Two Major Issues

I've decided that most of my problems in life stem from 2 root causes.

First, lack of sleep.

Two, poor time management.

Without getting into why my time management skills are lacking (ahem, internet.. four boys...) I'm trying to solve this problem. My house being a mess drives me crazy, but I don't want to give up blog time, or playing with the kids time. So guess what gets neglected.

After about 5 seconds of thought on this matter yesterday I reached a conclusion.

Most days, Mark wakes up at 5. His usual routine involves waking up every other child, which leads to mass chaos. Only he's smart and will sneakily close my door. It also leads to realllllly fussy other boys later in the day. So, I in all my wisdom, decided that I would get up with him at 5 (AM ya'll... Have I mentioned mornings aren't my thing?) and try to get some quiet chores done while Mark hangs out with me. He'll have my company, and I'll be able to keep him from waking up th0se who need more minutes of snooze time. This morning went well. I made some progress, and it is a bonus that Mark also likes to help! It's much easier to manage one kid helping than three or four.

Unfortunately this does nothing to remedy problem #1. In fact, it makes it much worse. We'll see how long I can keep up before my next crash and burn.

Old

I think I'm getting old. It's a sad thing, but I really feel it lately. Allow me to present my evidence.

Exhibit one: Grey hair. I've pulled out one or two over the last year, but after getting a haircut this last weekend I noticed quite a few right up front. Time to break open that box of hair color. Just not ready for grey hair. Not sure I ever will be.

Exhibit two: Achey wake ups. Every morning I wake up all achey. My shoulders are so tight, my neck hurts, even my legs hurt.

Exhibit three: I find myself wanting to go to bed earlier and earlier. Now, this could be a symptom of my early rising children, but DUDE, where'd the energy and love of teh night go?

Exhibit four: Injuries from normal activities. After the gym on Monday my knee started to hurt quite badly and it's been bothering me since, rendering me pretty much useless. I can walk and all that but not pain free. I, being the total whiner that I am, haven't shut up about it since.

Exhibit five: Faulty memory. I could give specific examples, however, unfortunately I can't recall them.

Exhibit six: Mark said 32 was OLD, therefore it must be true. Please allow me to point out that I am ONLY 31... No need to claim that extra year before it's time.

Exhibit seven: I find myself saying things like "Why won't those KIDS (teenagers) get out of the ROAD" and "Wow those kids (again teenagers) have, like no respect." (In my defense the "kid" was flipping me the bird from the back of the school bus. No, seriously.

Yep, I'm definitely getting old. Excuse me while I go find my cane...

Floridian

Burr. I think I am officially spoiled to Florida weather. Heaven help me if I ever move anywhere COLD. I'm mostly saying that because I nearly froze on our recent campout. And then there is today, walk to school day. Where we met up with loads of other kids and parents and walked to school. Not sure why we didn't do this a few weeks ago on the National Walk to School Day (when it was a TON warmer), but today was our school's day. It was fun but it was COLD. The coldest day here so far, and I'm not even sure what the actual temperature was but the forecast said morning would be 49 degrees.

Now, 49 degrees is cold, don't get me wrong. I put jackets on the kids and even pulled out my leather jacket. That's not what makes me laugh and say, "yep I'm surely a Floridian now." What cracks me up is that I was cursing my misfortune that I didn't have a heavier coat, blankets for the stroller kids, gloves, earmuffs, scarves, hot chocolate! I was freezing.

By noon it will be 60 and I'll be comfy and basking in the glory that is fall in Florida. For now, I'll sit here, still chilly, sipping my herbal tea. It's late October, what is the temperature where you live?

Why I'm Not Posting

I'm not sure what my problem is but the creative juices are not flowing. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm exhausted, or busy, or just out of ideas but normally before I get breakfast ready for the boys I have a pretty good idea what my post is going to be for the day. Not today.

I could post about how we let the boys stay up really late on Saturday night and then how hard Sunday was for that reason. Whiny, cranky kids, and impatient cranky parents. It was a looooong hard day.

I could post about how about 2 PM Sunday I sat down with my head in my hands trying to muster some motherly patience and then Kevin sent me out for a mental break. Thank goodness cause I was DYING. And over nothing serious, just little stuff that moms deal with... leaving me asking myself what on earth my problem is.

I could post about how Ben not staying in bed is messing with my sleep so much because he is getting up way too early and I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. Oh and he's only napping about 1/2 the time. Not good for a boy who NEEDS his sleep.

I could post about how TERRIFIED I am of the time change because I'm pretty much positive that our 5 AM wake ups are going to turn into 4 AM wake ups and OH MY GOODNESS I WILL DIE.

I could post about how going back to spin class after 3 weeks off almost killed me this morning, but I was pretty proud of myself for going back.

But all that is kind of negative and I wanted to be upbeat this morning. I guess this will have to do.

I promise to be in a better mood tomorrow!!!

Double Toothy Trouble

So last night went a little like this. After making a slacker mom dinner for the boys (fish sticks anyone?) and trying like mad to get a few things done before Kevin's flight got in from Atlanta, I sat down to check my email. I got one from Sue that said "Any response?" I replied "NOTHING... I've sent her my numbers three times though... I just don't know what to do... I don't want to be a stalker, but she did say she wanted me on board. Wahhhhhh. LOL" And then Mark freaked out because somehow he walked right into the couch and his loose tooth was sticking straight out. I abandoned the email conversation because there was BLOOD. I had to face the thing that way back when the first teeth were lost I declared Kevin's job. That tooth needed to come out. Now. It took a little doing and a lot of convincing (myself, Mark was gung ho because, in his own words, "I want the money mom") but that tooth came out. I still shudder. The evening went on, I put Ben to bed and emailed back and forth a few more times with Sue pondering reasons why I hadn't gotten a phone call I've been expecting for a few weeks. Then I had to put Ben back to bed (yes, again) and then all of a sudden, the phone rang. The very call I've been looking forward to! Unfortunately, she had another call that she had to take. Sue had advised me to have cookies to hand to children while I talked about this new opportunity. Lo and behold, I had actually bought cookies while at the store today. They came in handy too, because in the 5 minute conversation we had when she called back Ben fell down the stairs, Eric was telling me he needed me to pull HIS loose tooth, and just the general chaos that exists in this house as a matter of course. The cookies fixed all that and I could LISTEN. Thanks for the outstanding advice, Sue. It worked!

After my phone call, I took a closer look at Eric's tooth and it seemed he was correct when he informed me the tooth was ready to come out. I could have saved it for daddy, but emboldened by my tooth yanking success earlier in the evening, decided to give it a go. Sure enough, I have two boys missing teeth again. And the tooth fairy is a little poorer.

Regarding mysterious phone calls and emails, I promise more details after I get more confident that they aren't going to read my first post and say, "oh GOSH what were we thinking, never mind, run along little girl." It does involve writing on another blog a few times a month, though. Specifics to be announced at a later date! I'm so excited!

In Other News...

...we were in the news...

... I got called fat... and I talked back on that a little (scroll down a little to see what I said.)

It was so fun to spend an hour or so Monday with an AP photographer to take photos for this story. I know for sure it's been in the Miami Herald, and the Daily Oklahoman (my dad saw it in the paper before I had a chance to even tell him about it.) It was a really great experience and I hope it gets printed in the Tampa paper so I can get actual copies.

If you google my name right now, followed by kids economy, you'll get pages of websites of me and the boys (and my big butt!) where this story is. Including MSNBC and ABC news websites. I was shocked at how far reaching this was. Especially since I doubted it would ever get printed. That's why I kept it a secret you see. That and the whole "what if I sound like an idiot" factor. Fortunately , it all worked out okay.

Get Out of My Mailbox Senators

I know the election is important and all, but I already know who I am voting for and I am tired. I watched the debates. It's funny how who the winner is seems to be determined by who one already agrees with. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, but it's still funny. I know the issues and I know where I stand. So, Senators, your flyer in my mailbox isn't going to change my mind. Nor your emails, nor the plentiful television and radio advertisements. I got it. The election is 2 weeks away. I know it matters a lot, but I'm more than a little tired of the campaign.