Surrounded, Yet All Alone

The scenario:

The older kids are watching a video.

My dad, who cannot hear "worth a flip" was in the living room.

I was in the kitchen with the dryer going, loading the dishwasher.

Eliana was sitting in the dining room, in her high chair.

Mike was in his office, so he doesn't really come into this story.

My mom, the poor soul, had gone to the bathroom and done her thing before she realized that she needed toilet paper.  She could hear the kids' movie playing loudly.  She knew my dad was not an option.  Her hope lay in me, and I was just too far away.  She yelled with all she had in her,"TOILET PAPER!  TOILET PAPER!"  Nothing.

"HELP!"  Still, no response, but she wondered if the guy outside cutting the grass might come knock on the door to offer some assistance.

"HELL-OO-OO?!" 

This time a response came loud and clear,"HELLO!"  This, from Eliana, strapped in her high chair.  Not so helpful.  But good for a laugh.

My dad finally heard her pleading calls and rescued her.  She promptly came and told me the story and I wish people could have been there.  We had tears in our eyes.  Maybe you had to be there.  And then you could have brought her the toilet paper.

Ordered Chaos

I'm not sure if that title is the overstatement of the year, or the understatement of the year.  The chaos would indeed be accurate (and if I could come up with a stronger word then I would put that down instead); the order would be a little tongue-in-cheek (or maybe tongue-sticking-out-of-mouth-at-the-whole-house).

Before I go on, it seems appropriate to insert this...

There is a (large) part of me that is thinking,"Under no circumstance in the world would it be appropriate to insert this picture anywhere, unless it were in front of a criminal as a torture technique, to look at until said criminal confessed his or her hideous crime, which may or may not be more hideous than this photo."  I will never tell why I took this picture several weeks ago.  What I will tell is why in the name of all that is good I would put it on this website.  Actually, I will show why.  Here is the reason...

This is my lovely daughter.  She made this face at me while I was taking pictures this afternoon.  And I thought,"Surely, she's mine.  100%."  The eyes.  The nose.  The teeth.  They will be returned to their proper equine owner immediately. 

She had no idea that the above picture of her mother existed.  This just runs in her blood.  Her horsey blood.  Like a racehorse who only knows how to run fast, so, too, do we only know how to make others run fast, and far, far away. 

The following is in no particular order, so maybe then it is chaos.  I don't know. 

This shelf earlier today was full of stuff.  It also had stuff behind it. 

FOUND:  ONE BALL, ONE TINY MAGNET FOR A TOY, ONE WOOLEN HAT WITH A POM-POM ON TOP, ONE THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE TRAIN SET PART, ONE HOT WHEELS CAR; STILL MISSING:  MY MARBLES. 

The shelf is in the kids' room.  Now the stuff is in the dining room, in its proper containers and awaiting transportation to a new location.

See?  Ordered chaos.  Here's some more...

See that empty, black bookshelf?  Here is its contents...

I had bags on hand, not boxes, and since we are just moving around the block, I thought that they would work just fine. 

And this is what Eliana thought of macaroni and cheese.  The box kind.

She is officially a member of the clean-plate club.  They notified me late this afternoon that her outstanding performance around lunchtime insured her membership at least until dinnertime, at which point they could guarantee nothing.

Right about now I'm sure you are thrilled with the time you have spent here, if you even got this far.  Unfortunately, you can never get it back.  I am realizing this myself as I ponder all the time I have fiddlefarted away in the last few weeks, while I should have been packing.   Imagine how one fiddlefarts.  Is it difficult?  Does it require much concentration?  A musical instrument?  And with those burning questions for you to contemplate, I will leave you. 

Fixing Dinner

I don't really like to experiment with food.  I'm not the kind of cook who can look at what I have on hand and whip something up and it's fantasticalicious (<--- she however is amazing).  It's usually bleh with a little bit of mlech on the side.  Add some salt, or ketchup and we're okay. 

Tonight I went to make pizza (some folks brought pizza up at Michaela's soccer practice and Eliana started her chant-I thought I would be frugal and make it instead of order it); in true Christina fashion I whipped up the dough (I have a super-easy recipe from online) and then realized I had no mozzarella cheese.  Hmmm. 

I went back and forth, what would I do, save the dough for another day, make a mexican-style pizza, save the dough for another day, what would I do.  I am probably one of the most indecisive people on the planet (I'm not sure about that, but I might be.  On the other hand, there are probably people who have a worse time making a decision than me.  But I really have a hard time, so I might be at the top.  But I don't know...).

I finally decided to make the mexican pizza.  I pushed the dough out into a circle (and Eliana said,"Peas-uh!  Peas-uh!") and then slapped some refried beans on it and spread them around.  I put some ground turkey seasoned with taco seasoning on top of that (yes, browned), and then some black beans and defrosted frozen corn.  I dribbled a little salsa on top of all that, but just a little of the saucy part, we don't like a whole lot of chunks here.  I topped it with Colby Jack, because that is the only kind of cheese I have (and when I say that is the only kind of cheese I have, I  mean it.  I have it shredded.  I have it in single serving rectangles.  I have it in slices.  Why do I have so much Colby Jack and no mozzarella?  Why?). 

It didn't seem like it would be too bad.  Theoretically, I thought, this could work.

Well, it was okay.  This is the finished version (my daylight was gone, sorry about the bad photo...)

It was missing something.  Or maybe there was too much of something.  Dough?  Refried beans?  I'm not sure.  What might help?  Nothing?  Very bad idea?  I just wondered if anyone had an opinion on how to fix this...

Christian and Michaela ate it.  In the end, Eliana decided that it was not pizza, and therefore would have nothing to do with it. 

So, here's to experiments and fresh ideas.  I think I'll stick to my recipes.

Choose Your Own Title: A Big Job or A Nutjob

Today I got a little taste of what it will be like to live in a large house...and have to clean it!  Mike took the kids out to lunch and on a little adventure (maybe more on that another time!) which gave me the opportunity to head over, armed with broom, mopper, wipes, and trash bags, and get started on what I can now see is (going to be) a very big job. 

My hope is that once I do the "big clean" that I can keep up with zones daily and weekly. 

Please, stop laughing.  It is not polite to make fun of me when I'm being so sincere.  Actually, you can laugh because I am laughing too.  This will be a real challenge for me, considering I have never in my life had a cleaning schedule, ever.  Clean the top of the fridge?   Nope.  Dust under large items of furniture?  Once a year.  Wipe down blinds?  Uh-uh. 

What is super ironic about that information is that I'm obsessive-compulsive about germs and dirt.  I freak out about other people's germs, sick germs in particular.  Also about poop germs, animal poop germs in particular.  And then there's dirt from outside, dirt that might have sick germs or poop germs in it in particular.  (Yes, I know I am cuckoo.  Mike knows too, and he still keeps me around.)  These things give me anxiety attacks.  I get hot and my pulse quickens.  I just want to get away from it as quickly as I can.

But our germs?  They don't bother me as much.  It's kind of like when your own kid sneezes on your hand, you wipe it on a tissue and go about your business; if someone else's kid sneezes on your hand, you gag and want to hurl, and wash in hot, soapy water immediately.  Sorry I said "your" and "you"-that scenario probably doesn't apply to you normal people at all.  It's just weird old me again.

At any rate...I actually had fun getting some cleaning done, but I didn't get as much done as I had hoped.  It's quite nice that we don't "have" to be in the house by a particular time, or out of our current one immediately.  Maybe this can be an orderly process after all.

A Little Off the Top

There is a little gnome

Who runs around our home;

He opens up a chocolate

And takes a little bite of it.

How strange to eat the top-

I myself could not there stop.

I have to eat it all,

But this gnome he must be small.

So a little bit will do,

The rest is left for me or you.

I do not eat what others bite

And though it does not seem right

This chocolate will have to go

Into the trash, it's sad, I know.

So, little gnome, please do not eat

The chocolates we have as treats

Unless you plan to finish them-

We do not want the chocolate bottom.