember it and buy it when our family income has increased dramatically - which I hope is not too long off, because let’s face it…I’m getting old.

So what kind of stuff is on my wish list - I’m sure you guys are all dying to know. So every now and then (when my memory doesn’t fail me) I’ll share something from that every growing list of things that are just out of my reach…at least for now.

(Phewww! Laptop almost crashed and this blog entry was almost lost into the black hole of oblivion…Mental note: add laptop to wish list…)

I’ve been wanting one of these for a while. Not much of a jewelry person, but I think I would wear this one for sure:

It’s a mommy ring - sterling silver with your children’s names engraved. Not sure why I’m so in love with it…maybe it’s the simplicity of the design - yet it’s meaningful. It can be found at Nell and Lizzy’s online shop.

 

 

I’m Back… March 5, 2007

It’s been a long time, but I’m back.  We’ve been battling a germ war in our house.  Except some runny noses, coughs and congestion, we are as healthy as we have been in a long while.  I’ve been thinking about blogging for weeks, but didn’t quite have the energy to do it.

As a reward to ourselves, DH and I went to a U Mich vs. Ohio State U basketball game Saturday with DH’s co-worker and his wife (who are OSU alums).  It was nice to have some time without the kids to watch our alma mater ALMOST win (OSU beat UM in the last couple of minutes of the game despite UM being up for the majority of the game).  However, just our luck, we ended up sitting in front of two toddlers (from 2 different families) who constantly kicked our chairs and whined the entire time.  The kid behind DH began sputtering his lips and spraying saliva all over the back of DH’s head.  As annoyed and nauseous (from the constant kicks to my chair) as I got, I tried my best to be understanding.  We too have a toddler who would probably be doing something similar if we brought him to the game.  Amazing how becoming a parent changes the way you look at and react to things.  If we weren’t parents, I think I might have reacted totally differently…I don’t know what I might have done, but it sure would have been different…

Where did you get those Peepers? February 15, 2007

Apparently M got his from DH.  You see, last week at his opthamology appointment, he was diagnosed with myopia.  For those who have no idea what that is (me included before M’s appointment), it means he is nearsighted.  The doctor says he will be wearing glasses at a very young age…possibly in a year.  AND she said that he most likely inherited it from DH - who happens to be legally blind without his glasses.  For that reason, she said it was highly unlikely for both my boys to have good vision.  J’s vision seems to be perfect so far.

I was devastated.  It saddens me to think that he can’t see us or the details of his surroundings as clearly.  A lot of people tell me that it’s really no big deal and that it is not that uncommon for kids to get diagnosed with myopia at a very young age.  But I found no comfort in these words.  I’ve come to accept it now, but it still saddens me a bit.  I comfort myself by thinking that it could have been worse…much worse.  It’s not the end of the world…for me or him.  I should be so thankful and feel so blessed to have two healthy boys!

Kid Flicks February 13, 2007

What would you consider to be a kid’s flick…kid meaning preschool/early elementary in my case? My boys got the Cars DVD for Christmas and they just LOVE it.

I’ll be honest, I have yet to watch the entire movie, and maybe I should have “screened” it first. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem all that bad EXCEPT when the characters refer to the town as “Hillbilly He(double hockey sticks)”. I try to fast foward past these parts since J is at an age where his he seems to be picking up “interesting” words to add to his vocabulary. This movie is rated “G” too. Couldn’t they have used a different word instead of He(double hockey sticks)? Luckily, he hasn’t picked up this word yet!!

So what movies have you all found to be great for younger kids (not too scary and without profanity)? I heard Curious George and Robots were good picks…any other suggestions?

Mommy Etiquette February 10, 2007

Okay, so I wanted to toss this topic out there…

Today we took the kids to the mall and let them play in the play area for a while. Ofcourse, it was relatively crowded. First annoying incident occurred when a mom changed her son’s diaper on the ground in front of my husband who was sitting along the perimeter of the play area. That is so wrong, rude and disgusting on many dimensions, but most importantly, LITTLE KIDS PLAY ON THAT CARPETED AREA…and run around everywhere. What if one of them fell down and their face landed on that dirty diaper or something? Okay, the chances of that happening are slim, but it there is still a slight possibility. At any rate..it was just wrong.

Another thing that annoys me is when the parents leave their kids to run around and don’t pay a lick of attention to them….as they run into, push, hit and kick other kids. Those other kids end up being my kids. I’d say more often than not, I have to tell at least one kid to stop kicking M or don’t push J while their parents are nowhere to be found. I’ll be the first to admit that my kids aren’t perfect angels, but I do my best to make sure they aren’t mean to the other kids playing there.

And those times where my reactions aren’t that quick and M pulls or pushes another child (usually smaller than him), I usually apologize to the kid and the parent (if he/she is around) in addition to telling M or J that it isn’t nice to hit, push, pull etc. I’ve noticed that a lot of other moms don’t apologize for their children…they will tell their kids to be gentle or stop hitting but they don’t really acknowledge the victim or his/her parent. And that bothers me?

Am I overreacting? I know a lot of parents will think “kids will be kids”, and I agree, but it doesn’t hurt to apologize for your child, does it?

Long time, No write….Update February 6, 2007

I’ve been absent from the blogsphere for a while - due to a germ-fest in our house and we also travelled to WI to look for a home to rent.  And DH had an interview too..and what a trooper - he went through three days of interviewing with pink eye, graciously shared with him by J.

Holy &*%$ was it freezing in WI.  I thought maybe that’s why everyone was driving so slow..because their feet were frozen.  But alas, it was just the actual speed limit there which feels slower than a turtle’s pace.  I’m used to 70MPH here in MI (which means I go at least 80MPH), and there on the freeway it’s 55MPH.   Well, we returned to MI to find it almost as cold here too!

No success on the rental house yet.  Found some okay places that DH did not like as much, but I say what the heck - we are only renting for a year!

Well, still catching up with house chores and such…so more updates will have to come later.

Juggling act January 29, 2007

It’s all been a juggling act the past few days. Taking care of sick kids, cleaning the house, going to work, working on our business, etc. By the way, I’m happy to share that we FINALLY have our Chinese New Year designs up. For those of you who don’t know, my sister and I are trying our hand at running our own business.

Although it’s been a struggle being motivated to get things done, especially now since I’m working at the office part-time, it has become sort of a pet project for us. I hope once I move to closer to my sister, we can devote more time to this and really put some more effort into it.

In the meantime, I’ll do what I can in the time that I have and just give it my best shot.

All you mompreneurs, would love to hear your tips on staying motivated, organized and juggling everything at once.