Month: April 2007 (Page 2 of 3)

You probably didn’t know it, but I love tulips.

I may have mentioned it once or twice. I love the way my yard looks right now with lots of tulips that didn’t get eaten by deer. So, when Brecks sends me a catalog that says “FREE $25.00 worth of quality bulbs from Brecks” I take a look at the catalog instead of chucking it into the trash. And then I pick out the “Don Quichotte Tulip Super Sak” for $29.99 for 50 bulbs, apply the coupon, and then only have to pay $5. The shipping is a little hefty ($8!), but I’m still ordering.

So, if you love tulips like me (or other bulbs–they have other bulbs, too!) you might want to take a look at Brecks.com. You can try coupon code “7131332” or it says just mention the coupon if you call in an order. And if you really don’t want any bulbs, you can just order them and give them to me. I’ll happily plant them in your name in my flower bed.

I was feeling like such a failure mom for my lack of doing anything productive yesterday.  You see, I had a massive headache (somehow related to that time of month.  Now instead of cramps I get mini-migranes and backaches) that 6 tylenol, 2 advil, a diet coke, a diet dr. pepper and a nap couldn’t cure.  So I didn’t get hardly anything done.  As I went to bed and was berating myself for being such a slacker, I realized that I did get a few things done, even in my pain filled state.

(In no particular order) I….

got the kids ready for school,

took the taxes to the post office so they would be mailed in time,

took John to preschool,

helped John “use” the potty 3 times.  And one of those times he actually did pee “in the potty”.  That using of the potty promted an unscheduled cleaning of said bathroom, and the mopping of the floor.  As I recall, it takes a while for little boys to develop aim with those things.  Shortly after he did use the potty, I got a whiff of him with a poopy pull-up.  When I said, John, are you stinky?  He ran screaming, “No, I’m NOT stinky!  Don’t change me!”  Oh the joys.

went to the bank to deposit some checks,

delivered 3 jewelry orders from a party I held a couple of weeks ago,

unloaded and loaded the dishwasher,

made lunch for John and Jenna,

put a load of laundry in the wash,

sent 3 kids over to pottery so they could finish projects started last summer,

took Natalie to choir,

read about 100 pages in a book that I had to get finished for book club this week (I think if I had taken a nap here instead of reading every free moment it would have helped the headache, but I just had to finish this book!),

heated up soup for dinner (truly a slacker dinner, here)

folded some laundry (not enough, by any means, but I started)

helped 4 out of 5 kids bathe and wash their hair and cleaned their sinks and counters while I was in there,
sent the 4th kid to shower after scouts.

Not that impressive of a list for the whole day, but as I looked back on what I actually did get done, I felt a little bit better about my slacker day.  It wasn’t like I was trying to be a slacker, it just turned out that way.

Today is the beginning of Spring Break here, and the kids are already complaining that I had the audacity to ask them to clean up their rooms on their “day off”.  I’m hoping for cooperative kids and nice weather and no headache so we can go and do something fun.

Well, this is my 500th post, and I’d like to thank you for sticking around. For those of you who are new, I’m glad to have you here, too. Let’s look back at the history of this blog, which we lovingly call “superpaige’s pad”. I didn’t actually pick that name, if you must know. Ryan set up this blog for me (in fact he wrote the first post), and called it that. I thought maybe I would change the name to something cute and clever, but nothing ever came to me. And, since I am Superpaige, and this is my pad, I’ve kept it at that.

We started this blog journey back in June of 2005. A few of my friends had begun to blog, and, not wanting to be left out, talked to my ultra tech savy husband, and he set me up with one. I didn’t really know what I was doing (still don’t!) and I must say some of the posts were pretty boring. Unfortunately for all of us, not much has changed.

But what has changed is how many people I’ve “met”. A friend linked to an interesting blog she read, then after reading that one I linked to some other blogs on her blogroll, and now I have a bunch of interesting people I read about weekly. No, I don’t know most of them, but they seem like the kind of people I would get along with. I thought it was quite a complement when someone I don’t know in real life put me on her blogroll (thanks, Mel)! Wow!

The fun thing about blog relationships, is that if someone’s blog is boring you, you just close it and stop reading. Take it off your bookmarks. If only some real relationships could be like that.

It’s nice that more of my friends in real life are blogging, so I can catch up on what they are doing, even if they live far away. Although I must say, I wish some of them would post more often. Once a week? Not enough. I’m just saying. But maybe they live busier lives than me and don’t have the time or patience to update more often. I’ll just have to read it when I can, and then bug them in emails and on the phone. Which makes me wonder–what did I do with that extra time before I got into this whole blogging thing? Probably kept my house cleaner. Oh well. It’s a trade off.

So, thanks for sticking with me through the last 500 posts, and hopefully the content will improve in the next 500, and I’ll have more interesting things to talk about than my library fines.

This morning Cole had to be at the middle school at 6 am to go to the Region Band Competition.  6:00–ugh!  He had no trouble getting up that early, but I must say it was not good for me.  Once I took him, I should have gotten on the treadmill for an early exercise session, but that didn’t happen.  I climbed back in bed.

John came in shortly after that.  Yes, he’s still an early riser and comes in to our bed almost every morning around 6:30.  He snuggles up and holds my hair.  It’s kind of sweet. But does he have to get up so early?
Last night as I was doing some laundry, Megan was very excited to put all the stuff in and start the washer herself.  She said, “I LOVE doing laundry.  Can I wake up early and do some laundry?”  Knock yourself out, kid.  And when I got up, the dryer was actually going, so I guess she took the wash out and put it in the dryer.  Way to go Megan!

Speaking of Megan, I went to her soccer game last night.  It was about 39 degrees out, with nasty biting wind.  I got my coat, scarf, gloves on, and made Megan put on a long sleeved shirt under her soccer digs, along with gloves and pants (over her shorts).  She took the pants off when the ref was checking to make sure everyone had shin guards and no toe spikes, and never put them back on.  I was too cold and ended up staying in the car most of the game.  It was one of those parks where you pull up right next to the field, so I did actually watch most of the game, but didn’t get out of the car until the wind stopped howling.  What a nice supportive mother I am, right?  I can just hear Megan telling her friend.  “Yeah, my mom’s here, but she won’t get out of the car.  That’s how much of a wimp she is.”  Well, at least I took her there, right?

I filled up my van with gas yesterday at costco, and even there, where the gas is supposed to cost less than at the regular pumps, I paid $2.60 a gallon.  What is going on here?!  Why are we paying so much at the pump?  EEK!  Well, I figured that if I get 20 miles to the gallon (hopefully I get a few more on the freeway, but driving around town dropping off and picking up kids, 20 is probably all I get on average), then it costs me about 13 cents to drive a mile.  So, my drive home from Costco cost me 78 cents.  Cole asked me to pick him up from school, so as I’m driving, I’m figuring out in my head….it’s a mile and a half to school, times two, so that’s three miles, times that by 13 cents, and this drive is costing me 39 cents.  And then there’s the drive to dance lessons–42 cents; and the drive to choir–another 42 cents.  And don’t even get me started on how many times I drove up to Salt Lake last week–Arrg!  I feel like a taxi driver and I should keep a little jar in the van and make the kids pay me per mile.  Hey, that’s not a bad idea!

Last night as I was taking my son to scouts, I was singing along to Donny.  Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes… and my son says to me, “You should go on American Idol, Mom.”  I laughed.  “No, I can’t do that,” I said.

“But you should, Mom.  You’re a really good singer.” he said.

I won’t go into the thousands of reasons why I would not, could not try out for American Idol (which, no, I haven’t watched this week’s show yet), but I thought that was a very nice thing for my newly teenagerized son to say.  He’s a sweetie.  I must cherish these little moments for soon he will hate me.

Oh, and by the way, one of my favorite bloggers, Carmen, has started a new blog answering questions about how she lost 60 pounds in the last year.  She calls it the Elff diet, which stands for “eat less food, fatty”, or the kinder, gentler version, “eat less fatty foods”.  She is so funny, and has a realistic approach to weight loss.  Go on over and check her out, and let her inspire you.

I would write about my fabulous and extremely busy weekend, if I weren’t in a sugar coma.  And I think my house exploded.  It’s covered with colored easter grass and candy wrappers.  I’ll have to fill you in once I recover.