House of Estrogen

Simple Woman's Daybook, Februrary 28, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... 80 today! This weather is INSANE in February! Nina was outside yesterday playing in the sprinkler with friends. All the Bradford pear trees and plum trees are blooming. I'm not complaining - I LOVE spring, but it just seems crazy to have weather like this in Februrary!

  I am thinking... about my to-do list for today - packages to mail, emails to write, pictures to print, etc. 

I am thankful for... chocolate covered espresso beans.

From the kitchen... no clue, but it will be cooked on the grill!

I am creating... nothing will be created around here until cookie sales are over.

I am going... a wee bit insane from cookie sales.

I am reading... nothing now, but I'm contemplating picking up Johnny Weir's memoir. I heard him talking about it this morning on the Gayle King Show. I've been in such a reading slump lately.

I am hoping... that my cousin Lisa will find the extra support, meds, and freedom from pain that she needs from the palliative care folks she is working with now.

I am hearing... the wind blowing outside. 

Around the house... a new motor and new tubing in the refrigerator to the tune of $300 this morning. Ugh. I can think of so many other ways I'd rather spend $300.

One of my favorite things... daffodils. I wish I had more planted in our yard. I say that every spring and then forget about it by fall when it is time to plant them.

 A few plans for the rest of the week.... too much... jump rope, two Girl Scout meetings, elementary school science fair, early-release day from school, jazz-acro dance glass for Elise and Nina, a birthday party, CPR training, and a Girl Scout overnight trip. Maybe I can schedule in a couple hours of sleep mid-week.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Elise and her friend hard at work on their science fair project this weekend.

  

 
    To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook. 

Just Because It Made Me Laugh

This video has absolutely nothing to do with anything related to anything here at HouseOfEstrogen.com, but it just made me laugh hysterically. It is quite possible that the cookies have stressed me to the point that the laughter is simply my brain's way of saving me from tearing my hair out and screaming obscenities at the Shout Outs, but I was truly laughing out loud watching this. It is Tom Hanks spoofing the show Toddlers and Tiaras. If you have seen the show, you'll likely find this especially funny. Even if you haven't seen it, I bet you'll get a chuckle anyway. Enjoy!

 

Toothless!

No more snaggletooth here...

 

If I Had a Spaceship...

This was Nina's independent writing for the topic of "If I had a spaceship..."

If I had a spaceship, I would fly to Texas. I would pick up Maggie, Will, and Rowan. I would go to the spa with the girls, and Will will watch football. He sits next to Jacob. I would be at Texas for a week.

That's my kind of girl! She's off to Texas for a week at the spa in her spaceship! Love it!

 

 

Simple Woman's Daybook, February 21, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... gorgeous weather - 70's and sunny, and some of the early spring trees are blooming bright pink!

  I am thinking... about my schedule for the day - how to get things done with a sick 3 year old at home. 

I am thankful for... good pediatricians who always take me seriously when I have concerns.

From the kitchen... my grandmother's slaw. I've never completely mastered her recipe, but I think I came close last night. I just ate all the leftovers for lunch, and it made me wonder if my grandmother used to make her slaw a day before serving it. It tasted closer to her recipe today than it did last night. Maybe that is the secret!

I am creating... nada.

I am going... nowhere today. Poor Addie is home with a fever and feeling miserable.

I am reading... US Weekly.

I am hoping... to track down enough cookies for our cookie booth tomorrow at the university. We have a booth going on there now, and they are selling out of everything. They started with 360 boxes, and somebody came by a little while ago to get everything else I had in the garage. There is no way we have enough for tomorrow's booth without doing a bunch of transfers from other troops today.

I am hearing... Addie beginning to stir.

Around the house... clutter.

One of my favorite things... Lemonades and Thanks-a-lots. I think those are my two favorite Girl Scout cookies this year.

 A few plans for the rest of the week.... go out on a date with my husband on Wednesday if we can get Addie well by then.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... my poor little sick baby. This is how energized she is after a four hour nap.

 
 
    To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook. 

Too Many Cookies, Too Little Blogging

It's February. <Sigh> Most people think Valentine's Day, snow, skiing, or Leap Year when they think of February. In the House of Estrogen, February means one thing... Girl Scout cookies.

It means firemen losing their fire station for a day,

 

trucks parked outside, gear hanging on hooks,

 

so that 9000+ cases of Girl Scout cookies could take over the fire house.

 

Aren't firemen the best?  Not only do they fight fires, save people from burning buildings, and rescue kitties from trees, but they load Girl Scout cookies too! 

 

February means our cars no longer fit in the garage.

 

February means our weekends are spent delivering cookies

 
 

or working at cookie booths.

 

February definitely does NOT mean blogging. When the cookies are gone, and my life is returned to me, I'll be back. In the meantime, let me know when you are running low on Thin Mints... I've got you covered.

 

 

I Just Called to Say I Love You

Elise's teacher from last year stopped her in the hall recently and asked, "So Elise, how are you going to top the iPod Valentines from last year?"  The answer is obvious, right? What's better than an iPod? An iPhone, of course!

 

Aren't these fun? I'd love to take credit as the creative mind behind these, but I can only claim the printing, cutting, taping, and gluing. Amy over at Living Locurto designed these bad boys and provided a free printable! (Click on that link to check out her pictures... they are so much better than mine. I had the wrong lens on my camera for this sort of picture.)

 

Anyway, when I saw these on her website, I thought to myself, "I don't have enough going on right now between work and Girl Scout cookie sales, I still have all that free time between midnight to 2 a.m. We definitely need to make homemade Valentines this year."  That, my friends, is how I found myself with a paper cutter and a stack of candy hearts in front of the TV at midnight the night before Valentine's Day. Awesome.

 

I was pretty sure iPods wouldn't have the same wow factor with the preschool set that they did at the elementary school. I needed to do something different for Addison, so I took this picture just before the sun went down on Feb. 13,

 

added some text, printed a bunch, and stuck lollipops through them. Voila - Valentines! Cute, eh?

 

No, those weren't my idea either... just another inspiration taken from the Internet. I love that my Google skills can make me look like one of those creative, crafty moms. I mean who comes up with that - sticking the lollipop right through the hand in the photograph? So simple, yet so fun!

I hope all of you had a nice Valentine's Day and got a little more sleep than I did!

Simple Woman's Daybook, Valentine's Day, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... it feels like spring! I wore my flip flops today, and my spirits were lifted!

  I am thinking... that the plan of "I won't get a cart at Target, so that I'm limited to buying what I can carry" is futile. It just meant I carried around way too much stuff until I was dropping everything and had to walk up to the front to get a cart.

I am thankful for... the spring weather. I really needed it.

From the kitchen... burgers from the grill, chips, dip, veggies, more dip, and margaritas! My grill was so happy to see me. If you see me dancing around on the deck singing love songs to my grill, just leave me alone in my happy place.

I am creating... just a couple blog posts.

I am going... to have words with the school transportation department tomorrow. Elise called me this afternoon an HOUR after school had released to ask me to come pick them up. Their bus had not arrived yet, and they weren't expecting it for a half hour. What the &$*#@?

I am reading... there is something quite telling and sadly ironic that I can't seem to finish a book called, "Getting Things Done."

I am hoping... to get to Whole Foods tomorrow to buy some lip balm. My lips are horribly chapped right now, and I get allergic reactions to Chap Stick, Blistex, Carmex, Burt's Bee's, and just about every other major brand of lip balm. Whole Foods carries the only one I've found that I can use, and I am out right now which means my poor lips are suffering.

I am hearing... Mario Kart. I bought it as a family gift for Valentine's Day. It seems to be a hit so far.

Around the house... Girl Scout cookies. You can just assume this answer won't change for the next month. 

One of my favorite things... Bath and Body Works lavender vanilla bath salts. My mother-in-law has bought them for me the last few years for Christmas, and I love them.

 A few plans for the rest of the week.... count cookies, pick up cookies, count more cookies, count money, deliver cookies, count cookies, eat cookies, and count a few more cookies.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Nina used my camera on Saturday to take some pictures of Addie playing soccer. Most were too blurry to be salvageable, but this was one of the better ones.

 
 

    To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook. 

Letter to Nina, 7 years

Dear Nina,

Happy (belated) seventh birthday! It seems with every birthday, you come out of your shell more and more. Gone are the days that you would stand on the sidelines of any activity for what seemed like an eternity before getting brave enough to join. I think elementary school has pulled some of that shyness and hesitation out of you. You seem so much more self-assured and outgoing now. I've loved watching the transformation.

 

I think I comment about your fashion sense in nearly every letter to you which may seem shallow or unimportant, but it is just such a part of who you are. You never leave the house without first accessorizing yourself from head to toe with necklaces, bracelets, hair clips, pins, scarves, belts, boleros, and boots. It is such a treat to see your choices each day.  I've gotten much more relaxed about letting you out of the house the way YOU want to be dressed. It is such a fundamental way that you express yourself. Your fingernails and toenails are always painted in shades of purple, blue, green, or hot pink. For your birthday, you only asked for three things: "diamonds, rubies, and pearls."  At least you have good taste in jewels!

 

You are currently trying to grow out your bangs. I'm so tired of seeing your hair in your face, but you are quite adamant about "long hair and no bangs." When you get your mind set on something, there is no changing it. You are stubborn, persistent, and unwavering in your decisions.  You'll be a strong woman one day.

 

Despite your initial enthusiasm with jump rope, in the last month or two, you have not been excited about the single rope part of class. You went so far as to fake an injury one week to get out of single rope. You whined, moaned, and complained about your ankle while sitting on the sidelines for the first thirty minutes of class. I was 90% sure you were either faking it or blowing a minor injury out of proportion, but nothing the coach or I would say could get you out there. I finally asked, "Are you going to jump when double dutch starts?" You said yes, and the minute the class switched over to double dutch, you were miraculously healed and jumped right in.  We decided together that it was time for a break from jump rope. You still jump quite a bit at home though, so I hope that one day you'll go back to lessons.

Your current favorite activity is playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the Wii with your dad. It certainly isn't the most educational, athletic, or creative endeavor you could have chosen, but the two of you have so much fun together. I think it is good for the middle child in you to have that special bonding time with your dad. It is hard competing to be "Daddy's little girl" with two other little girls in the family.

Your relationship with Elise is the same as always - best friends one minute, pushing buttons and fighting the next. Day to day, we never know what to expect from the two of you. You definitely seem to live at the extremes. I see glimpses of the kind of best friends you could be as adults though, so I have my fingers crossed for the future. With Addison, you have more of the good times, but the sibling rivalry with her is definitely beginning to rear its ugly head. I guess now that she is three, you have decided she is fair game for tormenting.

  

Nina, you have an infectious smile and laugh. You are growing up fast, but I am enjoying the ride. Keep being you!

 

Love,

Mama

 

Simple Woman's Daybook, February 7, 2011

 

For Today...

Outside my window... a nice sunny day.... a great break from the rain and gloom.

  I am thinking... that if I had a personal trainer like all those skinny-minnies in Hollywood, I could have a rockin' bod too. I had one of my "Leanest Loser" training sessions this morning, and she worked my butt off! Now I just need to grow a money tree, so I can hire a personal trainer to come get me out of bed every morning and force me to work out.

I am thankful for... having Mondays off work.

From the kitchen... pig. Nina has been in tears over not having pig the last two nights, so tonight will be pig. She was grocery shopping with me on Saturday and said, "Mom, I want some pig." We picked out a ham, and I said we would have it one night for dinner. Saturday night, I made poached salmon. Nina saw it, went to the fridge, and got out her pig. I said, "What are you doing? We're having salmon tonight." She burst into tears saying, "But we bought pig! I thought we were going to have pig tonight!"  I calmed her down, told her to try the salmon, and assured her that we would have pig the next night. Then Sunday rolled around and due to a no-show at a cookie booth, I was stuck on my feet working a booth for 3 hours. I was exhausted when we finally got home and wanted nothing to do with the kitchen. We decided to go out for Mexican to indulge my need for a frozen margarita. Nina again melted into a puddle of tears with, "But you PROMISED me we would have pig tonight!!"  Sigh.  I suppose I had, but really... I just couldn't face cooking anything. Tonight, I have no excuse. Nina will get her pig, and all will be right with the world.

I am creating... Nina's seven year birthday letter (a little belatedly), Valentine's cards with the girls, and balanced cookie spreadsheets.

I am going... to be sore tomorrow. The trainer had me working out on the rower today, and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to move tomorrow.

I am reading... nothing unless it relates to Girl Scout cookies.  Don't you wish you were me?

I am hoping... that I have enough cookies for our booths this weekend. We sold 698 boxes at booths this past weekend, and I just have 520 boxes stashed away for this coming weekend.

I am hearing... birds chirping.

Around the house... Girl Scout cookie paperwork. 

One of my favorite things... Nina's snaggletooth look right now with the single remaining top tooth in the middle of her mouth. She just looks so cute - in a seven-year-old-losing-her-teeth sort of way!

 A few plans for the rest of the week.... try to get some sleep despite it being cookie season.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Daddy's little off-roading biker

 
 

 
    To read more Daybook posts or learn how to participate, visit The Simple Woman's Daybook.