Where the Heck is Matt?

A friend of mine had this on her blog and I just absolutely loved it.

Who is this guy, and how do I get to go to all theses places? he definitely seems to be enjoying his time out in the world and others are enjoying it with him. Wow!

Addicted

DD10 asked if she could get a Webkinz toy. I told her she could if she spent her own allowance money. She got a panda (of course) and...since I was on Books-A-Million.com buying one anyway, and since they looked so cute, and so I could be assured that everything was safe and what-not, I bought one for myself.

Now I have two and I have spent WAY too much time at the website playing games and buying little virtual toys for the little virtual animals.

Unbelievable!

DH is about ready to cut off the internet access; I can tell. I need to try to ration my time better.

Happy Birthday, Ginny!

We had Ginny's birthday party this afternoon, just one day late. She got a ball from Susan (DD10's doll), a stuffed bunny from Alice (DD9's doll), a beret from my doll Kit, a poncho from my Molly, and a hand bag from Samantha. Felicity also came, but did not bring a gift.

We had a good time eating a cake baked by DD10 (strawberry with white frosting) and drank water 9both refreshing and because the girls are grounded from anything else for a week)

It was fun. I'm glad it's done.

Cleaning Machine

I have the feeling I am not the girls' favorite person right now. I am sure they wish I would go back to doing my own thing (usually surfing the web) and stop giving them chores to do. The fact that I am doing chores too makes it harder for them to slack off.

It started when I decided to help DD10 out with the laundry (her normal daily chore) by starting a load before she got up. The laundry room (a place I never go) looked like a disaster area! So, I got to work on that and that got me in the mood to see to it that more of the house got cleaned. Oddly enough it did not get me steaming screaming angry. I am sure DD10 wishes I would just yell at her and be done, but I had a better idea.

First off, she has to clean the downstairs bathroom. She said she would rather do the laundry (now a Mommy daily job) I said she should have thought about that before.

Secondly, she cannot play with the webkins she ordered last Friday until I have the laundry caught up. So, that is in my hands. I don't plan to slack off the laundry just to lengthen her sentence. But the hole I am digging out of is of HER doing.

I suppose I could have said SHE had to do the laundry and that she could have her webkin once SHE had it caught up. But I told her that I was pretty sure she would cheat and cut corners and do a terrible job to get it done fast enough. She can't be trusted with a chore right now.

So, instead of a regular daily chore she gets a variable daily chore. Whatever needs doing for that day that doesn't already have a person assigned she gets it. She said she didn't mind that so much, since she pretty much got those anyway. (Actually, I spread those around, so she might get more than she thinks.)

I got the kitchen cleaned up nicely by taking matters into my own hands. The laundry is going well. I am going to tackle some more "been here since we moved in" piles a little later. Maybe in the sunroom. Right now my ankle hurts and I am going to put my brace on.

DD7 is cleaning her disaster of a room. She has already been caught once just playing. I had to remind her that she could not come out until it was done and playing made that take longer. She isn't sulky about it. She actually looked like she had forgotten why she was in there.

DD9 cleaned her room already, helped me with the laundry, swept the kitchen floor, and loaded the dishwasher. Weird

Oops, dryer has stopped. Time for me to go back to housework funland.

Here is a picture of my DD9 (age 3 at the time) getting her bottom spanked by a peacock.

How could I have forgotten?!

Well, it is a good thing my girls have good memories! *sigh* I almost forgot that June 16th is Ginny's (my DD7 American Girl doll) 8th birthday. What horror! But, since DD7 remembered, that tragedy is narrowly averted and I can spend the next 2 days planning a birthday party for a doll. What joy

All sarcasm aside, I think we'll have fun. I'll be sure to take pictures.

DD said Ginny wants a butterfly party. Of course this is mere days after I deleted images and such from 2 years ago when DD herself had a butterfly party. Well, we'll get decorations from somewhere. I think I can convince the girls to draw butterflies. ;)

Allergies

So, well, I was taking some Tylenol Allergy/Sinus in preparation for being outside this afternoon. DD7 came up behind me.

"Momma, do you think I will need medicine like that?"
Well, I don't know sweetie. I don't remember you ever having trouble with allergies before.

"Well, one day I did hiccup a lot."

Why does she wait until I have a drink in my mouth to say these things?! I almost spewed generic Pepsi all over the keyboard!

Skating

The girls and I went skating yesterday. It was a birthday party for a couple of girls in our home school group.

The young'uns had a great time. I even got out on the floor for one time around. There is no photographic evidence of it, though, thank goodness. One of the perks of being behind the camera.

Now accepting your ideas...

I am in the mood to actually get moving on one of my One of a Kind Barbies. BUT, I have no doll hair for a re-root, nor do I have medium extender to properly thin the acrylic paint for a facial re-paint. So, I can use a face that still has factory paint and try to get creative about the hair.

Any ideas? Polyester pillow fluff, glued on or poked into the holes? Cross stitch thread? Yarn that is subsequently brushed to make it no longer look like yarn? Pine needles? Copper wire?

I am interested in seeing how copper wire turns out. I'll have to see if we have any spare wire around the house, the kind that has many small copper strands inside the insulation.

What else might I make hair on a Barbie out of? Even if it sounds weird. I am trying to think of things I have around the house, so I don't have to go shopping or wait for an internet order to arrive.

Here is a picture of one of the heads I might choose from.

Though there will be no paint.

Lawn is mowed

Our lawn no longer looks like there could be a car hiding in the grass.

I paid a friend's son to come and mow it. It all worked out nicely. I got to have some grown-up friends time while the girls got to play with their friends. There was chatting time here, time at the park, home school support group planning talk time, lemonade...

It was a good day. I wonder how soon I can legitimately wait before I pay him to mow again, a week, two? I can't wait.

Here is a picture from another good day. July 4 2007. DD9 is finishing off the last of her smore.