So I've been mentioning how we're taking the week off of school to have home ec week. I think it's important for all my kids to understand what goes into running a house, keeping it clean, organizing, etc. So this is the week for it!
I started yesterday with the bathroom and was so happy to have a sparkling clean bathroom from floor to ceiling. I scrubbed the tub and the walls and the floor and the sink and toilet...I worked up a sweat :)
This morning, Lillee came running into the living room loudly exclaiming, "Mommy, we have a new insert indistinguishable word here in the bathroom." I asked her to calm down and repeat herself. She said, "Mommy, we have a new sink in the bathroom."
I responded with, "It's not new honey, it is the same sink we've had."
Lillee replies, "No, Mommy! It is new, it is not the same one."
If your child doesn't recognize the sink once it's been cleaned, it was definitely time to clean the thing LOL I think the most shocking part was the toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap were no longer on the sink so you could actually see the knobs and such. It wasn't really that filthy!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
simple directions
Al has one guy who works for him that he really likes, but the guy tends to be flakey at times; usually when there is a major deadline. Al's current client is remodeling a bathroom to get ready for their son to recooperate in their home after surgery. They've been pushing hard to get this bathroom completed in a short time. Two days ago, Al found out the surgery had been pushed forward by 2 days...this means the one day he was ahead of schedule now makes him only one day behind schedule. Al isn't expected to work miracles and his client is grateful he's working so hard to accomodate their needs. So the family headed to the hospital at 5am this morning for the surgery. At 7am, Al went to pick up his worker only to discover he wasn't home and he had turned off his phone.
Al is mad!!! He asked for me to place an ad to try to find a quick replacement because he needs to complete the bathroom. So I placed an ad with some very simple instructions:
Looking to hire a helper immediaitely, if you would like to start today, let us know!
Must haves:
Speak clear English
Driver's License
Legal to work in the US
General residential remodeling experience
No resume is necessary. However, you must be able to demonstrate your work experience if you expect a call back! Please email your work experience and a phone number that you can be reached at. If the above information is provided you can expect a quick response. We're currently working 6 days a week in Germantown. Pay is based on experience and expect decent pay as we appreciate good workers. Please use this email address: info@aba........com; emails not sent to this address or not including the above information will be ignored.
Pretty straight forward, right? Obviously not to 90% of the respondents. The ad was placed under MY email address which is why I specified a different address in the body of the ad. I wanted to see who could follow directions. For those who did actually get the right email (which was about 50%), they sent things like:
"I qualify, this is my bread and butter, call me!"
"I have what you're looking for." no phone number provided, though.
Come on!!! If you're seriously looking for a job, don't you think it is worth following some simple instructions? I think out of about 20 responses at this point, I've only received 2 that actually followed instructions but unfortunately are not as qualified as the ones who can't seem to follow directions.
Sorry, I just needed to vent a bit. I get seriously bent out of shape over the stupidity of other people. I should just say a prayer for them and not let it bother me, but what a waste of my time to filter through all these emails. I am so glad I'm no longer in management, I'm not sure I have the patience for it these days.
Al is mad!!! He asked for me to place an ad to try to find a quick replacement because he needs to complete the bathroom. So I placed an ad with some very simple instructions:
Looking to hire a helper immediaitely, if you would like to start today, let us know!
Must haves:
Speak clear English
Driver's License
Legal to work in the US
General residential remodeling experience
No resume is necessary. However, you must be able to demonstrate your work experience if you expect a call back! Please email your work experience and a phone number that you can be reached at. If the above information is provided you can expect a quick response. We're currently working 6 days a week in Germantown. Pay is based on experience and expect decent pay as we appreciate good workers. Please use this email address: info@aba........com; emails not sent to this address or not including the above information will be ignored.
Pretty straight forward, right? Obviously not to 90% of the respondents. The ad was placed under MY email address which is why I specified a different address in the body of the ad. I wanted to see who could follow directions. For those who did actually get the right email (which was about 50%), they sent things like:
"I qualify, this is my bread and butter, call me!"
"I have what you're looking for." no phone number provided, though.
Come on!!! If you're seriously looking for a job, don't you think it is worth following some simple instructions? I think out of about 20 responses at this point, I've only received 2 that actually followed instructions but unfortunately are not as qualified as the ones who can't seem to follow directions.
Sorry, I just needed to vent a bit. I get seriously bent out of shape over the stupidity of other people. I should just say a prayer for them and not let it bother me, but what a waste of my time to filter through all these emails. I am so glad I'm no longer in management, I'm not sure I have the patience for it these days.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Isabel's Dress
As you may have heard, I got a sewing machine for Christmas. So for the past 2 months I've been working to teach myself to sew. My latest project was BIG. I decided to make Easter dresses for my girls. As my friend, Kristy Boggs, stated, "That's a bit ambitious." Which was sort of a nice way to say, "Whoa, what were you thinking?!?!"
Well, I just finished Isabel's dress last night and here it is!!! I'm so proud of myself :)
Well, I just finished Isabel's dress last night and here it is!!! I'm so proud of myself :)
Amanda's got her groove back!
2 months ago I took the kids and went to DC to see a train display at the Botanical Gardens. You may remember reading my rant about the trip. Well, I did it again...I planned another trip to DC with the kids. After reading my rant post you may wonder what kind of meds I've been on to consider doing this again....this time I even went by myself! But to my surprise, and I'm sure your's as well, this was the most perfect trip ever!
I had heard there would be a Pachyderm Parade on St Patrick's Day this year. The parade is a DC tradition where the elephants, horses, ring master and clowns are paraded through the streets of DC to announce that the Ringling Bros Circle has arrived to the area. And since it was St Patrick's Day they had a bagpiper and a good amount of green.
Even though I was flying solo and took 4 kids on the metro during rush hour to stand on the sidewalks of DC for an undetermined amount of time to wait for elephants with a tentative schedule, things went really well! I think I may have had the best day I've ever had with my kids. When I woke yesterday morning, my first thought was NOT, "This will be the best day ever." I actually thought, "I wonder if I can get out of this, I'd much rather be in bed. What have I done to myself, why do I continue to be so ambitious?"
Here are a few pictures of the elphants on the streets of Washington, DC.
It's hard to see but here are the elephants with front foot raised and one is waving the flag of Ireland being held in his trunk.
I had heard there would be a Pachyderm Parade on St Patrick's Day this year. The parade is a DC tradition where the elephants, horses, ring master and clowns are paraded through the streets of DC to announce that the Ringling Bros Circle has arrived to the area. And since it was St Patrick's Day they had a bagpiper and a good amount of green.
Even though I was flying solo and took 4 kids on the metro during rush hour to stand on the sidewalks of DC for an undetermined amount of time to wait for elephants with a tentative schedule, things went really well! I think I may have had the best day I've ever had with my kids. When I woke yesterday morning, my first thought was NOT, "This will be the best day ever." I actually thought, "I wonder if I can get out of this, I'd much rather be in bed. What have I done to myself, why do I continue to be so ambitious?"
Here are a few pictures of the elphants on the streets of Washington, DC.
It's hard to see but here are the elephants with front foot raised and one is waving the flag of Ireland being held in his trunk.
That's Union Station in the background
Friday, March 13, 2009
Snuggle Bug
Since Lillee was a small baby she has always been an awesome snuggler. She cuddles right into you and stays perfectly still for hours. Unlike Connor and Isabel who can't sit still for more than 1-2 minutes...they can't snuggle at all!
Every morning Lillee comes to our bedroom and hops in bed on Al's side to snuggle with him...he calls her snuggle bug and she loves the pet name, it makes her feel special and different which is really important as a middle child.
Lately, Lillee has been deprived of her morning snuggles. With Al being sick for a week he did not want the kids in bed with him. Then as soon as he was well he started a new project and was leaving the house by 6:15am and the kids weren't out of bed at that time. Several mornings this week Lillee has darted off to my bedroom in hopes to find daddy still in bed. She's been really disappointed that he was already off to work and she could not have her snuggles.
Last night, I told Al he would have to sleep in on Saturday so she can get some snuggles. He sadly stated he was working Saturday too and Lillee would have to wait until Sunday. Shortly after making this statement he told me, "I'll start work around 10:00am on Saturday." After thinking of Lillee missing her snuggles he decided to adjust his schedule to work in some snuggle time with his Beanie.
I love that man!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Winter, winter go away...come back another day
2 weeks ago all the kids started getting sick...croupy coughs at night, running noses during the day; just the general cold running through our home. We were headed to NC on Thursday morning and late Wednesday night Connor got out of bed and came to me so I could help him scratch a massive itch. Upon closer inspection he had a rash all over his stomach, back and arm pits. I figured our trip would be delayed by a Dr appt Thursday morning, but we were pleasantly surprised that the rash appeared to be gone by the morning. So off to NC we went.
We had a nice visit with my parents, although it was colder than we thought it was going to be. On Sunday, my brother, his wife and 2 children came to see us. Unfortunately, my brother was sick so they did not stay long as he was feeling bad and the weather was getting bad....was pretty icy.
Within an hour or two after my brother leaving Al started complaining of a sore throat. Then his stomach was upset so he headed to bed. A lot happened Sunday night. At 3am I woke to Al making unpleasant noises in the bathroom. His stomach was really topsy-turvy and he had a fever. Then we woke to 4 inches of snow on the ground. We were not able to leave NC on Monday like we had planned. Al spend the day in bed, unable to eat anything and barely keeping down small amounts of fluid.
I pushed Al to get in the car and go home on Tuesday (we had to get back home, Al had work to do, we did not have our school supplies with us, we missed piano lessons, 2 dental appts...it was time to go!). When we arrived home he fell onto the sofa and did not move all night. Wednesday morning he made an appt with his Dr but the earliest he could get was 3:30pm. We were pretty certain he had strep throat so we needed to get him started on antibiotics.
By 10:00am Al knew he could not wait until 3:30 to be seen as he had developed quite a rash and was starting to panic over feeling so bad. So he opted to go to the emergency room. Unfortunately, when you have 4 kids it's hard to find a baby sitter at the last minute, especially if you might have some contagious or potentially harmful to another floating through your house. So I dropped him off at the front door of the hospital and told him to call me when he was ready to be picked up.
It was determined Al had scarlet fever and because he has spent the past 4 days unable to eat or drink he was severely dehydrated. So they opted for IV antibiotics and fluids and some good pain meds for the all over aches and pains and seriously sore throat. The good news is Al has recovered...he's still weak, definitely not back to 100% but gaining a bit more strength every day.
When I went to pick Al up at the hospital I realized that the rash Connor had had the week before was the same rash that Al has. So Thursday morning I took all the kids to the Dr for strep tests. It's amazing but none of the kids had it. The nurse said this was a weird case because normally children ages of 3-17 get strep and scarlet fever, not adults. Al was the only one in the family to have it, though.
And we missed the snow in MD while we were in NC. The kids have been waiting all winter for a decent snow and while we were in NC the "biggest snow storm in 3 years" blew through MD and dropped 7 inches. We only had 4 inches in NC and it was gone pretty quick, but Mamaw & Papaw hit Walmart and bought boots and gloves for everyone so the kids could enjoy it for the short time it lasted.
We're just getting back on track and feeling like we're recovering from a hard 2 weeks so we'll see what comes next....spring, please get here QUICK! We're so ready for winter to be over!
We had a nice visit with my parents, although it was colder than we thought it was going to be. On Sunday, my brother, his wife and 2 children came to see us. Unfortunately, my brother was sick so they did not stay long as he was feeling bad and the weather was getting bad....was pretty icy.
Within an hour or two after my brother leaving Al started complaining of a sore throat. Then his stomach was upset so he headed to bed. A lot happened Sunday night. At 3am I woke to Al making unpleasant noises in the bathroom. His stomach was really topsy-turvy and he had a fever. Then we woke to 4 inches of snow on the ground. We were not able to leave NC on Monday like we had planned. Al spend the day in bed, unable to eat anything and barely keeping down small amounts of fluid.
I pushed Al to get in the car and go home on Tuesday (we had to get back home, Al had work to do, we did not have our school supplies with us, we missed piano lessons, 2 dental appts...it was time to go!). When we arrived home he fell onto the sofa and did not move all night. Wednesday morning he made an appt with his Dr but the earliest he could get was 3:30pm. We were pretty certain he had strep throat so we needed to get him started on antibiotics.
By 10:00am Al knew he could not wait until 3:30 to be seen as he had developed quite a rash and was starting to panic over feeling so bad. So he opted to go to the emergency room. Unfortunately, when you have 4 kids it's hard to find a baby sitter at the last minute, especially if you might have some contagious or potentially harmful to another floating through your house. So I dropped him off at the front door of the hospital and told him to call me when he was ready to be picked up.
It was determined Al had scarlet fever and because he has spent the past 4 days unable to eat or drink he was severely dehydrated. So they opted for IV antibiotics and fluids and some good pain meds for the all over aches and pains and seriously sore throat. The good news is Al has recovered...he's still weak, definitely not back to 100% but gaining a bit more strength every day.
When I went to pick Al up at the hospital I realized that the rash Connor had had the week before was the same rash that Al has. So Thursday morning I took all the kids to the Dr for strep tests. It's amazing but none of the kids had it. The nurse said this was a weird case because normally children ages of 3-17 get strep and scarlet fever, not adults. Al was the only one in the family to have it, though.
And we missed the snow in MD while we were in NC. The kids have been waiting all winter for a decent snow and while we were in NC the "biggest snow storm in 3 years" blew through MD and dropped 7 inches. We only had 4 inches in NC and it was gone pretty quick, but Mamaw & Papaw hit Walmart and bought boots and gloves for everyone so the kids could enjoy it for the short time it lasted.
We're just getting back on track and feeling like we're recovering from a hard 2 weeks so we'll see what comes next....spring, please get here QUICK! We're so ready for winter to be over!
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