Why I *PUFFY HEART* YouTube Part 1

Who doesn't love YouTube?

I can find a video to make me happy, tick me off, or even just pass the time.  There are always the tried-and-true ones I go back to, depending on what I'm going for at the moment.  For example, if you want a pick-me-up sort of thing, 'Surprised Kitty' will never let you down:

Now, if you don't get all warm and fuzzy from that one, then you have a heart of stone and there's just no hope for you!  Sorry.

What I love about videos like that is what happens once these videos become viral:  Video Responses!  LOVE THEM!  Because, that's where you find videos like THIS:

Didn't see THAT ONE coming, did you?

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Now, this guy takes his role way more seriously than the other guy:

The intensity in his eyes is just a little overwhelming for me.  I wonder if he spends a day or two before he films pretending to be a cat so he can really get into his role....

Now, we can take a break from all the frat boys with too much free time and see something much more cute than awkward:

You must admit that she's pretty stinking cute!

Another wonderful variation sparked by one short clip of a cute kitten is its own brand of genius.  Maybe Evil Genius would be a better description.  Either way, it still makes me laugh!

Okay, so I can only laugh because I know it's NOT REAL.  Also, there is some real talent out there that is, evidently, out of work.  At least they have something to show for their time!  Those guys seem to have a whole series of 'Cute Things Exploding.'  You can't help but be impressed by their mad programming skillz.  Or it could just be some 9-year-old evil genius in training.  Who knows! 

What I do know is that, when it comes to YouTube, you just can't beat the price of admission and you can even learn something new...if that's what you're looking to do!  Trying to unlock or jailbreak something?  Want to feel silly?  There's probably a 12-year-old with a YouTube video to show you how to do it. 

Well, it's noon and my stomach is telling me it's time to get some lunch.  Darn that school schedule!  It has me wanting everything to happen much sooner...including my own bedtime!  Why does their school day make me so exhausted? 

Why did we try so hard to get them to speak?

7YO is very shy. Anyone that knows her outside of the home knows that she is quiet and serious most of the time. She has her silly moments, just like any little girl. But, she is ALL BUSINESS in the classroom or any situation where she has a 'job' to do. (I still must stress to you she is like this outside the home, because at home she has quite the little mind of her own and the 'have to's' become a constant struggle.)

Overall, she's normal.

So far, her teachers have wondered if she was okay at the beginning of each school year because she's so quiet and serious. Not only does she not say much, but she gets this furrowed little brow thing going on, making a crease between her eyebrows that looks almost painful. She got that trait honestly, as my husband does the same thing. If he's thinking about something or really studying something, he looks ANGRY because his eyebrows do the same thing.

After the first couple of days of school, I stopped by the classroom to talk with 7YO's teacher. Her only concern was that 7YO wasn't happy, sitting in class with an almost pained look on her face and all. I had forgotten to warn her about that. I reassured the teacher that she was fine and that her dad makes the exact same face when he's serious.

After a few more days, her teacher started noticing her raising her hand and volunteering answers during class. Things were progressing as they should.

So, I stopped by her class yesterday while picking up 7YO to ask a question about some work that needed to be done. Before long, all three girls were in the class with me and we were chatting with her teacher. She was 14YO's 3rd grade teacher, so they were catching up as well.

Out of nowhere, 7YO says to her teacher, "I keep a stick under my bed in case a strange man comes in my room at night."

??????

It became quiet for a moment. Then, her teacher nervously chuckled and said, "Does that happen often?"

GREAT. JUST GREAT.

"No, it hasn't happened. But I have my stick...just in case."

Sometimes, I think kids are easier to deal with when they are painfully shy...

Today is the Tomorrow that You Worried about Yesterday

For some reason, it was especially difficult to wrap my head around the whole 'school is back in session thing' on Sunday night. Oddly, it's already the third week of school for us here. Yet, the night before last was the toughest of nights.

I thought I was ready. I felt ready. I WAS ready. Ready to get back into some semblence of a routine. Ready to get the kids to bed earier. Ready to help with homework and assist those spongey little brains in soaking up more and more stuff.

But, Sunday night I just found myself saying, "NO! DON'T WANNA!!!"

Ever have nights like that? I was not ready for the kids to go to school and David to go to work. I was not ready for a Monday. The weekend was a great balance of lulls and chaos. We got enough accomplished to be satisfied but not so much that we had no down time. (There aren't a lot of weekends where I can actually say that, either!) We'd had a nice dinner (courtesy of David...which totally rocked because I hadn't planned a THING besides the rotisserie chicken we had picked up while shopping) and I realized it was already getting late. It was time to get the girls into bed and and I just plum did not feel like it!

Even when I lucked out AGAIN and David actually did all the bedtime stuff with them (they were having a 'Daddy weekend' anyway and just wanted him to do things for them) I could have used that time to prepare for the morning. It doesn't take long to get most of the lunch stuff together the night before, but those seconds saved in the morning rush are PRECIOUS. Nope. Didn't do it. Given that I've not been sleeping as much as I should, I could have just gone to bed earlier and gotten some much needed rest.

Any guesses? NOPE! Didn't do that either!

I'm actually trying to remember what I DID do. Hmmm...

Anyhow, Monday came on fast and furious. An event that happened on Saturday did make my Monday a little more complicated. 14YO was at a local waterpark with her friends and she slipped and fell. No bones were broken or anything like that, but she landed on her FACE of all things and her eye was nearly swollen to the size of a golf ball by the time she got home. Her arm was hurting her too, but she could move it just fine and no bruises were visible. Her eye startled us when we first saw it. 7YO even started to cry! 14YO was horrified that this was happening to her 9th grade face.

So, I gave in and let 14YO stay home from school. I wanted to get her into the doctor anyway to get her elbow looked at. It was still hurting her more than it seemed like it should and it was starting to swell a little. A morning appointment at the pediatrician's office resulted in an Ace Bandange for her sprained elbow and a lollipop. (4YO got one too! SCORE!) 14YO's eye is not so much swollen now as it is PURPLE. Amongst yesterday's adventures, we stopped by Target and got eyeliner and eyeshadow to match the bruises. We even got some matching nail polish...you know, just for kicks! Except for the swelling that's still there (not to mention the part of her eyebrow that was scraped off by the pavement and its resulting scab) she looks pretty normal today.

So, by the time I'd run my two girls around, stopped by the high school to take the doctor's note, and picked up 7YO from school, most of my day was gone. And the overwhelming piles of dishes and laundry were growing by the minute. (I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure the cat helped himself to a bowl of cereal and used at least 6 different cups while we were out.) But, those things still had to wait because 7YO needed help with her homework and 4YO had to get ready for soccer practice. Dinner? No time for that either.

FROZEN BEAN BURRITOS TO THE RESCUE!!!

I sat down toward the end of my day feeling exhausted, yet like I didn't really accomplish ANYTHING. Someone had turned the treadmill that I normally run on up to high and it kicked my arse. I guess the important things were done. The kids ate and all the homework that needed to be done was finished.

Poor David could have walked into a war zone when he got home! I looked around my house and saw all that had not been accomplished. I was just WAITING for him to say, "So, what'd you do today?" as he walked in the door. I was ready for a fight. My initial plan was to avoid it altogether and just go to bed early. The kids had all eaten and were in bed and I was way more tired than hungry. We had plenty of leftovers in the fridge, too. As I opened up the refrigerator, I saw a few items that I could easily toss together to make a decent dinner for David and myself. Since the really overwhelming part of making dinner is figuring out what to actually make, it was easy to throw a quick meal together for the two of us.

Just so you know, David didn't use any 'fighting words' when he walked in the door. Plus, I had cooled myself down dramatically by the time he actually got here. All the stuff that needed to be done could wait until tomorrow. And since today is that tomorrow that I worried about yesterday, my kitchen is clean and the last load of laundry is in the dryer. Control is slowly becoming mine again. For now, anyway!

But you just never know what that pesky TOMORROW will bring!

Back to School and Little Kids (Literally!)

This is what happens when I leave the two little ones home with David. I told him, "HAND WASH ONLY OR THEY'LL SHRINK!"

Aaahh...the sweet smell of school starting...

It's all pretty bittersweet, really. By the end of summer, I am definitely ready to get some sort of routine going. Summertime has a way of making shoes, clocks, and early dinners mean NOTHING. Staying up late, sleeping in, and forgetting what day it is are things that everyone should experiece at some point. (But not all the time, or you'll spend the rest of your life living in your parents' basement playing video games and Googling instructions on how to meet people!)

4YO is currently crying about wanting a popsicle. It's stinkin' NINE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING! She's lying in the floor, so the dogs are bugging her. If she would simply stand up, then they would stop. But, that would give her one less reason to whine...and we can't have that, can we?

Is this what today holds for me? That's it...I'm going back to bed!

I wish!

I'm trying to come up for air here, but it seems like so much work to get to the surface. Having only one child at home is less work and more work at the same time! Does that make sense? That's okay, I'm not legally obligated to make complete sense when I've only had five hours of sleep! Then again, I had a day last week when I had had plenty of good sleep and STILL left the house wearing two different shoes! Neither technology nor style were on my side last week.

Sometimes, that's just how it goes.

A little boy at my daughter's school has a little brother that reminds me SO MUCH of 4YO when she was little. It forced me to reminisce for a bit, so I'll drag you guys right along with me!

Currently Seeking a New Compulsion

7YO just got a haircut. She seems pretty happy about it, doesn't she?

This may sound wrong and will probably come off as offensive to those who actually suffer from such a disorder, but I secretly long for some form of OCD.

I just wonder if I sometimes don't care enough about things. Crumbs on the counter and toys on the floor don't bother me like I think they should. I usually choose to step over the mess and walk past the crumbs. It could be either because I'd rather stay in a good mood and not spend my time resenting the culprits or that I'm just plain lazy. (Okay, so it's probably a bit more the second one!)

Sadly, I haven't figured out how to pick up the same things every single day by repeat offenders and not be at least a tiny bit bitter about it!

While I doubt the health department could come in at any moment and 'shut this operation down,' I am very aware of how not clean my home is most of the time. It doesn't generally bother me. That is, until someone's coming over!

It's actually sort of sad. When I get in a 'cleaning mood,' the first question one of my kids will undoubtedly ask is, "Why? Who's coming over?" Please say I'm not alone here...

I just wish that some force greater than myself cared more about me having a clean house....or an addiction to exercise...than I do! I know that anyone actually having such a compulsion would probably trade places with me in a heartbeat.

Maybe I do care more than even I am aware. Maybe this is just my way of coping with having a husband who leaves a trail of tools and things and kids who could, on a good day, have natural disasters named after them. Plus, constant nagging can sometimes be more exhausting for the person nagging than for its recipients.

I've tried so many different organizational websites and programs. But, if your heart isn't in it...

I do know that my current state of disorder is a lot easier on my kids and husband.

'If Mama ain't happy...'