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I Didn't Marry Handy Manny

My husband loathes fixing things. When our dryer broke down last year it was a good thing our neighbor knew how to fix the belt because that saved us money. My husband's first response to anything breaking or wearing out, "Time to get a new one."

Our washer started to leak a few months back. It would only do it once in a while and very rarely. I thought I was just overloading the washer but just this past month it has started to leak more and more. And then it was leaking with every thing but the smallest loads. So I get on line and find out what the leaking could be from. I quickly determined it wasn't the hose or the drain so it had to be coming from the innerds of the beast. I read how to take the back off and how to check and how to fix them. Okay, my husband and I could do this. I fixed the vaccuum a few years back when the roller had stopped turning. I figured that we could do it.

Deep down I have wanted a new washer and dryer for awhile. I hated out loud noisy machines. But I wanted to replace the dryer before the washer because I despise my signal and that I can't turn it off. It has awaken my sleeping babies in the past.

Saturday morning we get up and before we head off for the day we decide to take the back off the washer and see where the leak is and pick up the parts while we are out and fix it that evening when we return. Two hours later and after a lot of bickering and screaming children because they are put out and shut out of the room of the repairs we decide to just forget it. We call the repair guy. It may be close to half what the washer was when I bought it. I have been eyeing a new washer online and I just happen to know that Sears is having a sale. Oh, back to the washer. My husband never got the back off. After taking the screws out and trying to lift it up the whole thing wanted to come up. That is when we discovered we could have just tipped it on it's side and seen up the bottom. But now we can't get the screws back in, the case for some reason is not fitting back on to the frame. We need "Fixing Washing Machines for Dummies."

So we head off to Sears and upon entering are approached by a sales man. He shows us two models. My husband wants the larger washer and front loader. I want the front loader but don't care about size as much. We picked out one and got a pedestal to put under it. We pay and go on our merry little way.

Today the new beauty arrives in it's shiny splendor. The kids love watching the clothes spin around and around. After getting it and seeing how my old dryer pales next to the beauty makes me wish we could have afforded the dryer too. I need to start saving my shiny little sheckels.

World's Worst

I am the world's worst applier of sunblock to myself and luckily not my children although my poor's son's face got missed and now he has a rosy complexion. But me, I have white splotches and red splotches all over my arms, shoulders, and back. I managed to get my upper arms but not my shoulders so I have a white strap mark. Then one arm has finger marks where I stopped and Ray joked that some people might think he slapped me. No such thing happened, it's the lovely sun that slapped me. Luckily it isn't too red and will fade with just a few days time. We went to the beach Saturday. The kids had such a blast playing in the sand. It was very crowded though since we went to the local beach and not the military base beach. While there I seen one of the spring breakers who had seen too much sun the week he was there and he was probably going to be hurting all the way back to which ever college he hails from. Red as a cooked lobster.

Getting to the bottom of it

A few days ago I posted about the bane of my existence, ten pounds. So I am bound and determined to get to the bottom of why the scale is not budging. So yesterday I was watching the Biggest Loser and I found out that you have to burn 3500 calories to lose one pound. My gosh that is a lot of calories. So if I wanted to lose 1 pound a week I need to burn 500 calories more a day than I consume. I did a brief calculation and found that I am barely burning more calories than I am consuming on a moderate active day. So today I have ramped up my activity level. They have 4 levels on the activity scale I looked at: no activity (that's not me since I do have two young kids and stay home with them,) moderate active (some of my days), active (some of my days), and very active. So my goal is to try to have more active days than moderate active and consume the amount of calories that are for my optimal weight.

I don't have to give up sweets (I really don't eat many unless it's around a holiday, thank you Easter.) I also found out my beloved toaster strudels are so much more calories than just toast or a pancake so I am going to cut back on them and eat more pancakes and toast. I don't have to cut out all things that taste great but aren't healthiest option. I am getting serious about this because I want to get in shape for my husband for that cruise. I don't think I am overweight. According to the BMI I am in the pefect weight zone but I would like to be more in the middle of it again. Also I know I need to get more active for my children so that they will be active and will not become in that 60% overweight American catergory.

Now that is a hairstyle

Need I say more.

The Most Coveted Toy

With all the new gizmos and gadgets out there that make up the aisles of the toy section in the store you would imagine that the most coveted toy would be the coolest new game, the prettiest and most interactive doll, the loudest car, or some other thing that lights up, makes noise, and interacts with the kids. But no, this is not so. What is the most coveted toy in our house?

Good thing mommy has two of them for her two kids.

Why Is It...

...that sickness always hits in the middle of the night? I awoke between 1:30-2 with a rude stomach ache. Couldn't it wait until the morning when I had some sleep? I got a little relief within the half hour but ended up taking a bath at 2:30 and back to bed at 3:30. Even though I was exhausted I tossed and turned for another hour. I worried that the kids were sick as well and I couldn't hear them (they weren't) causing me to jump awake at the slightest noises. Finally at 4:30 exhaustion kicked in. After just another two hours it was time to get up so my husband could go to work and the kids were up. It's going to be a long day with a sour stomach and no sleep and energetic children.

The Bane of My Existence...

...is TEN lousy pounds. That is how much I would like to lose before my 5th anniversary cruise we have planned for November. I still have plenty of time but after almost a month of exercising and eating better I still can't get the scale to budge one iota. Ugh!! After I had baby number 2 I lost all of the weight I had gained from that pregnancy very quickly. I was excited. I was breast feeding and I have seen some of my friends lose even more weight breast feeding. Not me. I got to my prepregnancy weight and plateaued and have been there ever since. I gained weight after graduating with my bachelor's degree when I got a desk job but I didn't mind that weight since so many people thought I was too skinny. Then I got married and put on some more weight, then I got pregnant and put on more weight. Granted I only kept 5 pounds from the first pregnancy, but now I would like to lose that and at least 5 of the pounds that I gained after getting married.

Sharing Cheerios

She-girl is a good big sister. Here she is sharing cheerios with her little brother. He has just recently started chewing and swallowing them. He use to suck on them until they were mushy and then push them out into a gooey mess on the floor, his high chair, or anywhere else he was at.

Lions, Tigers, And Bears! Oh My!

It was a beautiful day so off we went to the Zoo. It is a small zoo but perfect for little kids. We arrived as a huge school group was leaving so it was pretty much empty for our leisure.
We met Simba (or maybe Mufasa) while we were there. He was as cool as a cucumber sitting there in his lair. Could have cared less that we were even there.

Baby boy and Mommy enjoyed looking at the monkeys while something caught Sister's attention behind us. Probably the birds.

Daddy and sister fed the baby goat. They tried to feed the giraffe but he wasn't hungry.

This monkey has a pet kitty. It is s a cute story. This old girl lost her mate after 40 years last year and since she is getting up there in age they were having a hard time finding her a new mate and she became very depressed. The zoo keepers got the idea of introducing her to this cat, T.K., who has a sweet and gentle personality and they took to each other. We never saw them more than a foot apart the entire time we were there.

We had a very fun time and saw lots of animals. The kids enjoyed themselves and Sister came home with a stuffed snake (she picked it out.)

Booby Traps

My cute little boy loves to create booby traps. Perhaps he doesn't realize that is what he is doing but this is just one of the many he has created. I sometimes leave them out. Like this one was near the back door. If someone broke in during the night they would be in a lot of trouble especially if they hit that rolling pin. Can we say broken head? Or more like LAWSUIT! Since that is what this country is coming to.

Spring Cleaning

It is time to clean out the house and get rid of the junk. Yesterday, my husband and I loaded up the van with piles of stuff just hanging around our house and took it to the Goodwill. Now I feel like I have the space to start organizing and really dig out other junk that is being hidden by all the clutter. First off will be the laundry room, which has been the catch all for the junk lately. We got rid of half the stuff in there so now I just need to find the time to do the organizing.

My heart sings....

My heart sings when...
1. My children play nicely with each other.

2. My daughter kisses my forehead when I am napping.

3. My daughter gives me a huge hug.

4. My sons lies his head on my shoulder.

5. My husband calls me from work.

6. My husband brings me flowers.

7. I get something unexpected and pleasant in the mail.

8. My husband does a chore without being asked.

9. My son sits on my lap and my daughter next to me in the recliner.

10. Going somewhere with my family and really enjoying myself.

Early Risers

My children have become early risers. Last night it didn't help that a storm rolled in at around 3:30 waking my daughter and sending her into our room screaming. Getting up in the middle of the night makes me nauseous so my husband usually gets up with the kids since it does happen so rarely. Last night I felt a little bad though because he was up an hour with her sleeping on the couch and then this morning she came in screaming again because of the thunder at just before 6 a.m. This time she woke up my son as well. But does mom and dad get a nap? Nope, dad is at work and then off to his night class. Mom has to stay awake with whatever child is still awake, which at this moment is my son. My daughter is asleep under the dining room table. My son looks tired but since his nap earlier today he may not succumb again to the sleepiness.