I just folded about eight loads of laundry. I must really be tired of dressing the kids out of the pile in the living room.
But, like a freshly laundered amoeba, the pile will surely regrow. I would not wan t The Boss Lady to miss out on all of the fun, would I?
The Boss Lady has been gone for 36 hours. And we are starting to show that fact.
The baby did indeed sleep in her clothes last night. She was tired and I was trying to get the boy in the tub. I finally got her out of those clothes, at 7:45 this morning.
Also, I just realized that the diaper cover I had on The Princess all day yesterday is actually part of her best dress outfit. But it looked really cute with the blue denim dress, too.
The Talker watched a movie yesterday. In the middle of the afternoon. Instead of napping but he was quiet. Plus, I knew he would get hyper later, at the neighbor's house and that he would be their problem.
There are growing piles of laundry. I hardly ever fold laundry. The Boss Lady does it. But I do keep the clothes washed. Except this week. There is still a pile of clean clothes from before she left AND there is a pile in the garage, of things waiting for a spin in the washer. And it is growing, quickly.
through the day.
We played with the neighbors this morning and then we all headed over to the library for story time. With a stop at Krispy Kreme afterwards. Everyone needs a little sugar buzz at nap time, right?
Later, the boy went to visit the neighbors, while I took little sis to a Dr's appointment. Everything went well and we won't have to go back in for 6 months.
The Mother of the Bride made it through her surgery fine. Don't know much else. The wife and I have each been a little too busy to chat.
The kids went to visit a different family this evening, while I went to a funeral visitation. Nothing weird about that. Except that my old staff were begging me to come back to work. It's been 3 years, give up already!
But that was not the weirdest part of the day. That came a little later, when I went to pick up the kids at 8:00 tonight. I walked in and The Talker told me, "I'm tired."
Now that was weird.
The Mother of the Bride is having surgery this morning, so The Boss Lady has gone up there for a few days. The kids and I have lots of fun and excitement planned until the weekend.
The Princess has a Dr's appointment downtown this afternoon and The Talker is heading to a friend's house then. So after dropping him off, we have 45 minutes to drive downtown. No problem, except that we have to stop at the pediatrician's office to pick up medical records, first. And since the front office staff there hate me AND I am not sure exactly what records I need to get from them in the first place... I bet that will just go sooooo smoothly.
And seeing as I forgot to give her highness the royal dosage last night, she will probably be feeling great about the time of the Dr's appointment. She just loves to be messed with when she does not feel good. Ever seen a pediatric urologist cry? Today might be your chance.
I have a funeral to attend on Thursday morning. The children will be getting farmed out to the highest bidder for a few hours, or whoever can watch them while providing me with the least hassle. Offers? Anyone?
This morning, the kids and I are planning to head to story time at the nearby library. I took the boy a few years ago, but one of the librarians reminded me at the end that "kids who don't sit still, don't get much out of the story." Maybe I'll dope them up before we go. Don't want to stress out the librarian.
And to top off a morning like this, we ran out of Dr Pepper about 16 hours ago. But there happens to be a grocery store right next door to the library.
Pops was here for several days this week, riding out Hurricane Rita. Now that he is back home, he said there was no damage to his house. Except the damage he caused while trying to cover windows and protect the house. Lucky for him. Also his travels today were much better than he expected. The usual 3 hour trip only took an extra hour. Unlike the 8 hour trip up here on Thursday night.
The Boss Lady helped run one of the evacuation shelters on Friday and Saturday. Many people were ready to head home Saturday, so they shut the shelter down Saturday afternoon. It made for a long week for her. But we finally had some family time today, between church, NASCAR and naps.
The kids and I all enjoyed having another adult around for a couple of days. They got to play with Pops. I got to work around the house and get the yard mowed. During the week. During daylight. And I planned to fish. But I didn't go, since I did not want to be out in the 106 degree heat. Even to chase defenseless little fishies around the lake.
I like fishing. I do not like heatstroke.
In case there is any doubt about The Princess, rest assured, she is a girl.
Proof? We have been found by the American Girl company. The people who get little girls hooked on $100 dolls. Somehow they have our address now. And like fishing equipment or cocaine, it seems that a single hundred dollar doll just won't satisfy a little girl for long. Thus, they push, I mean sell, accessories and friends for their addictive wares.
And they hide it all by teaching the girls about history and cultural experiences. They might as well make a doll that needs drug rehab, too. I do know for a fact that the customer service staff will advise you to beat a mis-behaving American girl doll*.
But hopefully, before The Princess can ask for a Molly or Samantha doll of her own, she will learn to say...
"Grandma, look what I want for Christmas..."
*The doll was not actually misbehaving, it's eye was stuck. But they did advise hitting it's head on a table, to free the eye's movement. But I don't know if they advised to knock the doll upside the head, while her pre-teen owner wasn't watching.
My new found glasses lasted all of 48 hours. NO, they are not lost again. They are mangled. Done. DOA.
The Princess decided to help me out yesterday by bringing me my glasses. If I had left them carelessly laying around, I would have foreSEEN this disaster. But they were laying in the middle of our 5 foot square dining table. OUt of reach of MOST 16 month olds. Not her. She moved a chair over and climbed aboard, just to SEE what was up there.
Usually, she finds a crayon or something else that we have pushed into the middle of the table to keep away from 16 month old monkey-children. Yesterday she SAW gold. Or glass. And somewhere between the middle of the dining table and the laundry pile where I was working, metal and glass carnage ensued.
So, after The Mangler wakes up from her nap, we are off to the eyeglasses shop to SEE if they are able to undo the damage. Luckily, the staff there are usually pretty nice and they can straighten some ugly bends in the thinnest of wire frames.
And they like kids. Especially ones that bring in business by wrecking daddy's glasses.
I thought I lost my glasses back when I went on a road trip with dad. For more than two months I have been sure that I left my glasses in the hotel room when we checked out. I know for sure I left my swimsuit there, so it was not hard to believe that the glasses were there, too.
So for two months I have been wandering around, without my glasses. My vision must not be too bad, though. I was able to get my driver's license renewed during this time. But I guess I just forgot to wear them to the DMV. Because my glasses have not been sitting in the unclaimed glasses box behind the motel counter, they have been in my tackle box, since my last trip to the lake.
Now I remember pulling them off when I was running through the rain and hail to the car. I did not want them to fall in the gravel and get scratched. Good thing I protected them. Anyways, thanks to the upcoming fishing season, I found them this morning.
And The Boss Lady thinks my hobbies don't pay off...
The Princess is possibly the least blogged about member of our family. Excepting the cats, but if you count them as family, then you may leave, now. But I want share a little about our 16 month old girl child.
A few weeks ago I started keeping a list of all of the words she says. Not just parroting words, she will repeat anything, but words that she uses repeatedly and purposefully.
The list got too long and I got distracted by other stuff. Plus, I did not expect it to be a list of more than 25 words or so. When I last counted, the list was approaching a hundred words. There are lots that we have not written down. I did not alphabetize the list at the start and it turned into a pain, making sure that a word was not already included.
I'll refrain from sharing the whole list but here are some highlights of The Princess' word list:
Meee!
Mine!
Mama
crackers
puppy
beans
car
buckles
yellow
Thank you
You're elcome
nose
booger
Wha happen?
Where Daddy go?
pink
kittyeee
more
16 months. The Talker better watch out, or he will be getting a new blog name for Christmas. Maybe something like He Who Doesn't Talk as Much as Little Sister
While The Talker and I were wandering around downtown and hopping trains a few days ago, we got the weirdest compliment of all times.
A man sitting at a train stop told me "That is a good looking boy."
I gave my usual response "Thanks. He is a good boy."
Then train guy continued "He looks just like you. If I was the judge on the bench and there was a problem... There wouldn't be any question. That's your boy. Of course, it could end up costing you a lot of money..."
Train guy was really considerate, too. We sat a few seats down from him and The Talker fanned his hand in front of his face and pinched his nose before I noticed the guy was smoking a cigarette. But quicker than I could move the boy, train guy moved 10 feet downwind. He then laughed back to me"Don't want his momma wondering where you took him. We can't let him go home stinkin' like smoke."
I laughed and thanked him again as we climbed aboard the train to Granny's house.
The Boss Lady was scheduled to go out of town for a one day conference yesterday. Since she was driving and we could hang out with The Mother of the Bride during the conference, we planned to make it a quick road trip.
The Original Plan (Insert laughter here)
We were going to stay one night in a hotel along the Dallas light rail line, so that the kids and I could hop trains during the day and see the tourist-y stuff in downtown Dallas. The downfall to this plan was the fact that we would have nowhere for The Princess to nap during our railroading adventures. Bringing the stroller would help, so our plans were finished.
The biggest problem with the perfect plan turned out to be no available hotel rooms within walking distance of the trains. So we moved on, to The Second Plan.
The Second Plan (More laughter, please)
The revised plan involved a one night stay at the house of The Mother of the Bride. The kids would have plenty of play space; Granny would surely not make us check out early, so naptimes would also be possible. The trains are only a 15 minute drive from there, so The Talker and I planned to ride the trains, while The Princess played and napped at Granny’s house. And later in the day the kids, Granny and I could find something to do so that she could spend some time with both of the kids. Most likely $1 carousel rides at the mall.
A Retelling of Actual Events
We left home a night earlier than planned, so that I could attend a funeral with my parents. We stayed with them one night and left the next afternoon to drive 45 miles to the Mother of the Bride’s house. The kids always have fun with my parents but we did not plan to stop and see them, since this was such a quick trip.
The Talker and I rode the trains through Downtown Dallas. And, thanks to a poorly timed potty break, we spent an hour wandering around in a train station 100 feet below the city. Luckily, there is a restroom down there. But only if you are a cute 3 year old boy and the Transit Police take pity on your Daddy.
After a quick lunch, we all loaded into Granny’s minivan to go to the mall. The mall has an indoor playscape (ironically sponsored by the local hospital) and the carousel in the food court, which now cost $2 each, by the way. Our afternoon of riding the carousel quickly turned into a couple of rides and a stroll around the food court.
Once we met up with The Boss Lady, we hit the road for home quickly. Still, we did not get home until 8:30. The last hour of the ride was a lot of fun. The kids would not leave each other alone. They were both whining and we were pleading, (but not whining, we don't do that), with them to be quiet and to relax until we got home. And for thirty minutes I did not hear a peep. Because I rolled all of the windows down and shut off the air conditioner. The road noise was loud as heck, but at least it did not sound like a whiny 3 year old. Or his sister.
In my last post, I needlessly disparaged The Babysitter.
True, she did send an email, containing most of what I blogged. But we also knew she was kidding. Which made her email even funnier, because we never expected her to tell us something like that...
She likes dogs and would never give them ANY chocolate. She really likes our kids, too. Also, she does not have a foul mouth and I have no fears of her being around the kids. Or my guns or booze.
I needed to clear my concscience and let y'all know the truth.
Besides, she is giving us the Realtive's that I Like Rate and I don't want her to get mad and quit.
Let me introduce The Babysitter, newest member of The AtHomeDaddy cast. Sort of. She has been there, but in a nicer form. A couple of weeks ago, I brought My So Called Aunt's oldest daughter over to watch the kids while I cleaned the house.
We are doing it again today. But check out this note we got from The Babysitter (I edited it a little, but not much):
...I let the boy run around the house and I let both of them throw food on the floor.
I don't change the kids, I let them run around stinky. I brought Fuzzface and Furrbutt around so there was more chaos. I let your dog out and run all over the place and I fed him chocolate.
I give all of them all the cokes they want and lots of sugar. And they don't have a bedtime.
I stay on the phone and eat all the snacks and leave the wrappers on the table...
P.S. I would drink up all the DP's but I hate Dr Pepper! And I expect a really good reference some day.
that the smallest rooms in the house take the longest to clean? I had a goal this morning to get the bathrooms cleaned. 2 rooms, less than 100 square feet, total. I was up and running, with a scrub brush in hand, at 7am. After an hour in the master bath, I was almost done. Another hour in the kid's bath this afternoon and the job was finally finished.
Maybe the bedrooms are easier because you can just haul stuff from one room, to another and hide it there. Too hard to do with a bathtub. Or I would have hidden it in the master closet.
Which is on the list for getting cleaned on Wednesday morning, but maybe I should plan on it taking all afternoon, too.
There is no way for me to fully understand the scope of Hurricane Katrina. But here at home, there are thousands of people who fled the area hit by the storm. Some are living in hotels, thousands in the convention center and many more scattered all over town in private homes with friends and family or new acquaintances.
Yesterday, the kids and The Boss pulled out several bags of toys and books to donate, along with some clothes. While they were working on this, my wife kept explaining to our 3 year old that he was picking out some toys for kids that did not have any right now. It almost made me cry when she told me later that the first thing he wanted to give were his two very favorite toys. I was amazed at how much he could care about kids he never met.
So this morning we all went to the centralized donation drop off site. I don't know what I expected, but it was not what I saw. Dozens of my former co-workers were manning the site, a 5 story parking garage that was filling up quickly with donations.
Sometimes it was easy to think that working for "The City" meant you were just part of a huge anonymous workforce. Today, it was awesome to be able to point out several of my work friends to the kids and show them what nice people they all are. And how much they are all pitching in to help people they will never know, too.
The Boss Lady and I have talked for years about buying a canoe.
First, we were renting apartments and didn't have a garage to store it in, so we did not buy one. Then, when we bought a house, we got busy working on the house so the garage has always been full of other stuff and we did not buy one. Then The Talker was born and we wanted to wait until he was bigger to buy a canoe. Then The Princess was born and...
A couple of years ago, I started fishing and then I really started wanting a small boat. So I bought a boat this morning. It's not a canoe, but a little aluminum john boat instead. A neighbor had it in a yard sale. It is only big enough for one adult, one kid and some fishing gear, but that is enough for us. Plus, this boat will fit right inside the bed of the truck.
Once The Talker and I drove down to pick it up, I decided to clean it up a little. And while I was doing that, Uncle Lemon arrived with more boating news. His mom has an old boat that she would love to get out of her barn. And it is a little bigger than the recent purchase.
This one has an 18 hp outboard and a trailer. It hasn't been run in years, but the boat is fiberglas and stored out of the weather, so it should be in OK shape. I think Uncle Lemon and I will head out on Monday to go check out the bigger boat.
Then The Boss Lady and I will need to decide what to do with our newly acquired armada. And I assume that her plans don't involve keeping two boats.
The offspring and I went back to the bouncers this evening. I wanted to make sure we got the most out of our cash. That place is pretty expensive, even on half price day. Plus, I wanted to make sure that the kids slept well tonight. I know I will. If I can just make the floors and bed stop bouncing.
Also, while running around today, I filled up both cars. $2.81 at one stop, $2.76 at the other. It looks like the kids and I will be hanging out under the backyard shade again next week, too.
The Talker and The Princess have napped for hours and hours today. We went to an indoor inflatable playground this morning. The kids had a blast, even though The Princess was a little timid at first. The Inflatable Wonderland has four full sized bouncers set-up, along with one area for toddlers, a dragon that the kids played inside of and a huge double slide. All inside of an air-conditioned space in the mall.
After we got home and had lunch, there was little argument over naptime. I suspect that is because the kids are wasted, but it might just be that I promised to take them back this evening, since The Boss Lady is pulling another 15 hour day. Plus the admission is an all day pass, so they let you come and go in between bouncing.
You would think that I might get a lot done around the house while they slept, right? Well, you know, someone had to coax The Princess into playing. Besides, I had two kids to keep up with, so I am twice as tired from jumping.
But I can't wait to go back!
After getting spammed multiple times on every recent post, I am turning on 'Word Verification' for this blog. Now you'll have to type in the jumbled letters that appear at the bottom of the comments screen.
Sorry for the hassle. Spam sucks. In all forms.
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