Planning an outing, and a few other things

Most Saturday nights I have a group of people from my church that I meet with, but this coming Sat. is not a meeting night. My husband will be working, and normally that means I'd just stay home. However, I figured that I'd probably be in great need of a break (because, when am I not?) and scheduled the babysitter to come over during the usual time.

Now I'm plotting what it is that I'll do during my break.

In some ways it's nice to get away alone. You can go where you want and do what you want without being nice to someone else who may or may not want to do the same things. On the flip side, it can be a little lonely and make you feel a little bit loserish to sit at a restaurant all by yourself. Know what I mean?

I've actually started making myself a little list of things that I would like to do. So far I'm planning to:

go shopping for a few clothing items,

look for a book for my daughter about growing up (something that covers pubery and body changes, but doesn't give tons of details about sex--any recommendations?),

and go see The End of the Spear. (yes I've heard about the " controversy" and yes I'm going anyhow)

It's a more exciting night out than I can usually manage to plan, so I guess it could be said that I'm moving in the right direction. Now if I could get over the feelings of guilt that I have for spending money this way, I'd really be doing well.

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In other late-breaking news, I'm starting to chicken out on my plans to take belly dancing classes! You see, earlier when I got this idea into my noggin, I thought it was just a one-time thing on a Saturday. Now I find out that either they changed the plan or I misunderstood, because it's actually a once-a-week class for a couple of months, with a big belly dancing recital or something at the end!!! OH LORDY YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

When I thought I would take the class I was planning on wearing comfy pants and a t-shirt. Just recently it occurred to me that they may actually expect me to *reveal* my belly....and, well, let's just say that this simply cannot happen.

Now, I know there is probably somebody out there that would say to me, "Oh don't you worry about it! There will probably be 300-pound belly dancers there are you will look positively petite in comparison!" Yeah, well, that argument doesn't work for me at the beach, and it doesn't work for this either. There is no. way. that I could consider doing this recital business in "traditional belly dance costume" as the class description reads. I'm sorry, but this belly has no business seeing the light of day.

So, I don't know what's going to be the outcome. I don't think it's even possible for me to attend the classes because of my husband's work schedule. And, you know, I really wanted to be able to add "bellydances" to my list of hobbies and interests in order to further my preferred style of being a human paradox. What's a girl to do?

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In my quest to see if I can get some alone time at home, I took a baby step today by actually *asking* a person that does childcare in her home if she might be available for this. She is going to get back to me about it.

The first step is always the hardest, right?

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A two year old carrying juice is a bad omen.
~dollymama, 2006

How to really make the most of a weekend on your own with 6 kids

First, get a babysitter on Saturday night and get out of the house. Stop at a drive thru on the way home for a bite to eat just for kicks. Go home to a houseful of sleeping children.

Second, spend a little time on the internet until one of your kids throws up on his bedroom carpet. Then let him come sleep in your bed while you clean it up. You can't make a little kid sleep in a barf-smelling room, can you?

Third, get some shut-eye...but only for an hour or two. Don't forget to wake up and clean up your kid and bed after he pukes there too! Decide that you'll definitely be missing church in the morning now that you've got a serial vomiter on your hands. Comfort yourself that at least you'll get to sleep in late.

Fourth, forget all about the sleeping in thing when a knock comes at the door at 6am and you remember that nobody remembered to call the hubby's carpool ride to say that he didn't need a ride today. Drag your bedraggled self to the door to tell him on the spot instead.

Fifth, try to remain cheerful as the children start waking up one at a time prior to 7am. Make helpful breakfast suggestions without opening your eyes.

Sixth, after a successful day of vomitless interaction, get 4 of the 6 children nicely tucked away in bed on schedule. Hunker down for a relaxing movie while you catch up on laundry folding.

Seventh, try not to let it bother you that while you were folding laundry and laughing at the movie, your family room was filling up with water. Spend the next hour and a half bailing water out of your house, wet/dry vac'ing with a pitiful 1-gallon sized vac, and find that the hubby plugged up both outlets for your All Dry system with socks and mesh in order to be helpful and keep mice out. Thanks, honey!!! (Take socks out of drain pipes and watch the water come rolling out.....)

Eighth, treat your famished self to a midnight snack and tell your story on your blog. The blogosphere always listens, you know! Prepare for a restful night's sleep on your unmade bed since the making-of-the-bed got set aside for the water festival, and now a child is sleeping upon it. Comfort yourself that it won't be so bad, though, because you're only going to get 5 hours of sleep before having to get the children up for school!

(** would it be very bad of me to just not set my alarm and take the kids into school late? I am seriously considering it.....)

Attention Book Lovers

I found out about a cool new site called Paperbackswap.com where you can agree to trade your paperback books with other people. Basically you just sign up and register 9 of your own books that you are willing to send to other people in the club. Just for registering your books you automatically get to request three books from other club members. When you request books they are mailed to you for free, and when someone requests your books, you mail them to that person. (normally under $2.00 to mail a paperback)

I love stuff like this! And since I know there are many book lovers and homeschoolers that come here, I thought you'd want to know about it. Right now the site is fairly new and membership is free. In the future they plan to have some sort of fees.

Check it out here!

What do these items have in common?

a plastic fireman figure
2 lunchboxes needing to be cleaned out
stickers stuck in inappropriate locations
a sock that was retrieved from inside the underwear of my youngest child
a dirty block


(answer: They are all sitting on my kitchen table. GAH!)

One Thing I'll Miss

Parents of young children know that older folks like to remind them that even their darkest moments of parenthood will be mourned and missed once the children are grown.

Frankly, I don't believe it. Maybe it's true for people who didn't have as many children as they wanted, or didn't spend very much time with their kids. I'm not exactly sure. Maybe some people just don't like to appreciate where they are. I do know that for me, after the intense years I've spent doing time in mothering of youngsters, toddlers, and babies, I doubt I'm going to be regretting much that's over and done with. I've lived in the moment, I've lived as full as I could. I've relished the good and loathed the bad consciously and completely. And when it's done, I'll enjoy what comes next.

The other day I did find one thing, however, that I believe I will miss when the kids are all grown. It's the notes.

The notes. You know the ones--the ones that are scrawled in shaky writing with adorable misspellings and classically childish communications on them.

I love those. They are dear and I will start looking forward to getting them from grandchildren once I don't receive them from my own children any more.

The other day my daughter wanted to earn some money working around the house, so I made her a list of jobs she could do, and amount that I would pay for each job listed next to it. When she was done she gave back the list with the jobs crossed out that she had done, and then the "toetall" which was $5.00. Totally. Cute.

Who Says You Can't Learn Anything From TV?

As many of you probably remember, we don't have TV here in Dollymamaville. We're just not good at limiting our TV watching hours when we have it available to us, so we just have none. Except, of course, for the fact that we do have the ability to watch DVDs, and so we get Netflix, and from there I borrow some TV shows. I'm always at least a few seasons behind everybody else, but since I don't really talk TV with anybody, it works out ok.

Recently my sister recommended that I check out The Apprentice since she thought I would enjoy it. We've worked our way through the first three discs of season 1, and I am not only finding it entertaining, but educational as well. I am learning from seeing a wide variety of business challenges approached in various ways, and in turn, it sparked some thinking on my part, about moving my business to a more successful level.

Basically I realized that I could work on getting distributors to take on my product, and also I could hire sales reps to work straight commission. Neither would cost me any money up front, and either/both of these options overcome the limitations and weaknesses that I have.

So, I'm excited! New options! Thinking outside the bitty box in my head. Yay!

I've been tagged!

So blame it on Solar Grin if you don't like it!

Another Meme :

Four jobs you have had in your life

1. waitress
2. Life Fitness Center manager
3. merchandiser at a major dept. store
4. Tupperware lady! (I was even a manager and had a company minivan!)

4 Movies You Could (or have) Watch Over and Over

1. Meet The Parents
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Crash
4. The Patriot

4 Places You Have Lived

1. Clay
2. Skaneateles
3. Rochester
4. Kentucky

4 TV Shows You Love To Watch
(when I borrow them from Netflix since we don't have TV here)

1. Survivor
2. Lost
3. The Apprentice
4. The Amazing Race

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation

1. Disney World
2. South Carolina
3. North Carolina
4. Gatlinburg

4 Websites You Visit (almost) Daily
1. yahoogroups
2. my hotmail accounts
3. Mom to the Screaming Masses
4. The Big Yellow House

4 Of Your Favorite Foods
1. pizza
2. ravioli
3. guacamole
4. oranges

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now

1. getting a massage
2. taking a nap
3. on a cruise--alone!
4. getting a facial

4 Bloggers You Are Tagging

1. Razorback Mama
2. Heather's Thoughts
3. From Under The Laundry Pile
4. The Misguided Sainthood of Mrs. Kleiner

Tour Starts Now

Would you like to go on a tour with me? Today we're touring sites of those that commented here for de-lurking week. There are some great sites to see. :)

Heth's kid has given me the idea that I might just want to leave scissors around the house in hopes of getting this much entertainment value from it.

Sheryl has a cool idea in her sidebar about getting involved in the blogging community to bless people. I love her idea. Check it out. (Hey Sheryl--I want to know how you got your name in the comments to click directly to your site instead of to your profile.)

Carmen cracked me up with her comment to a stranger about her daughter's likelihood of getting abducted.

Mimi has a nice variety of things to talk about at her blog. I love variety! :)

You can get to know Suzanne by reading her Thursday 13 memes.

Alecia has an interesting post on rage which I loved because it says things a lot of bloggers won't.

You can see Heather's adorable family and read lots of amusing stories here.

Thanks for De-Lurking! I'll be coming by your blogs more often to return the favor. (I don't get out much, but I think I can probably handle this.)

Time to De-Lurk!

Alright all you lurkers...this is the week to make yourself known. Leave a comment, if you please!

(It's almost the end of De-lurking Week and I'm just now deciding to get on the bandwagon. Part of me likes to get involved in this kind of thing, the other part of me wants to just blog on and not worry about who's reading or how much traffic I have. Also, of course there's the fear that nobody is reading and nobody wants to comment! Ah well, I'm going to be brave in this little thing......)

Chuckle Du Jour

My 9 year old daughter just came to me to ask:

"Mom, could you please send a note to my teacher tomorrow? I want you to ask her to move my seat. Right now I have to sit next to Nellie Olsen, and she has poison ivy AND ringworms!"


hahahahahahahahaahahahaahahahahahaahahahahaaha

A Burst of Happiness

In the past few days I've had a burst of happiness, which is nice considering that I've felt under a dark cloud for awhile now. The main thing that's brought me glee is an egroup for members of my high school graduating class. We've had a resurgence of chatter there, some new classmates found the group and joined, and it's been non stop laughs and fun to reconnect with these people. What. A. Hoot. It's been good for my heart, to laugh and remember.

I wonder what it would be like to go back and be in high school for a day or week.....

I recently finished a cool book: Plan B by Anne Lamott. This is my first read of any of her stuff and I think I'll be back for more. Although her style is her own, the way she communicates reminds me of Anna Quindlen in some ways. Basically that although I don't agree with everything I'm reading, I get the feeling that I'm having a conversation with a person who I can really respect, and that I can appreciate taking time to see their perspective. Quindlen's book Loud and Clear is one of my favorites.

For those of you that follow my reading reviews, you'd think I'd be sick of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. But you know what? I've recently found myself actually *missing* the characters. I'm thinking of rereading the entire series. I rarely reread anything, so that's really saying something if I loved it all enough to read all 6000 pages again. I do!

I got the IRS paperwork out of my hair earlier this week, so that's one rotten thing off of my mind. For the rest of the week I'm just enjoying trying to get my house cleaned up for two rounds of company coming this weekend. I'm so glad I'm done looking for papers. For now. After this weekend I need to start pulling together all the paperwork for taxes. The only bright spot to that is the refund we're likely to get.

Til next time......I hope each of you finds a burst of happiness today!