I hate my bathroom...

I worked a little on removing wallpaper again tonight. Things went just fine. I'm back to using water and vinegar to remove and it's happening slowly but surely. I had been worried about getting all the paper off from behind the toilet, but I took the lid off the top and was able to reach it all - yay!

...

...

...

But when I cleaned up I dropped the toilet tank lid. It shattered into a billion pieces and left a tear in the linoleum.

Thank you, Audrey

The girls and I follow a pretty predictable schedule. Wednesday starts off with story hour at the library and is almost always followed by a trip to Publix. I pulled into the parking lot of the library and realized that I had committed a major mommy sin.

I left the house without an extra diaper.

We enjoyed our library Easter Egg Hunt and spent some time with friends there. Then, as we were checking out our choices for the week, I smelled it. I wasn't surprised. Audrey's pretty "regular" and changing her diaper while we're at the library happens 3 out of 4 trips. But this time I had no diaper! I could have asked someone else for one - but I was rather embarrassed. Plus, the people there that I know best don't have children in diapers anymore. There is one mom that I wouldn't mind asking that has a child in diapers, but he's a newborn. Audrey wears a size 4. Size 1/newborn would never fit!

So... I shuffled the girls into the bathroom and checked out the situation hoping that I could just flush the stinky stuff. I realized quickly that wasn't an option. After a few minutes of trying a few different things (of which I won't go into detail) I finally pulled out a disposable changing pad out of the diaper bag. Thank goodness it was in there! I folded it in half and positioned it on her diaper area and then pulled her pants up. Since Audrey was in jeans (heavier than most other pants/shorts) everything looked normal!

Most mommies would then hightail it back to the house.

I'm not most mommies.

Most mommies would go ahead to Publix but buy diapers ASAP to change the child.

I'm not most mommies.

I decided to risk it, and we hit up Publix and Walgreens with Audrey not wearing a diaper. Was that a stupid decision? Probably, but I just didn't want to have to drive back into town later, nor did I want to have to pay retail for some Huggies! Fortunately, she stayed dry. Thank you, Audrey!

A new goal

So...
I've been dewallpapering our bathrooms. The girls' bath is finished. Taking the wallpaper off in there was easy and (dare I say) fun. I used a vinegar/water solution that made the room stink but that took the wallpaper off by the yard - no scraper (for the most part) necessary!

But that was then...

...and this is now.

The wallpaper in the master bath is not fun to remove because it has NOT been EASY. Wallpaper removal now feels like work. I started off using the same vinegar/water solution at room temp that I used in the girls' bath. It didn't work well. I decided to make sure the solution was hot/warm and actually WAIT before working. That didn't work well either. Then, I went to just room temp water. This worked.... ok. It was slow going, but it was halfway getting the job done.

We found out that Meme and Pop are coming to visit again next weekend. I told them that my goal was to have the master bath completed by the time they arrived. During the conversation with them, Meme reminded me that we had seen a suggestion online about using a Fabric Softener/water solution to take off wallpaper. Monday night, I decided to try it out. I grabbed some Snuggle and got to work.

Did the Fabric Softener solution make things easier?

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

NO

NO WAY

NOT AT ALL

Fabric Softener did not make it easy to remove wallpaper. In fact, it was (BY FAR!!) worse than anything else I have tried. Plus, the smell was bad. Alot of Snuggle squirted in your bathroom DOES NOT smell like Fresh Rain. Instead, it smells like sweet chemicals. Bleh...

Since it's been slow going, I do not think I'm going to be able to have the room completed by the time Meme and Pop get here. My goal now is to have the wallpaper completely off by Thursday night, and to spackle Friday. When Meme and Pop come Saturday - the spackle should be dry and I (we????) can sand and finally paint!

Julia's joke

Julia has a joke now! A funny one!
The 4 of us were sitting around talking to Pop on the phone this weekend when Julia busted out with this:

What goes up when rain comes down?

I don't know - what??

An Umbrella!!!

That's funny! Where did you hear that??

I made it up

(pause)

Plus it was on Dora.

Sick little Julia :(

Last night, around 11:15, Matt heard Julia coughing. He went into her room to check on her, and the next thing I heard was "OH!!!" I jumped up and ran to see what was wrong but was met in the hall by Matt and Julia rushing to the bathroom. She was throwing up. EWWWWW!

After she finished her episode we cleaned up her face, brushed her teeth, and put her hair in a ponytail (just in case!) Matt put a few layers of plastic grocery bags in a bucket and settled Julia and the bucket in our room to watch TV while he and I cleaned up.

When I walked in her room to strip her bed, I was reminded that the child had drunk red Kool-Aid at dinner. We NEVER have Kool-Aid in the house. Why, oh why, did we have to have it that night??? Anyways, there was dark pink throw up everywhere!

Sheets? check
Pillows? check
Comforter? check
Bedskirt? check
Floor? check

I stripped the bed, started a load of laundry, and grabbed the LYSOL! Matt grabbed the Resolve and got to working on the floor.

Julia continued to get sick every 20-25 minutes for the next 3 hours or so. I covered the bed sheets and pillows with towels so that if she got sick there would be less chance for her to mess up my sheets too! This wound up being a smart decision! Eventually, she started feeling a little better and I asked her if she wanted a cracker to eat. She said "yes" and got off the bed to go in the kitchen. I stopped her and told her she needed to eat in the bed. "WHAT??" She thought it was pretty funny that I commanded her to eat crackers (and consequently leave alot of crumbs) in my bed.

During the time in between Julia's episodes, I got to worrying (imagine that!) about Audrey. What if she got sick too?? The poor child would be scared out of her mind! And what if she was sleeping on her back when she got sick????? SO... I dug out a baby monitor and snuck into Audrey's room to set it up. Am I paranoid? yes.

Julia's stomach finally settled down in the 2 o'clock hour and the 3 of us fell asleep around 3. This morning, Julia's been JUST FINE!!! YAY! We did not go to church this morning even though Julia's acting better than ever. We slept in as much as the girls would allow us, enjoyed a lively breakfast as a family, and then gave Julia a much needed bath!

This & That Thursday

* Matt was talking about his latest class. He said, "This class covers the doctrine of God and the doctrine of scripture; it doesn't even touch Jesus." Julia was apparently listening in b/c she quickly responded, "Of course you can't touch Jesus. You can't get into your heart!" Theology from a 4 year old...

* Audrey's latest phrase is "Audra's turn!" She said this over and OVER last weekend in reference to getting to pick which DVD to watch in the car. We found out quickly that she wasn't 100% sure of the meaning. If Julia chose the movie, Audrey would freak out and with teary eyes moan, "Audra's turn!" We would say, "Yes, it's Audrey's turn, " and she'd be perfectly fine... even if the movie was still one that Julia chose. Audrey just wanted it to be said that it was her turn.

* Tuesday, I successfully refilled my ink printer cartridge all by myself. Woo hoo! I'd never tried that before! At least I hope I was successful. As soon as I type that this was a success my printer will probably explode.

* This whole wheat pasta that I've been buying ($.15 per box) is actually pretty good! None of us have minded the switch.

* I've been getting hand-me-downs out of boxes for Audrey's summer wear. She also has a few new items thanks to her grandparents. I wish I were joking when I say that she has NO LESS than 2 dozen choices for her summer Sunday mornings. I think I'll go through everything and give some of those hand-me-downs to Goodwill.

* Tonight is Pajama Party Movie Night - we're watching Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas.

* After a weeklong reprieve from wallpapering (partially b/c of our trip and partially b/c of laziness) I'm now finished spackling and sanding and am ready to paint the girl's bath! YAY!

* As I type this, Matt and the girls are listening to Michael Jackson and moonwalking around the living room.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Beach pics

Here are some pictures from our weekend. We did have a nice sunny time at the beach Friday morning. It was even warm enough for the girls to wear their swimsuits, but I didn't get any pictures from then. I assumed we'd have another swimsuit day later on. I was wrong. We still had plenty of fun though!




Please do not think that I favor Audrey! I would have loved to have more pictures of Julia, but she wasn't up for that!


Pictures from our beach picnic that I mentioned yesterday...

Picnic on the Beach

After all our church stuff was over this afternoon, Matt and I took the girls back to the cabin to rest/nap. We had been hoping to head to the beach for playtime, but the weather turned cold. Instead we opted to pack a picnic and eat dinner by the water. As soon as we got everything and everybody ready to go we opened the cabin doors and noticed that the clear blue skies had turned overcast. We were extra chilly now, but decided that we needed to take advantage of the beach while we were here.

As we took our sandals off and started walking on the cold sand, we realized that sitting on towels right by the water was not going to happen. It was way too cold for that! Instead, we ran to some nearby covered chairs to sit in. The covering wasn't the typical umbrella that most condo's put on their chairs. It was more like a hood, and it created a half-tent for all 4 of us to comfortably sit in. We weren't guests in the condo that provided these chairs, but since there was literally NO ONE else within sight on the sand we didn't feel bad about using one.

Our picnic was entertaining. We were (mostly) sheltered from the wind and kept pretty warm except when the girls insisted on moving around. As soon as we would get snug, the girls would shuffle between me and Matt or they'd take a break from eating to go chase the seagulls for approximately 7.5 seconds. The 4 of us ate, laughed, and made plenty of silly face pictures - which I'll post when we get home!

This & That Thursday

* Today, we're heading to (even) Lower AL for a church related weekend. This is a preliminary visit, but we're excited about learning a little more about this ministry. We're also excited b/c one of the church members is letting us stay at their beach house for the weekend. We'll obviously be spending plenty of time with church stuff, but there will also be time for PLAY!

* We're going to be gone from Thursday to Monday. Packing has been rather fun.
Not really.
I think everything, Everything, EVERYTHING needs to go with us; Matt doesn't feel the same way. Occassionally this causes a little friction! :) Isn't it obvious that the girls each need play chilly clothes, play warm clothes, nice chilly clothes, and nice warm clothes for each day that we're there?? Not to mention shoes, pj's, and HAIRBOWS!!!!

* If you read this often, you know that I'm frugal... cheap... a tightwad - whatever! This has really come to light this week as we prepare for our beach house trip. Sane people would plan on doing a light grocery shopping trip when they reached their destination. I, however, have become (what is affectionately?? termed in our house) a couponazi. The idea of going into a grocery store blind to pick up 4days worth of groceries/paper goods freaks me out. Seriously- I'm not kidding, just the idea of that causes stress. SO... we've got BAGS of groceries going PLUS a cooler. thankyouverymuch!

Other happenings this week...
* Our Blockbuster month long free membership is over, BUT Redbox had free rentals for St. Patrick's Day. I watched The Time Traveler's Wife (ehhh) and the girls got to watch Disney's The Princess and The Frog. "The Princess and the Frog" is set in New Orleans - Audrey LOVED all the jazz music. She was bopping around like crazy.

* We're still doing ok reguarding our plumbing. Thank Goodness!

* Matt's mom brought us gnocchi when she visited last week. I'd never eaten it before and certainly had no idea how to serve it. So, while searching for side items the other day I decided to serve the gnocchi mixed with a canned tomato sauce. I thought the concoction tasted ok, but my girls SCARFED that stuff down!!!!!!!!!!! Audrey ate 4 helpings. wow! Thanks JK!

* I think that's about all for now! Keep us in your prayers as we travel and as Matt and the committee talk.

In honor of Amy K...

Since Matt's sister is so very fond of my couponing posts, I felt that I must share this week's Publix trip with blogworld...

We had a pretty good visit today. Before Publix, I stopped by Chick-Fil-A. Our CFA was giving out free sandwiches for those wearing green. Yes, I got the girls OUT of the car to walk inside CFA, order sandwiches (sans pickles off course!) and leave immediately! They didn't even protest not getting to play on the playground - Thanks Girlies!

Anyways...

We get to Publix and the girls start chowing down. During our shopping trip, they had their sandwiches (partially eaten), a cookie (Publix bakery gives each child a free cookie!), a sample of apple turnover, a sample of oranges, and a sucker. I also had an apple in my bag, but we never had to bother with that. I'm writing all this to say that with so much food in front of them to eat, the usual grocery store whining was NOT an issue at all! Wow! Fabulous.

Allright, this is for you Amy K!


$18.18 (tax included) bought me:
5 bags chicken nuggets/tenders
1 dozen eggs
2 pints sour cream
12 Yoplait yogurts cups
4 Taco Bell dinners
1 McCormick grinder
1 box Krusteaz cookie mix
2 boxes Uncles Bens rice
2 lbs Muellers spaghetti
2 boxes Fruit Loops
2 packages Lance crackers
1 32 load All detergent
1 lb Strawberries
1.3 lbs bananas

Happy Birthday, Mammy!

Happy Birthday to my MOM! We love you!

We called the Man!

Yesterday, Matt's shower backed up for the 3rd time in a week, and this time we never could get it unclogged. After 7 days of dealing with plumbing issues we finally "called the man."



So far, a drain cleaning has our pipes working ok. We've showered, flushed toilets, and the dishwasher is currently running. I'm really hoping that this fixed the problem. The next step would be pumping out the septic tank.

I've been shopping!

I've done alot of shopping in the past 24 hours. Sounds kind of odd considering our family's current situation... but as you know I'm pretty savvy! I ordered a few things from 2 stores online... using giftcards and free shipping promos of course! Total out of pocket cost for these internet orders = $0!

This afternoon, Julia and I went shopping together. We had a few birthday items of hers and Audrey's to return/exchange. We bought mostly clothes. Total out of pocket for our trip: $0!

After clothes shopping, Julia and I hit up Publix and Walgreens. I spent $3.96 at Walgreens, but I got $4 Register Rewards back so I was ok with ALL that out of pocket money. Especially since part of my purchase was for a newspaper... more coupons for me!


As for Publix... I spent $1.90 (tax included) and got this:

The milk alone is worth more than $1.90! Thanks for sharing my shopping excitement! I need to go thaw some chicken - Matt and Julia requested homemade chicken nuggets tonight!

Taking down wallpaper - AHHH!

OK! I uncovered a problem while dewallpapering tonight.

I didn't do this, I PROMISE!!!! This was already under the wallpaper - seriously! I've been careful, and things have been easy so far.

See?? Easy.

Since my blog is read by so many "Mrs./Mr. Fix-it's"...
Do I use spackle to fix this?? I was hoping I'd be able to achieve a nice smooth finish by just sanding and NO spackling. (Aren't you a little proud of me for actually using terms like this?? If not, you should be! Home improvement projects are NOT my forte!) I'm going to have to actually spend some time on the HOME DEPOT website in order to figure this out!!!!

This & That Thursday

* Meme and Pop (Matt's parents) headed home this morning. They came to town LATE Friday night to join in on our birthday celebrations this week. Jimmie Kay encouraged me to go ahead and start a bathroom painting project that I've wanted to do for months. What kept me from doing this project was that before I could paint the bathrooms, I'm having to remove wallpaper. JK and I got to going on this project, and it is going easier that I expected! YAY! What a nice way for me to welcome guests in my home... start tearing up the bathroom that they are using!

* This week, Matt and Danny (his dad) replaced a rotted belt in my Jeep, slowed down my Jeeps' antifreeze leak, fixed a hole in the master bath, AND fixed a clog problem we had with our drains. Tuesday, the master shower started backing up like crazy! YUCK! Of course, showers backing up are better than toilets... I'm glad Matt had someone around to help him with this issue.

* I spent just under $25 at Publix this morning, and I'm mad at myself for spending so much.

* Audrey's latest complete thought, "Mean girl, be nice!" She is watching 101 Dalmations.

* I've been reading some Karen Kingsbury books lately that I've enjoyed. It's been nice for me to read something that I enjoy (i.e. FICTION!!!) that doesn't tend to get too trashy. Any other Christian or just plain 'clean' authors you all would suggest?

Audrey's Birthday!

After taking Meme and Pop with us to the library for Preschool story hour, we went home for lunch and a nap. When Audrey woke from her nap we were ready for a birthday celebration. Dear Audrey wasn't really sure what to think of us and our excitement and she just made this face for the first 5 or so minutes.


Eventually, she stopped making faces and we began opening presents.



Audrey was able to blow out the candles on her cookie cake All By Herself!!


mmmmm... delicious!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Audrey!!!

March 10, 2008

March 10, 2009

March 10, 2010

Check out Matt's blog about Audrey!

Julia's Birthday!

We opened presents... Julia very generously allowed Audrey to help her open presents!


We ate Dora cake...mmmmm!!


Then, we went outside to play and eat some more! We roasted hotdogs for dinner and then made 'smores for dessert. Yes, I do realize that Julia conned us into providing her 2 desserts (cake AND'smores) in one day! Ehhh, a girl only turns 4 once!

Happy 4th Birthday, Julia!

March 7, 2006

March 7. 2007

March 7, 2008

March 7, 2009

March 7, 2010

Link to Matt's

Matt wrote a blog post today about Julia. I thought I'd share. There's just something about a Daddy writing about his daughter...
Happy Friday!

This & That Thursday

* The birthday cake (Julia) and birthday cookie (Audrey) have been ordered! We've also finished birthday shopping for them. Our house will be fun, fun this week with celebrations!

* Matt can be a great help around the house. He folded a bunch of laundrey while I was out today, and he regularly helps with dinner. If he's not actually helping MAKE dinner then he's usually entertaining the girls so I can cook in peace. :) He also fixes the girls bed pretty much every day (making beds is something I do NOT care about!) The only chore he HAS NOT mastered is the fine art of changing the toilet paper roll.

* Our Blockbuster selections this week have centered around the Berenstain Bears videos. I did get to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button!

* The girls helped me make cornbread Monday.


* Matt thinks that Julia and I have synchronized hormonal changes. In his opinion, we get crazy on the same days.

* The girls walked into the children's area at the library Wednesday and came face-to-face with a German shepherd. "Kayla" is a nursing home/rehabilitation dog that came to visit the preschool story hour. Neither of my kids would touch her.

* We discovered that the girls both prefer the middle of the oreo...


* Matt suggested I make homemade chicken nuggets Tuesday night. I'd forgotten, but he said I'd made them before. My nuggets must have been good, b/c the girls actually ate their meat. Yes... both of them... at the same meal... ate meat! Julia's already requesting that I make them again.

* We've been taking more and more baby items to consignment/goodwill. I might not actually WANT to get rid of it all, but we are running out of room for all of our STUFF.

* Audrey can now open the refrigerator door. I don't like that.

* I got excited last week and ordered Audrey some big girl panties from Children's Place - clearance AND free shipping made them cheaper than Walmart/Fruit of the Loom! She loves wearing them OVER her diaper, but she wouldn't stop moving to let me take a picture.

Saving more money!!

I can already feel Matt rolling his eyes as he reads this post... but I'm excited and I want to share!

My coupon deals for March have started off with a bang! YAY!

Here is what the girls and I picked up yesterday at Walgreens:

total cost: $1.58 (tax INcluded!)
I needed this trip since we were about out of adult toothpaste!

This mornings trip to Publix was also very successful:


4 boxes Honey Bunches of Oats
1 gallon milk
1 bag Oreos
2 Green Giant Steamers vegetables
5 Johnson & Johnson Travel First Aid Kits
2 bottles Sundown Vitamin D
total cost: $2.92 (tax INcluded!)

I don't think we have never had Oreo's in the house before; Julia and Audrey will be thrilled when they realize what that blue bag has in it! As for the rather odd purchases of Travel size first aid kits and vitamin D... those were moneymakers for me. We'll definitely put the first aid kits to use (I won't have to buy bandaids for awhile!) but I'm not yet sure what to do with the Vitamin D.