Another one bites the dust!

It was a fairly rough week and it's my own fault to boot! Since my earliest memories my parents would pop a huge pan of popcorn in the evening and we would sit around and munch on it as we played games or watched T.V. I continued the practice. Not so much of an addiction as it was a source of comfort. So much so that on a pre-school 'survey' about their Mom's, Julia had listed my favorite comfort food as popcorn(: I had been so good about avoiding salt as a way to manage my Meniere's that I had a good week or more with almost no dizziness. Then Monday night I felt I could splurge with a little bit of popcorn. Tuesday was a bit wobbly but I managed until I made fatal mistake #2...homemade chicken soup with dumplings!!! Now I had very deliberately used a low sodium broth and had added no extra salt leaning on the garlic and pepper to give flavor but I totally forgot about the fact that the Bisquick mix's baking soda = SODIUM!!! By Wednesday morning I was back on that tilt-o-whirl. This lifestyle change is going to take some mastering since the amount of sodium used in EVERYTHING is crazy! I mean MILK has a bunch of sodium?!?! Who would have thought that??? Label reading is my new sport and there is a new cookbook to read to reteach me how to cook salt-free. Here's hoping I can control myself in the future...boy am I missing my Mexican and Chinese favorites! A second consequence of the vertigo is a serious upset in my sleep cycles. Now at this I know a few of my family members who lurk on here are spitting Diet Coke at the computer screen as they laugh. (By the way, there's another whole dilemma!! I'm also supposed to reduce my caffeine consumption as a way to control the Meniere's but do you realize that there is TWICE the amount of sodium in the caffeine-free Diet Coke as there is in the regular Diet Coke??? For now I'm satisfying my Diet Coke addiction by alternating between the two in a weird and bizarre logic in which I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too!) This is because I've never had a 'normal' sleep cycle as far as they are concerned. I really do, it's just a nocturnal cycle which isn't particularly compatible with work and parenting! Post vertigo means I just want to sleep for a day straight and then a day or two of feeling hung over...also not compatible with work and parenting! So I found myself last night completely unable to sleep! I absolutely hate laying, looking at the ceiling, while I count down the hours until the alarm rings so I stay up and keep busy. Decided to start another knot style jumper in spring colors for the eBay venture. This one is 3t/4t as it has an elastic back band which allows for a range of fit. As I was sewing I also mulled over a plan to do a 'give away' like a few of my blogging buddies are doing! So keep coming back as I plan to announce my give away early next week!!! Then this afternoon we headed off to Julia's school for their Winter Carnival (a.k.a. PTA fundraiser). Mixed feelings since she would get into it and be so happy and then all of sudden she would run back over to me and ask, "Are you dizzy Mom?" I hate what this has done to her sense of security in having Mom as the rock to lean on and just have to get this under control so she can relax and just be a kid again! To that effort I really bit my tongue when she got in the line for the goldfish toss. Pets and Mahoneys don't really go together. We started with three parakeets who were 'free' from my brother who had waaaay too many due to his uncanny ability to breed them. UGH, the mess was overwhelming! Besides the cage cleaning there was the spray of seeds and feathers all over the room! When we moved from the city they went to Uncle John's until our new house was 'ready' for them which has been NEVER. Then came Butterfly and Flounder, the Beta fish that some wacky parents thought were the coolest party favor for their daughter's little mermaid themed 4yo birthday party!?!? I didn't protest too much because I figured they were short lived anyhow and that I would soon be recreating a scene from Nemo where all pipes lead to the ocean. Noooo, we get the only two Beta fish that just do not die! Eventually after more than a year Butterfly did develop some kind of tumor. After weeks of trying to explain humane euthanasia to a child who had just finished a unit on the miracles performed by Jesus who fully expected that Butterfly was surely a worthy recipient of a 'miracle of healing', Butterfly did go 'belly up'. Surely Flounder wouldn't be far behind?? Yeah, no such luck. What's so unbelievable about the whole Flounder saga is that I was so convinced that he couldn't last much longer that we never invested in a 'real' fish tank with aerators and heaters!! So every week I would have to transfer him to a cup while I scrubbed the bowl and washed the gravel of all his muck. When the end finally came and we stood in reverence around his porcelain coffin, I was earnestly in prayer...I REALLY was...prayers of thanksgiving for being delivered from the pet care servitude!!! So there she stands. Waiting so patiently. Waiting with the earnest hope that she would land one of those bouncy ping-pong balls in one of those little glass fishbowls. Meanwhile, I was waiting with more than a little hope that those balls missed their target mixed with a little, teeny, tiny tinge of guilt that our current pet-free state is due to her allergies and asthma. You see, after Butterfly and Flounder we did not remain pet-free for long. I was consumed by some warped sense of guilt over the fact that my children were being deprived of pets due to my lack of self-discipline. I convinced myself that I just had to suck it up and agree to accept the responsibilities of pet care and that is how we 'adopted' Kelty. Baby brother was simply the most people loving, good dog that a family could ever hope to have BUT after two years of escalating asthma/pneumonia cycles with Julia we broke down and did the testing we were dreading. As documented in one of my earliest posts, Julia was off the charts allergic to dogs...and a BUNCH of other things as well! Kelty's good natured ways had made it easy for Aunty Peggy to assume guardianship and though he's not gone he is also not a 'pet' anymore. So it was finally her turn and she launched her ball loaded down with all her hopes and prayers....... and here is where you are thinking that because of the title I tell you that she wins a fish who was indeed SHORT lived. Oh, noooooo. Here is where I get to tell you that not only did that ball land cleanly in the fishbowl but so did a second one!?!?!?!?!?!? The fish are still very much alive because the school did not want the aggravation of live fish at the carnival so Julia is asleep with a coupon under her pillow that entitles her to go to our local pet store and pick up TWO goldfish BEFORE February 7th...which to her means TOMORROW. But the reason I am having to tell you about this incredible feat is because what bit the dust was my CAMERA! In all the excitement of that first ball landing in the bowl I instinctively went to clap which resulted in my camera taking flight. The landing was pretty ugly. But now, with a smile on my face, I get to say how I actually PURCHASED the insurance this time and it's COMPREHENSIVE! I never buy that darn insurance but this time I just had this sense. Lucky for me because otherwise those would be two of the most expensive darn pets we've ever owned!!! Now, let's just hope they replace the camera QUICKLY.

FFF- Favorite January Photo

This week's theme is your favorite photo taken in January. So many of my blogging friends have either cute/funny or artistic photos up but mine are none of the above. I'm also stretching the rules by posting two taken on the last days of December...January has been kind of a bust this year. Family game night at Auntie Peggy's with a rare picture of my Dad enjoying the interactions of his youngest grandchildren...even when it means he has to perch on a little step stool chair! These are the ones most featured on this blog because they are contemporaries of my girls but there are another crowd in their 20's! Big Mike who got married in October is the second oldest of all the grandchildren. Someday I'll get around to scanning the portrait we take every couple of years of all the grandchildren so you can see the whole gang. Stretching the rules again by posting a second one! This is how Julia spends her time waiting for the Mac 'n Cheese at Outback.

At the watering hole!

Neither of my girls are keen on bathing unless it involves swimsuits and water slides. From the very first night in the hotel in Guatemala, both of them have wiggled, whined, and then wailed about having to take a bath! Sometime around first or second grade we reached a loose agreement that if I let them shower every other day they would stop resisting. Loose agreement I said, because I do still get the "not now' and 'later' even though the outright wailing has (for the most part) ceased. Then last night a RARE request for a 'tubby' popped out of Julia's mouth. It's been a dark and gloomy weekend and she felt like a warm soak, or so she said in her request. Now hair washing is another ball of wax when discussing a bath versus a shower so I popped my head in a couple of times to ask if she was ready for me to help with her hair. With each visit I noticed a certain phenomenon..... the herd on the side of the tub kept GROWING!!!!! I just had to get a picture but she was having no part of a camera in the bathroom while she was in the tub. (Glad the modesty thing is in full force...hope it lasts a decade or so more!!) So I had her crunch up in a ball at one end of the tub, behind the shower curtain, because I thought this was too cute to miss! When she was blown dry and in her P.J.'s she asked to see the picture...guess she didn't trust me! With a big, happy sigh she said, "It looks like my horses are loving the water hole." I couldn't help but think, "I wish you were like your horses!"

Salt Mine is now safe!

Almost hate to jinx it by even mentioning it but the right ear apparently feels like keeping up these days. I've been able to make it into the Salt Mine several times this past week with no ill affect from seeing flashing needles! Thought it was time to check-in with my blog friends to keep my slacker reputation at bay so I'm posting pics of some recent work. When one of my readers noted that I had Mardi Gras fabric she contacted me about a custom order (always open to those!) for THREE outfits. I have the first one completed and the other two are well under way. Taken at night in the Salt Mine so not the best lighting and even worse is the lack of perspective! This is a little 12mos set. She wants the tops dress length so if the weather is warm they can wear it as a dress but ordered matching pants so just in case the weather is cold they can add t-shirts and jeans. Bonus would mean they could wear them as separates and get a couple of days of parades out of the outfits!! This is the last Valentine's Day item I mentioned in earlier posts. It's a 4t dress made from that same fabric as the denim skirt set. It's eBay item #120521914612 and has two more days left to the auction. Just a back view of the dress! Wish I had made the ties a little wider so the bow would be a little more substantial. We are in the midst of a heat wave!! 40's mean lots of melting snow! Just hoping the weathermen are right that it's going to stay in the 40's as a lot of rain is projected as well...I'd rather rain over snow. Optimal would be SUN and 80's but that's a June/July dream around here!

Oh so 'random'!

Toddlers exploring the powers of their new found vocabulary often provide us with quite entertaining expressions. Tweeners...not so much! If they should happen to actually engage you fully in conversation, you often get the same tired old word used over and over. Lately, the word I hear the most is RANDOM. Everything is "So random!" It's better than the 'whatever' I used to be getting but only just. This week that word finally induced quite the chuckle from Julia and I! Picture the scene; driving home from the city at dusk, in January, in Chicagoland with Mari exercising her new found privilege of sitting in the front seat of the van (over 12 and over 80lbs now!!). As I pulled onto the exit ramp that would take us into our suburb, Mari asks ever so matter of fact, "Mom, why are there random kids standing on the side of the road?" The mother in me kicks into overdrive as I scan the edges of the exit ramp for children in potential danger...in a matter of seconds I'm imagining abandonment, stupid teen pranks, or even a snowball ambush (happens here in winter world USA!). In as few seconds I 'find' Mari's "random kids"............ a stand of small pine trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The very second it dawns on Julia, the teasing begins and Mari responds with, "Well that was one thought I should have kept inside my head!" I tried so very hard NOT TO LAUGH but it was too much to pass up. In one of my less than empathetic moments I just had to respond.... "Guess those glasses that were prescribed for you in Kindergarten would come in handy about now...hmmmm?" Most of my readers would probably be unaware of the fact that Mari wears glasses. That would be due to the fact that she keeps them safely in her case until she gets to school where they then go on her face only until the last bell rings...at which time they are off and back in their case in a nanosecond! I know this because all of her teachers were notified of her propensity to 'forget' her glasses and have united with me in 'encouraging' her to wear them....since she can't see diddly after about 6ft from her nose! She used to wear them readily up until the whole tweener peer pressure thing reared it's lovely head. Now, well let's just say the only time she has them on in a picture is when she is so absorbed in an activity in which they are needed that she forgets to whip them off and hide them out of picture range. Like when we did our Easter eggs last year....which was how far back I had to go to find a picture in which you can clearly see the glasses on her face!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now every time we pass any kind of tree Julia says, "Hey Mari, look another random kid standing in the snow!" and every time I have to smother my smile and pretend I didn't hear the tormenting. A couple of more instances like this and maybe her need to see will overcome peer pressure? Then again, maybe we should have done contacts instead of a phone for her birthday? One last bit of family humor; Tonight was 'family night Thursday' and as usual the cousins were over for homework, church school, and dinner. It was not my husband's favorite dinner. Shake and bake chicken breasts with biscuits and string beans. Now mind you he is not one to waste food EVER and dutifully cleaned his plate but I did hear one mumble about the amount of vegetables on his plate. He is definitely not a fan of green beans or wax beans and tonight's offering was a mix of BOTH! Mari had herself worked into knots over the fact that she has to give a presentation tomorrow at school and barely touched her dinner. When Julia (feeling slighted that she had to clean her plate while Mari was allowed to abandon hers) threw out, "What's with Mari and the beans?" causing Alyssa (only paying partial attention and a HUGE Twilight fan) to respond, "What about vampire beans??" Patrick swung around and exclaimed, "What kind of country is this that they sell VAMPIRE BEANS and why would you BUY such a thing for us to eat?!?!?" I told him that they were good for your digestion as they sucked the blood from your stomach wall which meant he wouldn't be able to absorb all the excess calories from the 4 butter laden biscuits he had eaten!!! ...and well this would be my Julia for you! Just had to play along and sneak up next to Patrick and give him this smile. He wasn't amused. Guess I'll have to hold off on the green beans for a couple of months (:

This and That...

Nothing profound or even a bit interesting to say right now....just checking in so I don't get permanently branded as a 'slacker' by bloglandia! Very rough wake up call this morning which is bastante diferente para las chicas! Usually, my morning doves, need nothing more than the distant buzz of my alarm clock to rouse them for school and it's me hitting the snooze a million times. Winter cold and morning after a long weekend both contributing factors I suspect! While I was extremely tempted to roll back into bed, after they left, I stayed up and worked very diligently...sort of! Patrick had 'heard' of a new site on-line that had just come up with a bunch of birth/marriage records from the late 1800's in his hometown in Ireland. Not being computer comfortable, he had me go in search of said site and we hit the jackpot!! Printed off countless pages of records of his grandparents' generation and found a few interesting tidbits. Seems his grandfather was the godfather to LOTS of children in the parish leading us to suspect that Patrick's father probably got his gift of gab from his grandfather...who did not pass it down to my very quiet Patrick! It was a classic example of why Americans have a tough time tracing down records from overseas, though! Patrick's 'hometown', which is more like a smattering of houses on the side of a mountain (which my family call Brigadoon because it only appears for Mahoneys...a.k.a.-impossible to find unless you know where you're going), was spelled NINE different ways in the records...a few of which took quite a creative license with the pronunciation. Before we knew it the clock was chiming noon?!?!? So after this quick post I've got to get back to sewing and laundry!!! Just another shot of the girls watching Andrew's tournament showing how even though we were 'inside' we still needed our winter wear (: The girls just about died when I stopped in Target and whipped out my camera to snap this picture. They felt like it was 'illegal or something'! Just thought I'd note how the new spring line out in the Junior section had a certain influence....hmm? Did get one of the Valentine's outfits photographed and up on eBay! This is a 4t set using one of the denim skirts that Rhonda had sent for my little enterprise. A back shot of the 4t set which has a NWT long sleeved tee, to which I added the front motif, to pair up with the EUC denim skirt. One more Valentine dress to finish and photograph and then I think I'll head onto St. Patrick's Day and some Disney themed spring break outfits.

A Short Long Weekend

While it may be called a 'long' weekend due to the Martin Luther King holiday from school tomorrow, it has flown by here in this house! Play dates and sleepovers meant for busy days and sleepless nights for the younger half of the family. The older half had work. Patrick's was outside of the house and mine was inside of the house. I had few problems with 'the little dizzies' and none with the BIG DIZZY!! I even had time to sew another Valentine's Day outfit for eBay and have another almost camera ready. I will post them as soon as they actually make it in front of a camera (: We even squeezed in some cousin cheer leading action! So this is basically a GIRL'S house. We don't really get into all the sports. We do play soccer, volleyball, and basketball and watch football and the Olympics but hockey just never grabbed us. So we show up to cheer on Andrew who's team is in the thick of a hockey tournament and see the group above....one of whom is supposedly Andrew. Good thing they have their names on their jerseys or we would NEVER have been able to pick him out! We barely recognize him when he's up close!?!? Must say I was happy to see him wearing a mouth guard though (: He can skate like the wind and I must admit to being jealous of how easily he can turn on a dime and skate backwards. I think I was in my twenties before I finally got brave enough to swizzle backwards!! It just dawned on me at these games that Mari has only skated once and Julia never has skated?!?!? Guess it's kind of clear that I'm not a huge fan of cold weather activities. Besides showing Andrew 'mixing it up' on the boards, Auntie Peggy also caught the Mahoney women. We would be the red blob.... huddled up under the blanket. At least it is indoors so we didn't have to endure the outdoor elements but it's still an ICE rink after all!! Auntie Jenny posing proudly with her NFL hopeful. It was a quick picture because they had to head off to another ice rink a few suburbs over for the 'usual' scheduled practice. You'd think the hard fought wins would be 'practice' enough but noooooo, he had another hour or so of drills before he could take some well deserved Motrin and head to bed....only to be back up first thing in the A.M. for the championship game!!!!!!! GO CHIEFS!! Oh, by the way.... we had Mairead's last volleyball game of the season too! Life sure does get busy when they reach middle school!