At a loss

How do you get a 5-year-old to get up and get dressed and eat and be ready? She just lays there, maybe moves while I'm in the room, but stops when I turn to help the other daughter. How can I motivate her? She doesn't care if we're late. She just wants to listen to music or play with a flashlight or pretend to be asleep or do whatever else happens to catch her attention.

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

Post Bath/Shower Huddles

Ritual is so important in the life of every child. They like familiar places and events and do not deal well with change (like most adults, actually). Consistency at home regarding rules, foods, schedules, care providers, etc. is extremely important to a happy, "obedient" child. Sometimes without even pre-planning, our family falls into regular routines that make us all happy.

One of these at our house is the post-bathing/showering huddle. I'm not sure when this ritual was adopted in our home or which child was the trigger, but after every bathing experience when the cleaning is over and the towels come out, our daughters become huddles. They wrap the towel around as much of their wet selves as possible, climb out of the shower or tub and find a convenient (usually very close by) spot of carpet. The child then returns to the fetal position with as much of her under the towel as possible and shivers. A huddle.

A little lump of cold, wet, small girl who then refuses to move. (-:

Questionnaire from a friend

What is one thing you wish you could do with your hair?
Have a personal hairdresser arrange it daily. Oh, ok, seriously. Red. I've gone a bit red before, but I want the nerve to do all-over, natural-looking, gorgeous red. And of course, not have to deal with roots.

Do you own a wall calendar?
I have a calendar covered in family pictures that my husband and I made and mass produced as family Christmas presents. We make one every year. This month has a pic of Dan as an early teen with a cute braces smile.

What was the most special present you ever received at Christmas before age 7 or 8?
God's gift of his Son, sent to this world to sacrifice Himself to pay for all the wrong we've done and can never atone for ourselves. God gave Jesus just for me and everyone else who accepts this gift.

What is your favorite view (Out of a particular window, from a tourist attraction, on top of a hill...)?
Looking down on a sleeping little girl.

Is there an instrument that you are particularly fond of?
I love listening to the cello and will always regret that I don't know how to play one. I do, however, still have my viola and play it occasionally. But there's something about the cello that makes me close my eyes and just listen. I adored the opening theme to Angel.

What's your favorite kind of cookie?
Chocolate chocolate-chip, slightly warmed

What did you have for dinner last night?
Chicken Bruschetta Bake. It was a recipe I got from a magazine, and I really disliked it. Won't be seeing it on our table again.

What was the last song you listened to?
You're In Love by Wilson Phillips

What was the last movie you watched?
Ghostrider. I have only one comment. Run and run fast.

What was the last T.V. program you watched?
If we're talking as-it's-broadcast, the only show I've seen in the last 6 months was CSI: Las Vegas. I got to watch it on vacation in Florida last month.

When will be the next vacation?
May, I think. But I don't really want to go then. We just got back from a Disney World vacation with our kids (we had a blast). This summer we plan to vacation with my in-laws, and they want to go in May. But I'd really prefer to spread out the vacations. You know, wait until July or August or something. Not to mention their plans call for us to miss Rebecca's kindergarten graduation. Now, I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but somehow the thought of missing it really upsets me. Sentimental mommy, I guess.

What's the last thing you said out loud?
"No, I'm not going to kiss you!" (Amazingly, that is really what I just said. Dan has a sore throat.)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I really can't decide. I already wear so many hats, and I'm not sure any of them would really be my _dream_.

Best part about today?
Sitting on the couch and reading a Calvin & Hobbes book with Dan and both girls. (It was the girls' introduction to the comic, and they loved it!)

Do you like llamas?
Sure. Their name is cool.

So You Thought Y2K was Over....

So, computers and calendars clash again. Apparently, when Congress adjusted the approved Daylight Savings dates, they've screwed with the computer world anew. It's likely that after Sunday's time change, many computers will report incorrect times for the next month.

LOL

Big News

Last night, Becca's second tooth came out. This was a very abrupt tooth-exodus (the first tooth was loose for more than 2 months). She noticed it was slightly loose just a week ago. Tuesday she was at school and chewing on her tights (yes, while she was wearing them - don't ask me why or even how this occurred), and she popped that tooth loose. She spent the rest of that day in pain because every time she closed her mouth or tried to chew, the top front teeth hit that loose, cock-eyed bottom tooth.

Constant pain does not make for a charming 5.6 child. In fact, the evening was pretty miserable despite the Tylenol I gave her. And for dinner, she ate a fruit smoothy because she could not chew.

But after finding $5 under her pillow, she is wishing for the next tooth to let go.

Stinky Bunco

Monday night, I played Bunco with a bunch of women from playgroup and a few of their friends and co-workers. There are many variations of Bunco, but I'll give you ours. Eight women gather together, rotating whose home they invade, eat dinner and play Bunco. It is mainly an excuse to get away from the husband and kids, eat food someone else had to make (except when it's your turn to host), and gossip over a dice game that takes just a little brainpower to play. We split into 2 tables (the winners'/head table and the losers' table), pair up with the woman across the table, and roll a set of 3 dice until someone gets 21 points. There are 6 rounds in each game. In round one, each time a dice lands on a 1, it's worth one point. In round two, points are awarded for tossing 2's. And so on. After each round, the pair of women from the loser table who had more points moves to the winner table while the pair who had fewer points at the winner/head table gets kicked down to the losers' table.

This week, there was an extra incentive to win and move to the head table. We were in the middle of the first game and Kristy said she could smell something odd. Mindy (the hostess) seemed a bit confused and then gasped. She jumped up, ran to the door to her garage (a few feet away from the losers' table), opened it, yelled something unintelligible, put down her garage door, and shut the door to the garage. She was not pleased about something. I vaguely remembered that her garage door had been open just a few inches. (Turns out that was so her cat could get in to his food and water.)

So Mindy shared her struggle with her in-laws' cats. Her in-laws (neither she nor her husband gets along with them very well) have 12 cats and live next door. They aren't really all that close because Mindy is pretty far out in the country, I guess you'd call it. Houses are relatively spread out. But one of those 12 cats, a big male, likes to come over to Mindy's house and spray all over. In particular he likes to spray on door and window glass. Yuck!

And the perfume in the air for the rest of Bunco was Yuck! for sure. That big tomcat had crawled into the garage and sprayed all over while we were playing dice. And it was like sitting in a cat box that has not been changed in quite a while. Sort of spoiled the ice cream dessert we shared between Bunco games. Ick.

Ta-Da!!!!

I spent last night and this morning at a women's conference at our church. The speaker was Liz Curtis Higgs, successful author and formerly a well known radio personality. She was really engaging and hilarious.

One of her themes was that we women should stop being ashamed of our bodies. We tell our daughters they are beautiful but always criticize ourselves, sending them a stronger message in our actions than in the words we speak. Our society's pressures have us always looking in the mirror for flaws. And guess what? When you look in the mirror to check if there are problems, you are going to find problems.

So, Liz suggests that we master our mirrors. This involves a daily ritual with our mirror that consists of the following: approach the mirror, throw up your arms enthusiastically, and announce, "Ta-Da!!!" with a big smile. [Note: It is good to warn your husband prior to performing this the first time, both to alert him that nothing is wrong and to make sure he doesn't miss it if that's his wish! Also note that the upraised arms are critical as everything is given a lift and boost upward! (-: ]

In the United Kingdom, each of these words has a meaning. "Ta" is shorthand for "thanks," while "Da" often refers to "father." So, each morning, this cheerful little exercise shouts praise to God the Father for making me so special.

Psalms 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (After a few more Ta-Da's I hope it'll sink in!)

Silence

In every happy couple, there is one morning person and one night person. In my marriage, I am the morning person. The cost of being the morning person is lack of sleep because no matter how late I stay up working/talking/gaming with my husband, I still wake up early the next morning.

The reward of being the morning person is silence. Peace. Solitude. A quiet house with no one demanding anything of you such as breakfast, candy, help tying a shoe or attention. Freedom. Quiet time with God.

Don't miss out on your phone tax money!

I heard about this a few days ago, and thought I would mention it here.

There is a refund you can claim on your 2006 tax return if you paid phone bills between March 2003 and July 2006. Apparently a tax was collected on those bills (which would have included cell phone bills as well as land lines) for both long distance and local calls, but according to some new rulings should have only been collected for local calls. So, the part that was for long distance is being refunded.

If you don't have 4 years of old bills, you can take a standard amount (the actual amount depends on your number of exemptions) that is supposedly easy to calculate and include in your return. I've heard advice from one tax professional that says it's not worth the extra time and effort to pull out the old invoices and add up the tax anyway. Also, if you've already filed and forgot this refund, just refile an amended return.

You can probably tell that I haven't filed my return yet and won't for a number of months (yes, I'll file an extension request). For that reason, I'm not completely familiar with the details yet. I will be once I look into it for myself. But if any friends have questions about it, just let me know. I'll do the research early! (Yes, you have to be a friend of mine to get this service.)