I love Houston for the dirt alone!

Part of my quest to become the housewife supreme includes gardening. I'm a desert rat from Arizona so basically my gardening experience before moving away from there was...well nothing really. I never knew that grass had a dormant season. I remember being shocked when one spring morning I looked out the window (this was when we lived in Illinois) and all of our 'dead' grass was lush and green. There were no new baby blades of grass like in AZ, it just turned from brown to green. Who knew? Not me. I'm having a blast because so far everything I have planted in Houston just grows and grows. I even have to turn off my sprinklers some times because there is so much rain! Did you know that Houston has more annual rainfall than Seattle? I only know this because when we moved from Illinois, we had a choice of moving to Seattle or Houston. I would have loved to live in the Pacific N.W. but Houston's housing market is cheapcheapcheap. Ooops, I'm rambling again.

Today I planted 80 flowering bulbs in planter boxes on my back patio. I have since learned that I planted them upside-down but I'm not scared. I have faith that my blooms will find the sky in this lush-green-everything-grows-like-crazy place. The kiddo's helped me by 'holding' handfuls of bulbs and by making little holes in the potting soil with their little fingers. I love free child labor. I think I'm going to make Kimberly vacuum later on today...

I used 5 cedar plank boxes to plant everything and it looks great...you will have to trust me on that since I lost my camera. Hopefully I'll find it by the time they start growing so I can keep you all (or y'all) posted with pictures.

Peace out!

My nieces...

Jeff's sister had her baby recently and the baby got sick and had to spend a night in the hospital. :( She is better now but OMG! I can't imagine anything worse than not being in control of the health of your child. Then, my brothers wife just had a cerclage (how do you spell that???!!!??? it's a stich in your cervix to keep you from dialating and effacing) put in because she is still 20 weeks and she has started to dialate. All is well with both of them now from what I have heard recently but please pray for them if you do that sort of thing.

I just re-read my last post and I am such a whiny ass. I'm complaining of not feeling personal fulfilment with the tedium of being a stay at home mom and my nieces are struggling to be sturdy healthy little girls. If there is a God maybe this is his way of bitch slapping some sense into me. I'm still going to look into going back to school/work in August because I think a better Stella will be a better Mom but I'm going to love my babies a little more (whoa..I didn't think that was possible!!). I am thankful for little things like my son learning more little words but he still says 'Mama' way more than anything else, and for my daughter for curling her big girl body up in my lap last night and falling asleep with me. I'm just going to try to live in the moment more instead of always looking for my more exciting future. Shame on me

Aaaaaanyway...last night was fun. We had a surprise birthday party for Mr. Clay (our neighbor) and we cooked a bunch of cajun food. I love spicy food but I'm still getting used to the whole cajun thing. Carne Asada burrito ? Yes please (oh what I would do for a burrito from Filibertos in Phx!)! Crawfish boudain? Um...not so much.

Days like this...

...when I'm padding around the house while Kimmy-girl is at school and Kennen is sleeping, make me wonder why I bother being a stay at home mom anymore. I'm bored. There are only so many times I can wipe down my clean counter tops before I realize that I'm not really needed at home anymore (there is always the laundry monster to tackle but I don't really want to do that...ever!). My babies are growing into great little kids and next fall when I put Kim on the bus that will take her to kindergarten I will officially be in the next 'stage' of parenting. No more sleepless nights, no more babies wanting to nurse all day long, no more double strollers. Kennen sort of resembles a baby...he doesn't talk much and he still craps his pants but he is 35 pounds of running, jumping, throwing things at my head, 100% adorable boy.

Kimberly makes life much easier now. We were running late for preschool this morning and I heard her go into the garage and open the car door and convince Kennen to get into his carseat. By the time I poured a to go cuppa joe and found my car keys Kimberly had him buckled in his 5 point harness and buckled herself into the booster seat. I hadn't done her hair yet so I brought a brush with me and put in some quick ponytails and smelled her minty fresh breath. "Did you brush your teeth too?" I hadn't even reminded her. Such a good girl. She is so big until bedtime. Last night she kept staring at me through the banister saying that she was scared of the night. At first I was understanding and said that it's ok, the world is a ball and there can only be light on one side at a time and it's China's turn right now...go to bed. "I'm scared..." Then I lost my patience and yelled, "Get in bed before I give you something to be scared about!" Then she went running.

Anyway, I have loved being with the babies but it's time for a change. I'm looking for ideas for what to do with my life now. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Jeff wants me to do home daycare...um no thanks! I could be a nurse, I could do hair, I could just go to a temp agency and take what they give me. I just don't know...

Give me some ideas people...what do you want to be when you grow up?

Ha ha!

Jeff just called and when I answered the phone he said, "Baby, I still got it!" I guess some woman in line at the gas station just asked him out to dinner. When he told her, "I'm married" she said, "Of course you are..." and then just walked away.

I was like, "Ohhhh, poor lady. She got sucked in by your charm." Then he said, "Don't feel bad for her...she was hitting on your man."

I said that I wasn't worried and he said, "That's because I'm a loyal dog. A love sick puppy. Woof." He didn't really bark at the end. But it's funnier that way, no? Anyway, Jeff does have that effect on people. When his 'light' is shining on you it makes you feel like the most important person in the room. Maybe thats why he is so good at his job. He just found out what his raise was so I figued I would plant the seed, "Hey moneybags, if you want to buy me a new car, my birthday is just around the corner. You could put a big red bow on it." He just laughed and laughed. I know this year is get out of debt year but it was just a suggestion. I just got my tires balanced yesterday and my rust bucket doesn't shake when I'm going 60 mph anymore. Bummer. I can't wait for my car to really have something wrong with it.

I went and got a massage yesterday. I told the lady about my headaches so she focused on my back, neck, shoulders, skull. It hurt so good! She did this thing where it felt like she was trying to pull my head off my shoulders and after that my headache really started to disappear. It stayed away until I picked up Kennen from my friends house and after a little while he started to scream again. Then I felt it creeping back. Eureka! I finally found the source of my headaches. It's not quite 3 feet tall and it has a blonde mohawk. Oh yeah, it's that little man child I gave birth to 2 years ago. I love my boy...Jeff even tells me I favor him (ludacris I know... ;)) but I really wish they made baby ball gags. He just needs to hush.

OK, I have a ton on cleaning to do. Bye!

kids say the darndest things

Jeff and I were channel surfing last night and there was nothing on (that we could agree on). Just for fun we stopped when we saw a commercial for a CD called "100 greatest hymns or 'gospel tunes' or something.

I scared him with singing along with almost every song that they previewed and then he scared me by closing his eyes and waving his hands in the air.

Kimberly was excited by how much we were enjoying this commerical that when the commentator said something about 'Jesus Christ,' she exclaimed, "Mommy! That's your word...Jesus Christ!"

sweet relief

Target (pronounced tar-shay) optical called and said that my glasses were in! Woo hoo! I have been having migraines and my Dr. ordered me to get an MRI and to get my eyes checked. Um, yeah...the way our insurance works is that I would have to shell out $2000+ for the MRI. I would then meet my annual deductible and not have to pay anything else the rest of the year but 2 grand is 2 grand. I decided to try to fix my eyes first.

When I went to the optometrist there was one point during the exam that she asked me to read the lowest line of letters in the yellow box.

"Um, there are 2 yellow boxes"

"Really? OK, tell me when the 2 boxes line up." I could hear her spinning a dial. "Are they close yet?

"No...not even halfway there."

She spun the dial a little faster, "Ok...tell me when, " *spinspinspinspin*

She finally got both of my eyes reading the same box and we finished up the exam. She told me that I have one near sighted eye and one far sighted eye (I knew that!). She also told me that my left eye was the 'leader' and my right eye didn't focus on much but still had good peripheral vision. Here's the kicker. She told me that I probably always see double but my brain interperets what I see as one. She said that could definitely cause major headaches...especially if my vision recently got worse.

Yesterday, as soon as I put them on I swear I felt my brain relax. I am supposed to wear them all the time which I am ok with. She wont give me contacts until my headaches go away. I feel like a big dork but I am finally at a point in my life where I would rather feel good than look good. Look out Jeff...I'm about to start letting myself go! :)

p.s. I haven't had a headache since i put them on! Hmmm...it makes me think that I have been the grumpy one lately and not Jeff...shhhhh don't tell him!

Fabulous weekend

On Friday, my grumpy husband departed for his fishing trip in the morning and then that evening my mom arrived like a breath of fresh air! It was a quick trip. My mom never wants to be away from her husband too long...it will be 10 years of marriage for them this June and they are still like a couple of newlyweds. I told her I think it's because they never had children together. Children alone can suck the romance out of a relationship if your not careful! I love my kids but I don't want them to be more important than Jeff. They will grow up and move away and forget to call me. But it will be ok because I will always have my best friend. He's good for other stuff too...bow-chicka-bow-wow! Oh and Jeff has already promised me that he will withhold money from the kids when they are in college if they forget to call me. :)

OK, sorry for that tangent!

My mom and I spent the weekend doing things that she and I love to do together. We went out to eat a lot (something my grumpy ass hubby never will do), we spent all day Saturday shopping at Ikea. By all day, I mean we ate breakfast, we shopped, Kimmy-girl played, we shopped some more and then we had lunch. As a result of our shopping we got to come home and do our third favorite thing together...DECORATE! My guest room has been transformed from a hodge-podge of ugly bedding, no curtains and lots of paper clutter. Oh, and crayon colored walls from my little left handed dude. Now it feels like my favorite style...the modern traditionalist. Sometimes called 'Transitional". Anyway, who cares what it's called...it's a peaceful place for my guests to retreat to...or for me to retreat to when the kids get too loud.

We tucked the kids in and stayed up late drinking coffee and talking. My mom always seems to have the answer for everything. She never 'fixes' my problems for me but she always gives me so much clarity. She is proud of me. She sees all that I do and gives me credit for having an unending supply of energy. I tell her my secret is coffee. :)

She left yesterday evening and a few hours after that my very refreshed husband came home to a very refreshed wife. I didn't miss him while he was gone because he has been so crusty lately. Now he's sweet at pie and I can't wait for him to get home from work.

OK, my kids are fighting...I think Kimmy is trying to pull her brother down the stairs by his ankles...I'm out!