Job Description

A little over 4 years ago I decided to make my part time job into a full time job.  I did not have to apply, but the PR department said it would send up a job description anyway (when it had time).  Well it came today and I thought I would share it with you:

Job Title: Stay at home Mom

Job Duties: include but are not limited to the following*:
Being a:

• alarm clock
• personal shopper
• cook (little kids eat A LOT of times a day)
• nurse  
• personal baker for events (sometimes with little notice)
• personal secretary (there are a lot of things going on in these kids lives)
• house cleaner
• fixer of broken toys and stuff animals
• finder of ….. well everything that gets lost (sometimes this will have to be done while the child is crying and lost without the lost thing.... even if it is just a little bit of paper)
• laundry doer (more then you can even imagine )
• driver (to more events then you knew where possible)
• etiquette teacher (this one may take a couple 100 tries to get right)
• dictionary (little kids have tons of questions about .... well EVERYTHING)
• book reader (there will be tons of this as these kids love being read to)
• movie monitor (and you may or may not be asked to remember something from ANY of the movies that you watch with them at anytime, even years later)
• story teller
• play date setter upper
• having play dates at house (cleaning up before hand and after, making food, making sure that kids have fun)
• creative art ideas (this will be called for all the time so you will have to have tons of new ideas)
• music teacher finder (must also make sure child practices)
• swimming teacher finder (must also make sure child gets to class)
• ballet teacher finder (must also make sure child gets to class)
• playmate when all other playmates are gone
• party planner
• there will be times when you might have to take a kicking screaming child out of a store/library/... you will have to do this with dignity and grace

*please note that this job description will change as the children grow. When this happens you will be expected to do all of this and all the new things.


Skills and Qualifications:
Wonder-woman

Salary:
Unlimited love, snuggles, kisses, funny stories, smiles, and laughs
Bonuses of kisses and love come frequently and often



It seems like a lot now, but it is still worth every bit of salary I get.  I do love my job and think there is not a job in the world that would fit me better.  I hope the kids think so also.

Have a wonderful, full, happy day and may you get tons of bonuses.

I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so instead of just reading I went down stairs and quilted.  I am working on this quilt:

I am loving the way it is coming out.  I hope you are having a well rested day.

Monday

Look what I just got!!! I ordered it over the weekend and it came today.  I love it.

I got it from Bulls Eye Beads.  She has a cool site, go check it out. It was hard to pick the right one, there are so many nice ones. (I may or may not have changed my shirt when I got it so I could wear it:)

Anywho one for Mom and Dad

Who could not love that face:)  (I just want to go over and kiss her little checks).  She is not mad BTW just looking funny for the camera.

And a note from Elijah.

E: What is hard and does not hurt?
M & Z: (smiling) I do not know what?
E: A math test

What where you thinking I had gone x-rated on you?
Have a nice Monday, hope you have no math tests.

Wordless W

One of these kids is "acting" like they are reading but really posing for the camera, can you tell which one?

Just for the faith of it:

The top ten ways I think the life of faith is like running:

1. Most of the time, it feels like work.

2. Every once in a while, it feels like flying.

3. You can do it alone, but you'll do it faster and better with other people.

4. If your knees aren't at least a little bit sore at least a little bit of the time, you're not doing it hard enough.

5. Somebody will try to tell you that certain clothes are required to do it well; they're wrong.

6. When people who don't do it see you doing it, they wonder why the hell you would bother.

7. But they're also just a little bit impressed, especially if you look like it's not coming easy to you.

8. It's hard to start and easy to quit.

9. The longer you do it, the harder it is to quit.

10. If the only time you ever do it is when you're being chased, you're totally going to get caught.

Prayer

Holy God, may I run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.  Amen.


By Quinn G. Caldwell is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

Try not to run too hard this weekend.

Just for a good laugh

For the couple (cough coughmom cough coughdad) of people that do not know the original click here.

BTW my fav part is when Elmo is dancing (cracks me up every time).

Have a fun day.

Sweater redo, hedgehog and cupcakes

Here is a little redo that I did over the weekend:

I have had this sweater for for a long time and loved it, but lately I never wear it because it is a pullover. I HATE pullover sweaters these days (not sure why).  So when I saw this on We can Re-Do It  I knew I had to do it.   Here is how it turned out.  It is so much more wearable now!
 

 It was such a success that I thought I would try another sweater I have so yesterday Ada and I went at this one:

Here it is before the cut.

And after.  So much nicer. (and yes I am talking on the phone while I am taking that photo.)

Did you see my cute new hedgehog?  Kari made it for me, because she knows that I want a hedgehog, but that my hubby will not let me have one (and the cats might or might not think it is a mouse and try and eat it). Here is a better photo of it (I LOVE IT).  I have the best friends!

We named her Hedgy and she is a big helper.

And now for the dented* heart shaped cupcakes:

See the marbles in there?

The first batch I filled a little to much so I had to cut off a piece to make the dent, so do not fill them more then 1/2 and you should be fine.  I would love to say that I used whole wheat flour and all organic stuff to make the cupcakes, but I just used a box cake and this frosting recipe which is yummy BTW. The kids loved them and when I went into school to pick Elijah up I saw the extras walking around in peoples hands, so glad I did not get any of them back).

Well that is it for today, hope you have a restful day.

*I may or may not let my hubby live that one down;)

Yesterday*

• 1am (3rd time A has woke me up with coughing) wake up CHECK
• 1am Text message (might have won a i-pad YAHHHH I could use an i-pad, kidding) CHECK
• Drop E off at school CHECK
• Get deposit in mail for quilt weekend in April (see jump of joy here) CHECK
• Call Doc about A's coughing CHECK
• Take A to Ballet CHECK
• Take A to coffee shop and bribe her with bagel to get all her Valentine cards done CHECK
• Go to Doc about A's cough (Note it might not be the best time to tell your kids doc that you have a positive TB test when you are bringing them in for a cough, kinda freaks them out.... just saying) CHECK
• Get TB test done on A (note she DOES NOT think A has TB, it is more a just in cases thing) CHECK
• Go home make batter for cupcakes CHECK
• Grab some food (crackers, cheese, grapes, fruit snacks) for lunch in car CHECK
• Get E from school CHECK 
• Take E for TB test (see what I mean they kinda freak out) CHECK
• Make 3+ dozen heart shaped cupcakes (photos and how to follow, which BTW Mark said look like cupcakes with dents in them) CHECK
• Find good marriage counselor CHECK
• Frost said cupcakes CHECK
• Clean kitchen CHECK 
• Get A ready for swim class CHECK
• Got to library and get huge pile of books waiting there CHECK 
• Take A to swim class CHECK
• Come home to warm house with dinner in the oven (take marriage counselor off to do list for tomorrow) CHECK
• Got to sleep wake up repeat relax shovel snow CHECK
• Next week skip Monday In my dreams

That was my day.  Hope you had a less busy day.  I am hoping when A gets home from school today that I might be able to get some sewing done.

*In case you have a song stuck in your head this might help:)

Elijah's quilt

I am starting a quilt for my little boy.  I am making a 2 sided quilt and this is just the top.  I do not have it sewn together yet, but I am going to my friends house for a craft day tomorrow so maybe then (or maybe I will start another one that I am iching to cutting up.... we will see.)  Any way here is the quilt so far:

PS this top is easy to do and that is why it is going so fast, but to make that I am making the back extra hard (a football field with stadium seating).

What did you do this weekend?

Last weekend

 Last week the 2 and 3rd graders at E's school where a part of a big group of 2 and 3rd graders that made "towns".  It was set up in a big room at the local convention center and it was Amazing!  I wanted to share a couple of our schools buildings.  

E's group made this wonderful bike shop.

This is E's house (you can not see the rain barrel from this angle, but it was cute.)

Here is the local park (if you are from around here you might even know it.  They did such a good job.

On Saturday they had a big shingdin to celebrate all the kids great work.  One of the things that they had was "ginger" bread house making table.  The material for the houses was all in a bag ready for the kids... only problem was that one of the things that they used for material had nuts in it.  But when I went and asked about it they made a new set for Elijah and Ada and set up a table that would be safe for them.  I love it when I find people who really "get" it.  Special thank you to the nice woman that set us up:)

Ahhh the love. (does any one else just want to tickle that little spot of tummy on Ada?... No ? Oh well must just be me:)

Now I have to go and get A so we can make v-day cookies with friends.

Have a good weekend all.

quote of the day

E: (after his sister has been bugging him ALL the way to school and complaining about it .) "It is better to have an annoying little sister then not to have a little sister"

And the mommy said "Ahhhhhhh."

Have a nice day

Brown paper packages

These are a few of my favorite (little) things* these days:

I just got this salt and pepper shaker in the mail today (it has been on back order since November) I have not filled them yet, but I LOVE THEM!!!!!

We had a ugly cheap nasty plastic soap container for hand soap and a dish soap container that was just as bad.  Found these at Target and LOVE THEM. (I now own 3 of them 2 here and one in bathroom)  I used rub on letters to make the H and D so that others would know what they where.

I hated that every time one of us got sick all our tooth brushes where touching and there for it seemed that we all got sick, so I love this one that does not let the brushes touch.  (Note to self, we may need to get some new toothbrushes out)

I love that this quilt is to the point that I can take a photo and you can not see any pins (they are still there and it is not done, but it is moving:)))))

A has a friend over (this is a rare thing as A is not the most social thing in the world (not sure where she got that from (cough dad cough) but she pick this little boy at school to have a play date with so I said yes.  Now I should tell you that this little boy does not speak much English and I do not speak any Spanish.  I am kinda sure that this is why A picked him so that she would not have to worry about talking and could just play:)  (that said they are talking just not sure if they understand what they are saying to each other. Kinda reminds me of this scene in  Love Actually.  

So what are your favorite things these days?

*Sorry if I got that song stuck in your head click here to hear the whole thing maybe that will get it out of your head:)

Spring cleaning

Jimmy said that it was Spring so I went at my linen closet.  This is what it looked like before I started:

It was kinda hard to find anything that you wanted it there (it was easy to find a ton of things that you did not want, but stuff you wanted not so much.) So yesterday I went with my friend to pick out some baskets (I would love to tell you that I was very organized and that I had it all planned out what I wanted to do, but Kari reads this blog and she is sure to tell you otherwise so I will just say that I knew how many shelves I had, how deep they where and how wide they where.)

I then found a cute little assistant (those are hard to find you know)

and went to work.  It was my intention to just work on one shelve at a time and that I would let myself have tons of time to work on it, but once I got started I could not stop:) (and it only took about an hour)

Here is what it looks like now:

 Note pretend that the bottom shelf is full of towels (I have to do a ton I mean some laundry and that space is for all the towel in wishing they where in the wash.

And here are some close ups of the top shelf

I love that all of the same stuff is one place.  (we might or might not have enough razors to shave a small army... just saying)

OK so in full discloser I will let you know that I spent about 80$ on this make over (all in baskets).  I know that I could have done it for less, but I had 2 things that I wanted and was not sure that I could get those 2 things unless I just spent a bit.  One I wanted the baskets to look good together and two I wanted to get them YESTERDAY (ie I did not want to go looking around, I was in the mood to clean and since that comes around once in a blue moon I thought I had better just do it.)

Any how that is how I spent my day so far.  Any organizing going on in your world?

Heart welcome sign

I have been working on this for the last couple of days. It took a lot of roses and a lot of hot glue (side note my fingers are still a little burnt from all the hot glue which as you know is HOT).  OK so the roses part was the hardest part and took most of the time, but I love the way it come out.

I even got it to have that cool crackled look.  Cool right?

And just because I thought you should have a close up (not the best coloring, but I did so much work making all those stinking roses that I had to show you up close.)

I got the idea from Then She Made.  Go check out hers, it is super cute also (even if she does not like it:).

how come?

The 2 minutes that it takes my kids to brush their teeth takes FOREVER (in their minds), but the 3 hours Ada is at school is so fast?  Just saying.

I have been working on a couple of crafts.  Hand quilting a quilt (can not wait for it to be done I love it!).  Sewing a Halloween quilt (I am SOOO ahead of the game right;). And working on a Valentines welcome sign for my door.  I will show photos as they get done.

Anywho I have to go get Ada soon (as I just dropped her off 2.5 mins ago hahaha).

Do not let your time fly by to fast.

This is a little scary for some of us

FOOD ALLERGIES CAUSE AN ER VISIT EVERY THREE MINUTES, STUDY FINDS

I had no idea that it was that often.  Makes me glad that we have only been there one time.  You can read the rest of the story here.

Stay safe.

Visitor

We  came home yesterday only to find this in our tree:

So nice that we have a little "woodlot" that invites friends to visit.

See you later.