Such a Mean Mommy

I am such a mean mommy. Friday night I decided that I had enough.

Enough of what?

FIL bought Monk Man a humongous bag of candy a few months ago. Hubbs and I decided that it would be best if we put the bag of candy out of the reach of Monk Man. So the bag of candy ended up on top of the refrigerator.

The top of the refrigerator is our catch all for the things we don't want the kids to have access to. You would be amazed at the variety of stuff up there. Taken away toys, DVDs, candy, sheets of stickers.

Anyway, Monk Man has figured out that if he adjusts the computer chair to its highest seat setting and pushes it against the front of the refrigerator, he can climb up onto the counter and get stuff off the top of the refrigerator.

Every time my attention was directed at anything other than Monk Man, he was sneaking another piece of candy. So I took the whole bag of candy (what was left of it that is) and threw it all in the dumpster. Every last piece.

My reasons for doing so:
1) He has gotten in the habit of snacking all damn day. It is to the point that he wont eat ANYTHING I cook. All he wants is candy.
2) I have really shitty teeth. I have had problems with them my whole life. I spend more time at the dentist than a normal person. I am really worried that Monk Man has inherited my bad teeth genes. If he did, all the sugar that Monk Man eats is going to make the teeth rot out of his head. He already has some discoloration.
3) He will not take naps for me. I love my naps on the weekends. I am not human unless I get a nap at least 1 out of the 2 days. I am hoping that without all the sugar, he will nap with me.
4) On the rare occasion that I give in and buy him a piece of candy in the future, it will seem like a treat not something that is expected.

I really hope that I am doing the right thing.

But with my luck, when he is an adult I am going to find out that he is harboring some sort of twisted hatred towards me for throwing his candy away.

Another Earth?

I read this MSN.com article Earth's Twin. It was really interesting.

A quick summary: Scientists are really close (like 5 or so years) to finding a planet that is supposedly exactly like Earth. They have already found 3 "super Earths". Which basically means that the planets are bigger than our Earth but small enough to have mountains. Scientists have already found multiple Jupiters and Saturns and are close to having the technology to find smaller planets like Uranus and Neptune.



Taken from the article: "We are looking for twins of the Earth, analogs that walk and talk and smell like our own Earth," Marcy said during a telephone interview. He is currently looking for super-Earths using the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

Such a twin would be rocky, with a similar chemical composition to Earth, and would orbit within the habitable zone of its star.

The habitable zone defines the distance at which a planet must orbit from its star for liquid water to exist on its surface — not too hot like Venus, not too cold like Neptune or Pluto.

Astronomers have found planets orbiting pretty close to the habitable zone, but none so far within it.

"I suspect there are Earth-like planets with lakes and rivers and waterfalls and deep glacial gorges and that are spectacularly beautiful," Marcy said.

Finding a planet in the habitable zone is the first step toward finding alien life.

"When we say it's a habitable world, all we're doing is saying it potentially could hold life," Boss said. "To go beyond that to say, 'Here's a habitable world; is it inhabited,' then you need to start studying the atmosphere of the planet."
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Ok, science lesson over.



This seriously freaks me out. Maybe I have ready too many Stephen King or Dean Koonce stories and watched too many Sci-Fi movies. Maybe? Hell, probably.



I think we need to leave the other planets alone. Messing with "alien life" is only asking for problems. I don't see things turning out well.



Its like poking a strange dog through the fence. You might get bitten, you might not. It really isn't a chance that I am willing to take.



And for anyone who is thinking "Oh but we could use the other planet's natural resources", stop right there. Why even consider destroying another planet? We have done enough damage on our OWN planet.

Dumbass

Man convicted of murder in train derailment Article from msn.com

So this guy parked his SUV on the train tracks and tried to commit suicide. Well, instead of killing him, the only thing accomplished was wrecking 2 trains. Dude is still alive but the train wreck killed 11 passengers and injured 180. This week, he was convicted of murder as well as arson.
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I say GOOD! Dumbass.

Growing up in a railroader family and going on to marry a railroader, I learned VERY young about what happens if you mess with a train.

DON'T PARK ON TRAIN TRACKS! Ever. Please.

If you want to commit suicide, please, for other people's safety, don't use a train.

I consider it common sense but I guess some people are just stupid. shrug

I just had the strangest sense of dejavu

Weird. If I come back on here and say that the shop got robbed, the dejavu was real.

Just saying, watch the news.

Tact, My Family Lacks It

Well, 2 specific people lack it.

My Grandmother lacks tact and my little sister lacks tact as well. I love giving examples.
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I walked into my moms house Thursday morning and the first thing out of Grandma Vi's mouth was, "I hope your husband isn't in the part of Iowa that is having the tornado's".

Wait, huh? Ummm thanks Grandma.

Like I don't have enough shit to worry about. Its hard enough that Hubbs is gone. But honestly, he is 1300 miles away, what the hell can I do about tornado's.

Freaking THINK before you open your mouth.
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When I was picking up Monk Man and Bobblehead on Wednesday, Grandma Vi was visiting with a long time family friend, Mrs. B.

Mrs. B. has known us since forever and is probably one of the nicest ladies in the world.

Mrs. B. brought gifts for Bobblehead and for KKs baby.

I took Bobbleheads gift, opened it, gushed about how cute the clothes were and thanked her. That is what you are supposed to do.

KK (my youngest sister) came out of her room and went into the bathroom. As soon as she came back out, Grandma Vi told her, "Come in here, just for a minute, Mrs. B. has a present for the baby".

KK whined back at her while storming down the hallway, "Iiiii'mmm tooooo tiiiiirrrreeeeddddd".

It took everything I had not to tell her what an ungrateful, lazy bitch she was. Yeah, it takes less than 5 seconds to turn around, walk back down the hall into the living room and say "Thank you Mrs. B."!
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Ok, I get that she is on bed rest. I get it, I really do. But that is no excuse to act like she does. My mom tells me to give her a break because she is a single, pregnant, scared little girl. No! Give ME a freaking break!

First off, I don't blame Baby's Daddy for not wanting to be around right now. Every time the 2 of them even text each other, it ends in a fight. He has tried to be around. He went to OBGYN visits for a while but he eventually got tired of being yelled at and told to go away. So he did. He is more than willing to step up and be a daddy to KKs baby if she decides to be human ever again.

Second, little girl? Uh, no. She is 20 years old. She acts like a little kid because my mom allows her to act like a little kid. I could never put up with that crap.
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Ugh. I am so ready to cut ties from my side of the family. Except, FIL already does not see Monk Man and Bobblehead unless someone is visiting and he feels the need to show my kids off. It would suck for the kids if I had to walk away from another set of grandparents. I don't know if I could do that to my little guys. I guess I will have to suck it up, hold my tongue and just put up with the toxicity.

Sometimes I wish that we could move to another state so I can get away from all this. But I cannot talk Hubbs into moving.

The Story On Hubbs

So earlier in the week, I mentioned being home. Here is the story about that. Yes, I know it is Thursday and I am just barely getting around to this. Forgive me please. It has been a rough week.



We drove to the valley Friday night and stayed in the Hilton. Very nice hotel and thanks to hotels.com, we got the room for $59.00 a night. Of course there was the $15.00 extra person charge (bringing the total bill to $74.00) but still, a night at the Hilton for under $100.00 is pretty good. Oh the room was nice. There was only 1 queen sized bed but the couch made out to a bed. Soft towels, fluffy bed, never ending hot water and a balcony. It was a little piece of heaven.



Traffic was a breeze. We did have a hard time getting around though. I am directionally dyslexic. I cant tell left from right or east from north. Long story short, normally if I don't know exactly how to get there, I don't even try. So finding a restaurant to have dinner at, the actual hotel, a restaurant to have breakfast at and finally the airport was a nightmare.



We had dinner at Applebees. I can honestly say that it was the best thing I have eaten in a really long time. I got a grilled chicken Caesar salad (awesome), Hubbs got steak and shrimp (awesome) and Monk Man had a breaded chicken sandwich as big as my hand (again, awesome). Now usually, I don't like shrimp. But I let Hubbs talk me into tasting it and it was divine!

Monk Man behaved pretty well throughout the whole trip. He only got spanked once and that was when he tried to open the room door and escape.

We had to be at the airport early so while we were there, I bought a Starbucks coffee. It was the first I had had in about a year. Monk Man discovered escalators. OMG, he loved them. Up and down and up and down and up, the WHOLE morning. Hubbs had to take him because I have an irrational fear of escalators (elevators too).

When it got close enough to Hubbs flight time, he told us that we should just go ahead and start the drive home. We said our goodbyes and my the time I got into the parking garage, I was bawling so hard that I had lost the car. That was so fun, I want to do it every day.

When I finally did find the car, Monk Man crawled in his car seat and fell asleep before I had even made it to the bottom of the parking garage. He slept the whole way home. 3+ hour drive, even when I stopped for gas (which was 4.11/gal holy crap!).

Home

Monk Man and I just got home from putting Hubbs on the airplane.

I will post more about it later. I am exhausted and a little sad. So I am going to bed.

My Head Is Spinning

Why? The last 2 days have been Hell.



Yesterday (Thursday)

Hubbs got a call from the Railroad and they told him that the board he has been on (that pays him to not find another job) had been abolished. So no more paychecks, no more insurance.



So I went into survival mode. I started thinking about what we can cut out of our routines to save us money. I didn't come up with much. Things are already pretty tight. I really don't want to have to charge anything ever again.



I *could* cancel the WOW account but then Hubbs would find some more expensive hobby. I *could* cancel XM but then I would be back to buying CDs. I already buy generic foods, generic diapers, generic everything.



The best thing I could come up with is to temporarily stop the debt snowballing. Its not much but it IS an extra $150.00 to $200.00 a month. And Hubbs would be going up to Colorado to build houses with his brother.



That's all I came up with.



Hubbs checked some memos from the Railroad and found out that he could put in a request for "temporary transfer" to Iowa. So he called his union rep and left a voice mail. The union rep called back very late last night and gave him some of the information he needed but not ALL of what he wanted to know. So he called a dude in Iowa that was in charge of the whole thing. Voice mail with this dude too.

So off to bed with an ass kicking migraine. Fun.

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Today (Friday)

Hubbs got up at 3 AM. I don't know why. He just said he couldn't sleep. I got up at 6 AM and just around that time, the dude from Iowa called him back with the information he needed.

But right after he got off the phone he found another memo that offered Montana as another option for the temporary transfer.

Ugh. Too many life altering decisions. I do not do well with shit changing. Not at all.

We decided on Iowa.

So he got all his paperwork faxed in. The Railroad bought him an airplane ticket for tomorrow. It was something like $600. Oh. My. Gawd. It is a good thing that the Railroad paid for the ticket because that is not cool. We don't have that kind of money. I don't think most people do either.

So we are staying in a hotel in Phoenix tonight so he can catch the plane tomorrow. There is no way in hell I would try to drive down there tomorrow and then drive back in the same day. My back is too screwed up to sit for that long in the car.

We are taking Monk Man with us but leaving Bobblehead with my mom.

I am not happy about having to suck it up and let my mom watch the boys today and Bobblehead tonight. But at least my dad is there to keep that whole crazy ass family in line.

So anyway, the deal with the temporary transfer. Hubbs gets a bonus when he gets to Iowa. Plus he gets another bonus every week he is there on top of what he would normally make.

I guess the reason that they are offering this temporary transfer is because of all the flooding. The floods washed out the tracks and now that the tracks are replaced they have way more trains than they have people to drive them.

So I don't feel 100% at ease with this but I don't feel like something bad is going to happen.

He could be gone for 3 weeks (at the least) or he could be gone for 3 months (at the most). Its really up in the air right now.

So I feel like my head is going to explode. There is so much to do, so much to worry about, so much unknown. Ugh. That's all for now.

I HAVE to get some work done today so they don't fire my ass.

This is horrible

As you may or may not know, I work at a body shop. I am the parts girl. Business is s-l-o-w. I have been sitting here for hours, not doing a damn thing except feeding my BabyCenter addiction.

I walked around to the shop a little while ago and the guys are just sitting around with nothing to do either. I feel really bad for them. They all work off commission so no wrecks=no paycheck. It has been really slow around here for months.

I wonder what is causing this lack of work. I mean I am sure that the crappy state of the economy has a lot to do with it. But you can be as careful as you can be and shit just happens.

Right now, we are to the point that we are taking in whatever piddly ass that job comes our way. It is really sad.

Everybody I have talked to lately, from dealerships to parts suppliers, say business is way slow too.

I have always dreamed of owning my own business. I have these amazing ideas and then I figure out how unrealistic most of them are or that someone has already come up with my brilliant idea.

It is times like this that make me thankful that I never actually followed through with any of my bright ideas. Talk about being up shit creek! But I guess it could be worse, I could be commission based too. Thank god for hourly wages.

Fathers Day Fudge

1 6 oz (3/4 c) chocolate chips
1 c peanut butter
1 stick margarine
1 c powdered sugar

Cook first 3 ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar. Stir until smooth. Pour into a buttered 8-inch square pan. Chill until firm and cut into squares.

Happy Fathers Day

I just wanted to wish everyone out there a Happy Fathers Day!

Perfect Pizza

Ingredients
1 1/4 c warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tbls olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornmeal
1 c pizza sauce
Assorted toppings
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Place 1/4 c warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water and stir in sugar. Let stand 5-10 minutes or until bubbly. Add remaining water, oil and salt. Stir in flour until dough pulls away from side of bowl.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, 8-10 minutes. Coat large bowl with cooking spray; place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Cover loosely. Let rise in warm place until almost double in size, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 F. Punch down dough. Coat two 12 inch pizza pans with cooking spray; sprinkle pans with cornmeal. Divide dough in half. Roll dough to fit prepared pans; press dough against edge to form rim. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

Remove crust from oven and top with pizza sauce. Add the toppings and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted, 15-20 minutes longer.

**Hint: The secret to rolling pizza dough is to let it rest for 10 minutes after it is about half the size needed. Then it will easily stretch the rest of the way.

Trash Can Potatoes-Update

I went to the back yard to check on my Trash Can Potatoes last night. Big mistake. Why? Monk Man knocked the bucket over and dumped all the dirt into the grass. So being the curious cat I am, I dug through the dirt to see if anything had happened.

Nothing happened. Not a single root from the potatoes I put in the bucket.

Note to self: Store bought potatoes do not work. Buy seed potatoes or tubers.

So I am going to order some tubers from Burpee today. I will update some more when the tubers arrive. I might even post some pictures of what the hell tubers look like.
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I just checked Burpee and the tubers are not available at this time. So much for that idea. Shit.

Next idea? My boss is really close friends with a potato farmer somewhere back east. The next time he calls I am going to ask him to send me some seed potatoes.

Problem solved. Hopefully.

Whoops

Well I saw it right, sorta. House was on last night but it was a repeat from last season.

Damn. At least it was one I had not watched yet.

House: Did I See That Right?

We were watching Hell's Kitchen last Tuesday and I thought I saw a commercial stating that the new season of House is back. Already? The last season only ended, what, 2 weeks ago? Not that I am complaining. I am happy to have my Monday night TV show back.
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So I just checked MSN's TV information and this is what I found:
"The Right Stuff"
House begins interviewing for the open positions on his team and sets the applicants against one another to help treat a woman who has an unusual neurological disorder.
Airs:
MON 6/09 9:00pmFOX60 mins

Yep. That is a new episode. Tonight. Hooray!

Would you like to put a face to the blogger?

Well, Hi. This is what I look like. I finally have a picture that I am not embarassed to show the whole world.




Yes, you CAN see right down Monk Man's throat. Uuhhhh and ignore the pimples, my skin has forgotten that I am 26 and not 16.

I am trying to get my scanner to work so I can post some pictures from "back in the day". They are a riot. I so thought I was hot shit in high school.

My poor kids

My kids start hearing the word "No!" at a very young age. Around the age they start crawling or eating in the highchair.

I am guessing that Bobblehead has heard "No!" a few hundred times. Monkman has probably heard it 546876845468 times.

"No!" seems to have very little effect on Monk Man. In one ear and out the other. Actually, it has never had much meaning to him. But with Bobblehead, the word seems to crush him.

Just today I was feeding Bobblehead some applesauce and he kept reaching for the spoon. (Don't get me wrong, I will accept it when he can feed himself with a fork and spoon but I really like feeding him and 8 months is a little young for me to start accepting it.) So he got the stern "No!" and when he gave me that look, I thought I was going to cry.

The same thing goes when he discovers that we put the dog's water bowl back on the floor and starts splashing in it. Either I will have to clean up a huge mess or he will try to drink it so I have to bring out my big guns. "No! Stay out of the dog water!" Ugh. Such a sad look.

My Pantry

My Formula Stash


Baby Food, Bottle Liners and Baby Snacks


My Baking Supplies


My Cookbooks


Pasta & Mexican food stuff


Soups


Fruits & Veggies


BBQ Sauce, Chili, Mayo, Jelly and other stuff


No Place to Put these yet-Flour, Sugar, Rice


Potatoes, Onions and Oil


Mac & Cheese, Hamburger Helper & Brownie Mix


Cereals


Crackers


Trash bags, Ziplocks, popcorn, bread & Tortillias




It is a VERY small stash compared to other people. But I am just starting out and going very slowly. I would hate to overdraw the checking account. Again.

I have a pantry project planned for this weekend. Hubbs is going out of town to pick up his work truck. While he is gone, I am going to turn part of my office/junk room into better pantry space and put my small appliances like the deep fryer and crock pots in the hall pantry so I can have a little less clutter in the bedroom.

Yes, I am going to try to build some shelving. Never done this before so keep your fingers crossed I don't pull the walls down while trying to get this accomplished!

Best Parent Ever

Go to this blog and let me know how many of these you are.

I am still trying to get my tally together. But I will let you know!
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All right, I just finished reading that WHOLE BLOG. Final score? 6 out of 37.

Just for shits and giggles I am going to tell you about the ones I am guilty of.

#6: Ridiculous 1st Birthday Parties
For Monk Man's 1st birthday I rented out the banquet hall at a local restaurant. I bet I had invited 75 people. It was a huge deal and a huge nightmare. Hubbs sat in the bar drinking with FIL and some of our friends while me and my MIL were left to run the show. Bobblehead turns 1 in October. Please, for the love of God, someone remind me in September about Monk Man's party! Suggest a nice Bring-Your-Own-Crap backyard BBQ or something that will be easy.


#7: Yahoo Groups
I am only guilty of this if BBC counts.


#14: The Nintendo Wii
Me and Hubbs are gamers. Computer, Playstation, Wii, you name it, we have the gaming system. Well, except for the playstation 3 and the X-box live. We are too cheap for those still. Well Monk Man has followed in our footsteps. He could live with a controller in his hand. Probably sleep with it too. Bobblehead is showing interest already too. He wanted to play PS2 with Monk Man on Friday and ended up pulling the cord so hard that the entire console fell off the TV.


#21: Giving Unwanted Advise
Ummm, this blog is proof of that.


#25: Puppies.....rescued
Our Lab is a rescue. But most of my pets have been rescues. But we didn't rescue him for the show of it, we (read:Hubbs) really needed another dog. We would have happily taken a dog off the streets or from the pound. As long as we didn't get one from the pet shop or puppy mill, we were going to be happy.


#34: Overdressing at the Playground
I am only 1/3 guilty of this. I don't go anywhere without full makeup. If I don't put makeup on, I don't leave the house. Period.

Comments Commented

I just finished commenting on the comments. Well, most of them.

I am dedicating today to

responding to the comments.

When I started out blogging, I had no clue about blog etiquette.

I now know to respond to comments.

Having another rough day.

Hubbs has been at the Elks Club for 7 hours and 18 minutes. Ummm, I am not stupid. I know that it does not take that long to play a Shuffleboard Tournament. And he is going to wonder why I am all bitchy when he gets home. Are all men this clueless?

The swamper is broken and it is HOT today. This no cool air sucks.

I cant get onto the Old BBC boards this afternoon.

I want a Vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic but I am not going to try to drag both of these kids out in this heat just for a soda. Plus I have no makeup on and the hair is in a ponytail. Scary.

I have pulled Bobblehead out of the bathroom 5441654943 times today because he wants to do this:

and this

and this

and then this

Please ignore the chipping paint and the funny colored/non-matching-the-bathtub calk. I need to get someone to do some work on the bathroom.

Focus on the 8 month old trying to climb in the tub. Cute huh? Anybody want him? I am so not ready for the mobile stage. I am still trying to baby-proof for Monk Man!

Clean Computer

So I finally have a clean computer again.

It only took 3 tries and all day to get everything erased and re-installed.

The first and second times I wiped it out yesterday, I opened the program files and everything was still there. Third time was the charm I guess.

I had to go to Walmart and spend $40.00 for new World Of Warcraft games for Hubbs since Monk Man scratches every single disk we own.

The kids were still napping so I finally got to go somewhere alone. For the first time in probably a year. Sad, very sad. I know.