Haters gonna' hate....

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this whole blog thing lately.

I know I haven't been writing as much recently, but that's mainly just been because I've been so busy that it's been hard to sit down and take the time to actually write something. It's way faster to just slap something up on facebook instead. But there are times when actually sitting here and writing a blog post helps me to get things off of my mind.

So here I am.

I don't really pay attention to my numbers anymore. There are some bloggers out there who focus on how many followers they have (or lose), how many people view each and every post, and they make it all about the numbers. It's a game. They intentionally post something to stir the pot or to increase their numbers - and that's ok. It really is. More power to them and all that jazz.

I'm not saying that I don't look at my numbers at all, but I don't stress about them. They are what they are - sometimes they go up (and I start to hyperventilate) and sometimes they go down. Sometimes they stay the same for weeks or months at a time. Whatever.

I've had one thing go viral (gee, guess what that was?) and a few things get more hits than others (food stamps, anyone?) and honestly, the chaos surrounding stuff like that is way too much pressure for me. I don't really like it. There are times - more often than not - that I really wish that silly Tooth Fairy letter would just disappear.

Earlier this evening, I posted one of my time-lapse videos of me cleaning my kitchen. And I captioned it "It's been a while since I've done one of these." These videos are fun to do, and they help me to stay focused on whatever it is that I'm doing (usually cleaning). And I post them because they're fun. But I've gotten a couple of comments from a couple of people who have been less than impressed with them. They said things to the effect of "how could you let your house get so dirty?" or "I would never leave that much crap on my counters" or "your kids should be cleaning that mess" or whatever. And for some reason, I allowed those comments to bother me and I quit posting the videos for a bit.

Why do I post videos that show just how trashed my house can actually get? Because it's life. It's my life. My house gets messy. It gets dirty. There are times when it gets downright disgusting and I can't even stand it. But it's real, and it happens, and I deal with it. Sometimes the kids help (if they're home and not busy with something else) and sometimes they don't. Sometimes I enjoy cleaning by myself. Often, they're cleaning their rooms while I'm taking care of the kitchen or living room or whatever. But regardless of the reasons behind the mess and who is cleaning it, it's all a part of life.

People in the past have suggested that I should write a book, but that's really just not my thing. This blog and my facebook page are how I choose to document my life - the good, the bad, and the messy. I continue to share it with all of you because it's created a neat little community and the interaction is (mostly) fun. The criticism makes me look at things differently and decide if I need to change something. But at the end of the day, I'm going to write about and post things that I find interesting, or that I want to remember, or that I think someone else might be interested in seeing. There will always be someone who disagrees, and that's ok. The world would be a very boring place if everyone agreed with everyone all of the time.

The haters can keep on hating. And while they do, I'm going to go clean up my messy bedroom.

Trashy gardening

It was quite a productive day.

I had to get up early to feed the kids before I went to work and as I was making the waffles, The Dude came flying into the house muttering something about having to go back to the store. It took me a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about, but as it turned out he had stopped at the store across the street to get some soda on his way over here to watch the kids, and his truck died. Again.

Long story short, we ended up pushing it from the parking lot across the street into my driveway so that he could figure out what to do with it while I was at work. I got dressed and took off for my shift.

By the time I got home, he had pretty much figured it out, and it appeared to be a relatively easy (and cheap) fix, so the kids and I followed him to the auto parts store, he got the stuff that he needed, swapped out the stuff in the parking lot, we followed him home, and then we came home.

Once we got home, I decided that it was too nice to stay inside, so the kids played around on their bikes while I finally got started on my "garden" (after a quick trip to WalHell). I can get a hold of these wonderful green buckets from work, and since I can't have a real garden here at the house, they will have to do - and once we find our new house we'll be able to take the stuff with us. You know, assuming that it actually grows.

Making drain holes - not so easy with a drill with
dead batteries.

Our "trashy garden" - peppers, squash, gourds....and something
else that I can't think of off the top of my head.
(I know, squash and gourds might not work in the buckets.
It's an experiment.)

Another experiment - morning glories in bags. I'm hoping that they'll
grow and vine and I can just wrap them around
the hooks. So far, they're growing.

Rosebush that was here when we moved in to the house.
It's going nuts this year.

Love the color.

Seeds sprouting in pots on my other porch.

After the outside productivity was done, we came in and the kids started to get baths while I made supper. During that time, I decided that no matter what, the kitchen was getting cleaned tonight. I just couldn't take it anymore. I have been totally slacking in there, and when I do that things just start to spiral out of control. You know, the dishes are dirty, so we might as well go out to eat instead, blah blah blah. Anyway, I cleaned it tonight. And I dumped all of the moldy leftovers in the fridge (that was scary). And I washed all of the dishes.

Before...

After.....first time in months that I've actually had the runner
on the table....and visible.

The silly picture that made my page go nutty tonight.

Oops. There's a dirty glass that I forgot.

So yeah, there's proof that my house does get trashed (don't they all?) but I did clean it up once I got started. Now I just have to keep up with it so that it doesn't get that bad again.

Who am I trying to kid? It'll be just as bad again within days.

Cake baking, quilt making, building burning...

Over the past day or so, Alex has gotten to bake a cake. His Blue & Gold banquet for Scouts was tonight, and part of that banquet is a cake decorating contest. And although I have mixed emotions about him being in Scouts - the fact is that he's in right now, and he will continue to participate until a decision is made otherwise.

Anyway....the cakes were being judged in a number of categories, but we decided to go for the Most Patriotic and/or Most Colorful categories.

He helped with every step along the way....

Dumping the mix into the bowl.

Separating the eggs. Love this trick!

Mixing mixing mixing....

Adding food coloring to the batter.

The finished layers.

Stacking the layers.

Frosting!

More frosting!

Flags. And sprinkles.

Can never have too many sprinkles.

The finished product - from the outside.

And the inside.

We had hoped that the cake itself would be red, white, and blue - not pink, white, and light blue. But at the risk of having everyone oozing food coloring out of their pores, we opted to not add any more color to the batter. It still came out pretty nifty though - considering that it's been many many years since I've done one of these cakes.

If you're curious, I used a thing from Pampered Chef to do this - I think it's just called a checkerboard cake pan or something like that. I don't know if they still make it or not. It's not difficult, there's no magic involved - but it is a little bit of a pain in the butt, especially if you're in a bit of a hurry when you're doing it.

Anyway, he didn't win any of the prizes, but that's ok. We had a blast making it, and it tasted great.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In the midst of all of this, I was working on a sewing project or three. And while I got a lot of it done, it also further reinforced the fact that we have GOT to get out of this house and into some place bigger. I can't deal with having to combine my sewing space and my sleeping space - since I worked on my project until the wee hours of the morning, I ended up sleeping on the couch because...well, because I couldn't find my bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This afternoon, I was outside changing the blinker light bulb in my van, and I heard sirens. I looked up and saw a cop go tearing past on the big street nearby. I didn't think too much about it. Then I heard and saw a second one. No big deal - they almost always travel in pairs. Then I heard a third one and when I looked up I realized that he had stopped and was blocking traffic on the bigger street. Curious, I put the light bulb down and walked to the end of my driveway and looked - and to my surprise the business three doors down and across the big street from me was on fire. As in - thick black smoke pouring out of the roof and the back of the business. 

Within moments every piece of emergency equipment was there and traffic was a standstill. People pulled into the parking lots of other businesses and got out to take pictures and to watch. Nice Neighbor had walked down there to give one of the employees a coat to wear (it was cold)(and that's why she is Nice Neighbor) and she said that there were only 2 employees inside at the time and they had both gotten out safely. The business had been remodeling, so I'm willing to bet that something electrical started the fire.

Alex came outside to watch the fire trucks for a little bit, but we were getting ready to leave for the banquet and it was cold - so I didn't let him stay out too long. But he still got a kick out of it, and we are thankful that no one was injured.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So now, after running around like a crazy person for the past few days, my feet and ankles are killing me. Alex went home with his father tonight so it's just me and Daniel - who is currently snoozing on the couch. But I promised Daniel that he could sleep in my bed tonight so I think I'm going to go uncover it and we're going to crawl into it. Tomorrow is another day - and I can take care of everything else then.

Using it to my advantage...

So Alex is in Scouts. And part of being in Scouts is doing all sorts of little activities in order to move up the ranks.

I admit that we've been pretty lax in getting things done. Life is crazy, and it's hard to remember to do things like this all of the time. But I went through his book earlier today and discovered that two of the electives that he could do at home could definitely be used to my advantage.

One was helping in the kitchen, and one was helping to make a snack.

Can't have too much cheese....keep adding!

I knew that this could either be a good thing, or be a disaster. Patience and listening are not two of this kid's strongest qualities. But, we gave it a shot tonight.

If you were to ask him, he would say that he made supper all by himself. He'd be close to right. He did pretty much all of the work, with me telling him what to do and only helping him when he needed it.

After we got supper made, he helped me to make some banana bread too. Of course that was more fun because that involved smashing things and breaking eggs.

Smashing bananas.

He actually had a good time helping, and did better with it than I really thought that he would. Like I said, he's not the type of kid who will sit and listen and follow directions, so I thought that he would get distracted after a few minutes and want to go and do something else, but he stuck with it.

And he didn't get into quite as much trouble as he usually does.

Maybe I've found something that will actually keep this kid occupied. All I know is that if it works, he will be my permanent helper in the kitchen.

Breaking eggs - and not getting into trouble for it.

Making brownies for his birthday
treats for school tomorrow.

 So now I get to go finish a couple more loads of laundry, get lunches packed for tomorrow, package up the brownies to go to Alex's class in the morning, and maybe get some sleep. Tomorrow involves getting the kids to school, going to a geography bee, getting The Flu-Ridden Dude to the doctor, and about a million other things, as usual. Yay.

Restlessness

Today has been another one of those days - I know that realistically, I should still be laying low and not running around like a lunatic even though I feel a little bit better. But I am so restless right now that I feel like I could crawl out of my skin. Actually I've been kind of feeling like that all day, so I decided to use the energy for good and clean up the kitchen. And I bleached just about anything that could be bleached, in the hopes of killing all of the cooties that are taking us out one by one...

I am not even going to post the pictures of what it looked like before, but suffice it to say that it was nasty.

Then the energy was transferred to finish cleaning up around my desk.

Of course, with this being Saturday, the day started out with basketball. Both of the girls were supposed to have games, but the team that Sarah was supposed to play against forfeited because they didn't have enough players - so that cut the chaos of the morning down considerably.

Emily's team really hustled today - they were definitely working together as a team. It is so neat to see how far they've progressed this season.

And although you can't tell from this picture....I snapped this in the instant before Emily shot and made her first basket! She's right there, in front of #14. It was a beautiful shot!

The final score was pretty sweet - for us.

So for the rest of the night tonight, I think I'm going to work on doing my nails and getting them into shape for the wedding that we're going to next weekend. I really wish that I wasn't such a nail biter, but I have been for all of my life, and the only way to stop it is for me to wear fake nails. Going to a salon and getting them done is expensive (not to mention next to impossible to schedule) so I got the stuff and I just do them myself. They don't look perfect, but they get me by, and they look better than the chewed-off nubs that I'm currently sporting.

Tomorrow, I think we're going to skip church - the boys are still hacking and coughing something fierce and I don't want to spread their cooties to the other kids, so we'll just stay home. I'm going to start tearing into the girls' room and get it thoroughly cleaned - and they may or may not be happy by the time they get back on Wednesday. I'm just tired of the mess, and if it means that I have to get in there and start packing crap away so that I can walk through without fearing for my life, then that's what I'm going to do. And they'll get over it.