Melt My Heart

Tonight I finished pressure washing the driveway and sidewalk. Yeah! One more summer project complete.

It was past the boys bedtime when I came in. Ducky was reading them a book. I came in and sat down next to sweetP and kissed him on the head. He did this funny hand motion and said something.

Me: What?

sweetP: I am breaking it up and sprinkling it all over me.

Me: Breaking what up?

sweetP: The kiss, I broke it up so it I could spread it all over me.

Ahhh. That boy loves his mommy. He gives me the warm fuzzies.

Having a Heat Wave..

Summer arrived full force in the last few days. And because I complain so much about being cold, I try not to say anything about heat.

The boys and I are settling into summer. I am obsessing less about work. I am still obsessing, but just not as much. SweetP is slowly losing the attitude. I am very committed to reminding him when he is employing it and that it is so not okay. Fun mommy is returning.


We took over the family room to make the fort. My sister got the boys this "Invent-A-Tent." They love it. You can put it together any way that you want. The only problem, it takes up the entire room. But they are having fun, so we have a fort for the next few days. I am even invited in occasionally.


We broke out the new sprinkler. We used to have a batman sprinkler. It turned the lawn into a lake around the sprinkler. So I got the boys a new one that squirts water everywhere. The boys had a blast running through it. It watered the lawn and plants really well. The only problem, because you know there had to be one, was that sweetE would get his face wet. He hates to get his face wet. So my job was to sit out of the line of fire, in the shade with a towel so he could dry his face every time it got wet.

We instituted a new tradition in the Ped household. On the first day of summer (after school gets out) where the temperature reaches at least 95 degrees, we shall have ice cream for dinner. The boys loved it, I loved it. No cooking in the heat. We don't have air conditioning, so anything I can do to keep the house tolerable.

And today I got to hold a four day old baby. Our cousins had a new baby. Another member of the cute boy gang. It made me flash back to when my boys were brand new and how sweet and little they were. Now they are big and whiny and demanding and I really love them. And I appreciate that now they are more independent. This morning they let their parent sleep in until 8:30. They really are good boys. So while I miss their baby stage, they are fun right where they are.

Lose the 'tude Dude!

My sweetP has developed an attitude. He has been a sweet, compliant, helpful, kind, reliable child. But in the last week or so, he has become whiny, demanding, unhelpful and rude. If he doesn't get what he wants he whines. When he wants something he demands it. When asked to help, he refuses. In general he has just been rude.

Yesterday, we changed the sheets on the boys beds. About an hour before bed I asked the boys to come help me make their beds. SweetE came up and helped. He pulled the corners of the fitted sheets on and put all of his stuffed friends back on the bed. SweetP showed up and when asked to help said, "No, I don't want to." Arghh. So I went off to do other chore upstairs until bed time. Ducky got home just in time to help with baths. SweetP's bed was still not made. The boys got out of their baths all clean and smelling good. They put on their jammies. Then it was time to get in bed. SweetP noticed his bed wasn't made, and demanded to know why.

I simply said that because he didn't think helping others was important, I didn't need to help him either. Natural consequence, if you don't help make your bed, your bed doesn't get made.

He is a stubborn child. (He is my clone after all.) And proceeded with the woe is me routine. We tucked sweetE into his bed, told them both good night and left the room. Reality sunk in. His bed wasn't going to be made unless he did it.

I came back in to check on them and found he was attempting to make his bed. He had the top sheet on first, sort of. When I told him he had the wrong sheet, he said, "I don't know how to make my bed." I replied, "Why do you think I wanted you to help. So you could learn how." I showed him how to put the corners on the fitted sheet and told him I would help if he got that sheet on by himself.

He managed and I showed him how to put the rest of the bed together. Then he demanded food. Arghhh. I don't want him to be hungry, but ask nicely. And say thank you for helping with your bed. He trotted downstairs a little later and asked for something to eat.

Better, I offered him the rest of graham crackers that he had gotten out earlier. He didn't want those. So I told him there weren't any other choices. He wandered off to bed without eating them. I guess he wasn't that hungry after all. We realized it was quarter to ten. Way past his bedtime. Would Thursday be any better?

So far today, ups and downs but over all better. There is hope after all.

Monsters in the Closet

My sweetE has been having a hard time going to sleep. He is scared of monsters in the closet. He keeps talking about a book they read at preschool, last year. Who knows when it really was, this morning is described as last year. So about every two minutes he is down stairs trying to con one of us into sleeping with him. Ducky often gives in. Which only makes it worse. But sweetE is so cute, it is hard to resist. I sometimes have to pull out the mean mommy voice. Especially now that sweetP has to be at school at eight in the morning.

Meanwhile, I have my own monsters in the closet. It is only the second week of summer and already I am having back to school anxiety dreams. Apparently I will be spending the summer obsessing about my "lack" of teaching ability. And how to show my true brilliance in the fall.

The problem is that I cannot spend my summer becoming dependent on sleeping pills. And when I don't take something, I sleep badly and then act badly the next day. Sleep is my be all and end all. So without the required full dose, I get cranky and snarky and not so fun. And the boys are stuck with me all day. I want to be fun mom, not grouchy mom.

I am working on planning out the entire year. I hope that helps because I can't just tell a certain person just how I feel. I've learned to just keep my mouth shut. As challenging as that is.

So what is a girl to do? I haven't tried drinking yet.

Oh, Velcro

Lest you think that my children are the only spoiled ones in the house, fear not.

Velcro was the original child and was spoiled the worst of all. He is the only child with a completed scrapbook. While he has been demoted, he still gets his moments in the spotlight. He is getting to be an older dog. And now I must make special accommodations for him.

Four of the five of us are loving the completed "blessed" stairs. Velcro does not love them. Stairs in general are fine. Construction stairs were fine too. But these new treads with the slick finish are too much.

He has short legs. He is eleven. He has long toenails. The vet a few years ago was going to trim them up when he was out for a surgery. We didn't do the surgery so the nails are still too long. It would be too painful to trim them since the quicks have grown out too. I have to trim them every week they grow so fast. Add to that the hair on his paws and he can't get the traction he needs to get up those slippery stairs. I trim the hair on the bottoms of his feet too.

Every night about twenty minutes after I go up to bed he would follow. Or at least try to. Sometimes he could do it, other times he would get stuck. About half way up. Then I would have to get out of bed and go down and rescue him. He would grumble at the indignity of it all, as I scooped up all forty pounds of him and deposited him on the carpeted landing. He would hop up the stairs, as only Corgi's do, and go to bed. I found that I was laying awake waiting to make sure that he made it up. Neither of us enjoyed this nightly meeting.

So I had to come up with a solution. One that did not include recarpeting the stairs. And one lightbulb moment later I did.

I bought a bath mat. I cut it into six pieces. Every night before I go to bed, I lay out the bath mat on the stairs. Every morning, I pick them up. Doggy carpeting. Velcro has no problems going up the stairs at night. And he no longer sounds and looks like he is going to splat at the bottom going down.



I need to schedule another day of beauty for him too. The groomer has offered a discount if we come more often. Velcro produces more hair than any other dog they groom. Plus he smells so good when he comes home. Spoiled pooch. Best doggy ever, he deserves it.

The Scene of the Crime

You should see my family room. Toy destruction as far as the eye can see. I am in the middle of sorting my children's over abundance of toys. And resolving to buy them much less in the future.

I am putting them in bins, labeling the bins and hoping that they will return to their homes frequently. We are also trying to thin them. SweetP gets the idea and is willing to let lots of toys find new homes. SweetE has suddenly become deeply attached to toys he hasn't touched in months. Tomorrow I will be in full on Mommy persuasion mode.


And if toys taking over one room isn't enough, they have started creating their own Legoland. They are now encroaching on the kitchen. At least their bedroom still looks great.

But in a day or two our house will resume a mostly orderly appearance. Then I can move down the to do list to item number two.

Moving On

I am doing my best to get over the sorry for myself stage of being insulted. And am moving on to the pissed off stage. The "I'll show her how wrong she is" stage. Because I don't suck. So now the back of my brain is whirling away at lesson ideas. I don't have an off switch. So even though it is summer, I am still fully engaged in work.

I officially finished my work at 3 this afternoon. I went in to upload my gradebook to the computer there. I also backed up to the server, because that is just a good idea. I turned in my print requests and walked out the door. Two cute boys in tow. Poor Ducky spent his father's day in full fatherly mode as I worked on grades all day. But I got them done and in.

The boys and I started the summer to do list today. Our house is overrun with toys. The boys are spoiled and we all know it. So we are sorting toys, giving them homes, sending some to new homes. We are finding the missing pieces and restoring order to both the family room and the boys bedroom. Today we finished their bedroom. SweetP is ready to get rid of lots of toys, but sweetE doesn't want to part with much of his newly discovered treasure. We'll see how the next few days fare as we attack the bulk of the toys, currently residing in the family room.

I also finished my first book of the summer. And only two weeks after we discussed it at book group. I sat out on a blanket on the front lawn to supervise the squirt gun fight and read. Thank you summer for making an appearance. Please stick around.

All in all, life is looking up again. At least until the end of August.