4 Year Olds

This was the conversation at
my lunch table yesterday, between
me and three 4 year olds.

ME: I have a son here at school.
AMY: What's his name?
ME: Why don't you guess.
ALL: Yeah!!!!
ME: His name starts with the letter D.
AMY: Dinosaur?
ME: Close, but no.
SUSIE: Steve?
ME: No.
JIMMY: Dylan?
ME: Yup.

In three tries they went from Dinosaur to Dylan.
Not bad.

Hectic

I originally called this post "Crazy", but
hectic is more like it.

I've been subbing in Pre-K.
4 year olds.
13 of them.
Love them.
EXHAUSTING!
...and they don't listen.
They just don't seem to hear me.
I hear me.
The other teachers hear me yelling on
the playground, but the kids -
they don't hear me.
Maybe it's a language thing?
Maybe I need to brush up on my
4 year old speak.
"You're not my friend anymore."
"You can't come to my party."
"That's MINE."
"He hit me."
"He hit me first!"
"Gimme!"
"I didn't do it."
"She's lying!"
"It's MY turn!"
"I'm line leader!"


Yeah, I'll practice today.
("She's lying!")

Little League

Curly Girl vs. The Duvet

My mother decided to change the colors in her bedroom
and gave us her beautiful duvet.
It's gorgeous crisp cotton with tiny embroidered
flowers and leaves. Love it.



We have a fab, king size down comforter.
It's huge.


So, here I am surrounded by
tons of fabric and down.

So first I try to spread out the comforter:

Then I try to lay out the duvet:

.....and I try.....

.....and I try!

Then I fight with both, working up quite a sweat.

Finally.....SUCCESS (after about 45 minutes!)

.....then I passed out.

The Lady's Doctor

So, yesterday I had a doctor's appt.

There were 2 doctors in the practice, mine retired.
For some reason, I decided to go to a new practice.
Then decided to return to this practice which I had been
going to for close to 20 years.
So in I walk.

Hmmmm........

At first I thought, "wow, look at all those
supportive husbands".
Then I decided to go up to that frosted glass sliding window.
You know the one...where the office workers think they're hiding
but we can see them, but they still refuse to slide open the window
for at least 5 minutes.
So I take one of the business cards

....and this is what it said:


Yikes! I'm in the wrong place.
Wait a minute.
I'M IN THE WRONG PLACE!

So I call the office - wherever it is - on my orange iPhone.
(I love my phone)

I very politely explained that I am an "old returning" patient and
I'm at the old office.
The ding dong on the other end starts berating me:
"Why didn't you ask if we moved??"
What?!
She went on and on that if I hadn't been there in a while, I should
have asked where they were located.
I told her I never thought to because the phone number was the same.
She goes on to say I still should have asked.

Well.......
I may have raised my voice a bit

and said: "Look, I should have been there 5 minutes ago.
Just tell me where you are."
She tried to go on but I cut her off,
"JUST TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE!"
Jeez!
(I knew better than to ask her to tell me where to go)

Ikea

So yesterday Dylan and I went to



I am not a big fan.
Yes, I guess they have some cool stuff
but you must admit, they also have some
..........crap.

However, we did purchase this for Dylan
a couple of months ago:


I REALLY like it.
It's made of REAL wood.
I like the homey country look.
I like it so much that I wanted one.
I need a new dresser.
I thought it came in yellow.
No.
but THIS comes in yellow:

I like it a lot,but do I want my clothes on display??
So I decided to get the chest of drawers in white.
HOWEVER...
I did not see the white until we went to pick up the boxes.

Not what I expected.
I think it looks like laminate.
Do you think I could make it work with cute drawer pulls?

Anyway, I have to think about it.
Since we didn't buy anything but had a cart with us,
I let Dylan race around:



Usually, I would NEVER let him do that, but no one
was around, he wouldn't get into trouble and I was standing
right there......and so was some Ikea guy, whom I had failed to notice.
The rides came to a quick end.

...but he had fun.

Vacation at Home

No, we didn't go away for spring break.
We're home.
I'm cleaning and running errands.
Dylan is putting up with me.
Today we're going shopping and
tomorrow is a visit to the OBGYN.
Needless to say - he's thrilled.
"I have to sit in the waiting room
at the LADY'S DOCTOR??!!!!!"
"UGH!!!"
"I'll love you a thousand times more
than you love me if you don't make me
go to the Lady's Doctor."

Ok.
Maybe I'll call Grandpa and see if he
wants some company tomorrow.

Anyway, here are some pics of my boy and
a giant icicle he found this winter.
This is what I have to deal with.

Ready For Easter

I was up early this AM.

Lots of candy.



Which became part of my Easter gifts
for the kids. Water bottles.



Then rows of Easter cupcakes.
(thank you Pillsbury)





Yum.

Lovin' These!

Look at my new shoes!!!!
ORANGE SUEDE driving mocs!


They are sooooo yummy!

And look at these!!!!

I've been looking at Wellies for quite some time, looking
for just the right pair.
Well, I found these at TARGET!
Love the color!
And they're not high, just mid calf.
And they were only $19.99!!!!
They're garden boots.
Love.
Them.

My Worst Birthday

This is my worst birthday.
And the crazy thing is....
The crazy thing.......
IT'S NOT EVEN MY BIRTHDAY.

Today is Dylan's birthday.

Today Dylan turned 13.

I
AM
THE
MOTHER
OF
A
TEENAGER.

ME!!!!
I have a TEENAGER!!!
When did I get so old?

Seriously, this is worse than when I
turned 30, which didn't bother me one bit.
31 bothered me. I was "in my 30's".
40 didn't bother me at all.
I even forget that I'm 42. I was telling
someone I was 43 and Dylan corrected me.
See??? I don't even KNOW how old I am.

BUT I DO know that I am now the mother of a
TEENAGER!!!

I spent today making cupcakes:

Baseballs.
These are the last 8.
You can tell I was over them by this point.

I asked Dylan if he had a good birthday.
"Um, yeah!"
He rec'd teenager currency (iTunes gift cards)
-tickets to the US Open in June - very excited.
-a "T" rated game for the WII, because he can now play "T" rated games.

We also went out for sushi:




Yeah, today was pretty good, but it's
still my worst birthday.

Yummy Dinner

I've been making "double dinners"
each Sunday night and bringing the second
to my parent's house each Monday morning
on my way to work so my mother wouldn't have
to worry about cooking too much.
Even though her treatment is going well,
she's very tired.

So the other day she sent me home with
a recipe and some skirt steak.
Made it last night.
Soooo good.

Marinate skirt steak in:
olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary

Cook in pan on stove
Salt and pepper
Reserve marinade
5-7 minutes each side.

Remove steak.
Wipe pan clean.
Add remaining marinade
Cook till garlic is browned.
Spoon over steak.

Made this last night, did not
cook marinade, decided not
to have too much garlic.

Delish!
Served with simple spinach salad
and baked spuds.

Yum.
Quick and Easy.
Try it.

So Neglectful

I know, I've been so neglectful.
I'm just so tired!

My business trip to Atlantic City was great.
It was the American Camping Association Conference.
I am now so ready for camp!
I took quite a few seminars on staff training,
so now, I'll be training the staff. Can't wait.
I also started a camp blog, still in the works.

Things at school have changed.
I am no longer the permanent substitute.
I'm now working for camp full time.
(the camp is part of school)
Enrollment is a little slow, which is to be
expected with this economy.
I have been on the phone all day
every day calling families getting them to
enroll. So far, so good!
I love camp and I'm loving working there.
*for any new readers, I have some pretty funny
camp stories in my archives*

I'll be better with my blogging.
I have so much to say!
Hope you are all well!