Frustration

Oh my, where do I even start?

I have a vacuum cleaner that I paid a lot of money for two years ago. It was the highest rated by Consumer Reports at the time. It was a fabulous vacuum. In April we realized it was not working properly. OK so the wonderful lady who cleans for us actually told us it wasn't working. We took it to the store where we purchased it to have it repaired. They sent it off to be repaired. It cost $200 for the repair. We brought it home. I tried to vacuum and it wasn't fixed. It still cut off every time you moved it back and forth.

OK so how do you "repair" a vacuum and test it to make sure it works and send it back and it still have the exact same problem. Obviously their test of their work isn't very thorough.

I took the vacuum back to the store and talked to a manager. He of course "understood my frustration" but of course "could do nothing" but send it back to the service center to be repaired. He assured me that they would definitely fix the problem this time and of course at no additional charge. {Like they were going to get more money from me!} The vacuum was sent back to Dallas to be repaired.

We received the call this weekend that it was ready to be picked up. Michael went to get it. He tried it in the store before taking delivery. It still doesn't work! Yes it has been sent off twice and the original problem is still a problem! So tell me what they have actually been doing with my vacuum for the six weeks they have had it? Obviously not working on it. The service center guy's response was something along the lines of "Oh, we'll have to send it back to Dallas." That was on Monday. It hasn't been sent back to Dallas because one of the many "helpful" people I talked to today was happy to tell me it was ready for pick up! I think NOT!

I've just spent an hour on the phone trying to get to a person at the location that has my vacuum. I keep entering this vicious loop of automated systems and people who are no where near my location. I've been downright rude to a few who were beyond clueless. Forty-five minutes into this process I actually got someone who sounded like he might be helpful and my phone disconnected! I about cried. I have had to resort to leaving a message on an answering machine that assures me they will call me back in 60 minutes. Why don't I believe that?

I am ready to scream. If I haven't heard from someone by the time Michael gets home I'm just going over there to talk to a person. Of course by then I'm sure anyone with authority to help me will be gone for the day and they will be so sorry they can't help me.

Can I just say I know where I won't be buying my washer, dryer, and dishwasher I need to purchase in the next six months or so? Which is a shame because the washer and dryer I really want are only sold at this store.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the phone number listed on the web site and my receipt for my local store gives me a "this phone is no longer in service" message when I try it. On on of my less helpful calls the person transferred me to the wrong store and the person at that store was actually able to give me a working number for my store. But of course that number takes me to an automated system that takes me to people off site. Ah, but I digress.

I'm sure you will hear more about this saga before I have an actual working vacuum.
Jenn

Oh Boy - I'm in Trouble!

Rehm is home from school because he is sick. The girls are finished with preschool until the fall. I'm exhausted and frazzled and out of activities and it is only 1:30pm! I have prepared 14 plates of food so far today. We have played outside. We have had school time. We have watched two TV shows. We have played with toys. We have cleaned up said toys. We have had breakfast, snack, and lunch. Right now the twins are napping and Rehm and Charlotte are having quiet time.

They are not happy about quiet time but Mommy needs to be sane and they can entertain themselves for at least on hour of the day quietly in their rooms. It isn't too much to ask. And what in the world would I do with them otherwise?

I still need to fold laundry and start a new load, make dinner, find them something for snack, clean up toys again and somewhere in all of this do a couple hours of "real" work, all while keep said children entertained, out of trouble and not glued to the TV! Is that even possible? I just don't know.

This glimpse of my summer is scaring me. Unfortunately I get another preview day tomorrow as Rehm is still running a fever on and off. I guess I really will have to take him to the doctor after all.

I will remain sane, I will remain sane. Summer won't beat me!
Jenn

Thunk!

That would be the sound of Ruby climbing out of her crib and landing on her head. I was reading Charlotte a story and Rehm was in his room. I could hear the little girls talking. All of the sudden I heard THUNK and thought "what did Rehm drop?" Then I heard screaming and knew it wasn't Rehm making noise, it was Ruby.

I ran in the girl's room to find Ruby standing in the middle of the floor crying and Eliza Claire standing up in her bed saying, "Uh oh, uh oh!" I asked Ruby what hurt and she patted the top of her head and said "head." I proceeded to do the my modified version of the concussion test for a one year old. I looked at her eyes, they looked fine. I asked what her name was, she didn't know. I asked her where Ruby was and she pointed to herself. I asked her were Eliza was, she said "Liza" and pointed to her. I asked her where Daddy was and she said "outside" - he was so at that point I knew she was fine. Then I had her walk across the room to see if she was dizzy or not, she was fine.

At that point I gave her a stern lecture about not climbing out of her bed and put her back in it. I told both girls goodnight and didn't hear anymore loud THUNKS. I wonder how long the lecture will last.

I'm not ready to have Ruby on the loose and I don't want to hear that noise again, ever...
Jenn

Independent Study

Rehm presenting his project

Since the beginning of February Rehm has been working on an independent study project for a class at school. They were studying an endangered animal. They each had a different type of sea turtle. Rehm picked the loggerhead because it is the one that comes to the North Carolina beach. The students made banks and posters asking their fellow students to donate money so they could adopt a sea turtle. They even got to read an announcement over the loud speaker. They raised enough money to adopt six sea turtles! Rehm's turtle is named Elvis and you can see where he is here.

In addition to doing their project boards, the kids also made tie-dyed t-shirts to look like their turtle, paper mache turtles, acrostics, and huge poster telling others what they can do to help the sea turtle.

Monday was the day of the big presentation. Rehm had to prepare and deliver a 10-20 minute talk about the Loggerhead. He had approximately 50 different facts he wanted to share. He also had trivia game to play with his class. His entire class came to the presentation as well as some parents and grandparents.

He did a great job and has definitely learned a lot of interesting information about the sea turtle.

Rehm's project board

Rehm wanted to play a game show with the facts he presented. He came up with the questions and I helped him make the board. Under the point amounts are the actual questions.

This is the turtle quilt that Rehm and Cici made for his project. Rehm drew the turtles, Cici cut them out of fabric and Rehm placed them on the quilt. Rehm also helped choose all the fabric and thread colors. Rehm named the quilt "Turtle Current."

It is official

I'm OLD!

Rehm and Charlotte were invited to a skating party today for our dear friend Lael's 7th birthday. I got the pleasure of being the parent to go with them.

I put on roller skates for the first time in 10-15 years. Wow! I ache from head to toe. I swear I'll be popping motrin for at least a week. And, I didn't even fall down! This is just from skating and trying to keep Rehm and Charlotte upright. At least some of the skating came back to me, but not all of it. Charlotte fell probably 30 times. She isn't complaining!

Both kids made huge progress and while they aren't zipping around the rink yet they are both able to move without holding on to the rail or someone.

For the next skating party I'm sending Michael!
Jenn

Eliza Claire and the Slide

Daddy Want a Cracker?

Happy Birthday Michael! We celebrated with a trip to A&M for a baseball game - pre-kids this was our tradition. Everyone had fun despite the fact that it was overcast, extremely windy, in the low sixties, and the game started at the same time the twins usually go down for a nap.

For more pictures from today click here.

Math, Green, and a Miletsone

Several things have come to mind today to blog about so this will be quite the eclectic post.

Math: This is from an email Michael sent me today.

When Charlotte and I were driving to preschool this morning she wanted to play "Math". So, I was giving her some straight addition and subtraction problems and some "word problems" "I have 7 apples and give you 2, how many do I have left?"). She was doing great and only slowed down when I gave her something past 10 (I think it was 9+2). She eventually got to 11 and said she was sorry it took so long but "I have to use my head a lot. I'm good with my counting numbers but not my math numbers."

Me: "You're doing great, Charlotte. And they're the same numbers"

Charlotte: "No, they're not"

Me: "How are they different?"

Charlotte: "Math numbers are autofer. You know what 'autofer' is?"

Me: "No, what is it?"

Charlotte: "Autofer things are things you have to use both hands with."

Charlotte is really into math these days and has been playing the math game in the car with me as well. From this email I now realize that I haven't been asking hard enough questions I've not done anything that adds to more than 10, no subtraction and no word problems. What a slacker I am. She is also the queen of making up words for no reason. I don't really understand the appeal but she finds it very humorous.

Green:
OK so I really would not classify myself as a green mom. I don't buy all organic. I don't pack a no waste lunch. I don't drive a hybrid and have no current plans to. I don't believe in global warming or human's roll in it. But I try to do my part where I can. As part of that I invested in some cloth grocery bags. I love them! They are so handy. Not only do they hold twice as much as a plastic bag but they are easier to pick up and carry. A friend was talking about her freezer bags she also takes with her to the grocery and I bought a couple of those, too. In my store they are located with the freezer foods. They are labeled as thermal bags and were about $2 each. I love them as well.

I have found so many uses for my grocery bags besides groceries. They are great to haul all the kids stuff (think lunch boxes, snacks, shoes, toys, etc.) to and from the car. They are great to put my work stuff in when I have stuff that won't fit in the computer bag. Today I also learned they are great to take to Sams to put all those smaller things in I needed to buy today.

While at Sams today I saw they had some of the heat and serve meals that have become my new lifesaver. They are really good, not frozen and quick. Thanks to my freezer bags in the car I was able to pick some up even though I wasn't going straight home and I didn't have to worry about them staying cold. Did I mention the other day I bought ice cream and put it in the freezer bag and left it in the car for over an hour in (80 degree, sunny weather) and it was still frozen solid when I took it out? They really are great.

A Milestone:
Ruby had a first today. Not a first most would document but I'm sure knowing Ruby a really important first that she will be glad her Mommy did.

She got her toe nails painted for the very first time! She saw me painting mine and immediately ripped off her crocs and started saying "please, please" all while sitting down shoving her feet in my face :) How could I possibly resist?

Eliza Claire was oblivious as she was busy watching Sesame Street. But I'm not sure she would have cared if she had noticed. Now turn on ESPN and she's there, but nail polish, not so much.

Have a great weekend!

Oh, and if you are a green mom and/or you believe in global warming, don't waste your time trying to convince me. Trust me I'm doing my share of research. I'm just arriving at different conclusions than you.

Jenn

Party Tricks

I discovered while Papa and Cici were here that Charlotte knows how to spell her name backwards. Papa and Cici mentioned this one day when they came home from breakfast with Charlotte. I asked them when they taught her to do that. They said they didn't she just did it. I asked Charlotte if she learned it at school. No, not at school either. Apparently she just figured it out all by herself. And it wasn't a fluke because she then did it several times for us. I think that is pretty impressive for a 4.5 year old with a nine letter name.

Fun with Four

It is times like this that make it fun to be a mom of four. I just love it when they enjoy each other and have fun together.

For those of you who don't have a high speed connection and can't see the video (Mom, I'm talking to you) this is a video of all four kids playing Ring Around the Rosie together and just running around being silly.

Plastics: A Cause for Concern?

OK in honor of Earth Day lets talk plastics. I'm starting to read more and more about BPA and Plastic #7 and not washing plastic in the dishwasher and not microwaving plastic. I hear zip top bags and thin flexible plastic is bad and hard unbreakable plastic is bad. The lining in canned goods is bad. Reusing single serve water bottles is bad.

So the question becomes how bad is it? And do I really need to be concerned or make changes? Or is this just the current media target like the egg was in the late 80s?

Here's the thing. I have four kids. They are little. They break anything that can be broken. They take lunch two or more days a week. They spill things. They throw things. They wear plates on their heads. How am I supposed to serve their food and drinks?

OK at home in theory if plastic is really bad we could go to using regular dishes and be very vigilant for the flying plate or cup and hope it didn't take too long for them to learn that they break. And hope they don't think it is hilarious when they do and do it on purpose.

But what about lunch boxes? I can't send glass to school. Everything can't be wrapped in wax paper. Plastic baggies are bad because they kill fish and leach chemicals too. I can buy stainless steel water bottles but most aren't spill proof and I could only afford one per child. What happens if it is dirty. What do I put applesauce in or other messy items that can't be wrapped in wax paper or foil?

Then there is the cost. If I were to decide to ban plastic, I would have to buy more dishes, new food storage containers, new glasses, new water bottles, etc. That costs money. The stainless water bottles I've looked at for the kids cost $15-$20 per bottle, plus shipping. That is a lot of money for something that is likely to get lost at school and has to be hand washed. Given current gas and grocery prices I don't have extra money to buy all these products.

Scientific research has not proven that BPAs are harmful to humans. They have shown that high levels of BPAs in mice/rats/whatever can cause some side effects (OK so I don't remember exactly what and I'm not going to look it up right this second but I think it is probably cancer). But didn't a scientific study show that lima beans were carcinogenic about 10 years ago? My mother still expects me to eat those so maybe I'm OK.

Michael and I were discussing this whole plastic issue and he was pointing out that there are two billion people in the world that don't have clean drinking water and we are worried about what we put our clean drinking water in. His point was that we are at the fringes of what, for the world, is the real problem. We have clean water, enough food to eat, and aren't contracting things like Malaria. We are spending a lot of time and mental energy on something that might cause something a long time from now when 2 billion people are at risk of death from their only available water source today. Hmmm. That kind of puts it in prospective. So maybe instead of spending $100 on water bottles I should send it to World Vision or another such organization that helps people get things like mosquito nets and clean water. Maybe that is where the money would do the most good.

So I don't know the answer to the question and I don't know how much I should worry about it but I think Michael has a point. If the worst thing I have to worry about is whether or not plastic might be harmful I've got it pretty good.

Happy Earth Day,
Jenn

First Grade Math

Here is one of Rehm's math problems for tonight.

Some bugs sat on a bush. Six more bugs came. Now there are 23 bugs on the bush. How many bugs were there first?

I don't remember doing this level of math in first grade. Isn't this basically algebra? What kind of math will the child be doing by fifth grade. My goodness.

Rehm had no problem figuring out the answer but of course has no clue he is doing algebra.

Jenn

Sleeping Beuaties

I snapped these yesterday when we got to school to pick up Charlotte. Don't they looks so sweet? It's amazing how deceptive sleep can be.

Ruby at her Finest

The shoes, hat and stroller were all her doing.

English Rabbit

The recipe (click on the image to view larger).

Last week Charlotte and I started reading "Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny" by Jan Karon. It is a chapter book about a stuffed bunny trying to get to America. In one chapter he encounters Mr. Pruneholt who invites him to tea. It talks about the different things they are eating and one of the dishes Mr. Pruneholt serves is English Rabbit. This of course concerned Jeremy until Mr. Prunholt tells him there is no rabbit in English Rabbit. When we turned the page there was a recipe for English Rabbit. After reading the recipe Charlotte and I decided we would like to have tea sometime and make English Rabbit. Today was the day.

Charlotte helping get tea ready

My version of a double boiler since I don't own a real one. It is a metal pan sitting on top of a pot. After the English Rabbit was done I put it in a ceramic bowl inside the metal bowl with the lid on top to keep it warm until Rehm got home from school.

Charlotte decided that Rehm could be invited to tea and made him an invitation, which she hand delivered to him at the end of the street as he was coming home from school. It took us about an hour to get tea ready. We got out the special tea set that used to be Cici's. We put cookies and bread on platters. We washed and capped strawberries. We made English Rabbit and tea. We set the table. Then we went to meet Rehm.

The table set for tea with Cici's Tea set. Notice that we had a bunny guest at the end of the table. Her name is Lisa Bunny. She is Charlotte's very special bunny friend. We made sure she knew that there as no rabbit in English Rabbit.

We all settled around the table and I poured tea with cream and sugar for everyone. We passed around the various dishes for everyone to get some. Then we visited and enjoyed tea. Charlotte thought it was all yummy. Rehm's taster didn't like the tea or the English Rabbit. At one point he said, "Mom, I think I'm just not a tea kind of boy!" We talked about where the tea set came from and that it was very special to me and that one day I would give it to one of my children so they could have tea with their family. We talked about the time I spent in South Africa and the wonderful lady that came to my office twice a day and brought tea. We read the tea party scene from the Jeremy book. We talked about Charlotte's field trip and Rehm's day at school.

Rehm trying English Rabbit

This is why I love being a mom. It is days and events like this. I don't do these things often but today I felt like a good mom. Not granted I have a sink full of dishes that have to be hand washed and a ton of work to do after the kids go to bed but it was so worth it to make a special memory for my two big kids.

Rehm's memory of this will be something along the lines of "Remember those times you forced me to do 'fancy' things with you and Charlotte like have tea parties" complete with eye rolling. Charlotte's will be more something along the lines of "remember when we read that book and it had a recipe in it and we got to try it and we made the table look nice and we used the special tea set and had our very own tea party!" complete with excitement and a suggestion to do it again.

Charlotte enjoying tea

Hopefully they will remember days like today where we do something a little different, make new memories and share our history as well.

Sunday Lunch

Growing up Sunday meant going to church and then going to my Grandparents for lunch. All three of their children and their families would be there, every Sunday.

Of course lunch always consisted of lots of yummy home cooked goodies complete with one or more desserts. Did I mention we all stayed and then had dinner together, too? Dinner consisted of whatever was left over from lunch and if it was summer might include homemade ice cream. Unfortunately the ice cream tended to be a fruit flavor and I don't like fruit in my ice cream so I didn't eat a lot of ice cream but there was usually some other dessert left from lunch that I liked so it wasn't so bad.

After lunch, we would all spend the day just hanging out together. OK the "men" watched a lot of sports, everyone read the paper and dozed and the kids all played together either upstairs or out on the farm.

Sometimes the whole family would go for a walk down in the woods on the back of the property. I always enjoyed these occasions as they usually included my grandparents telling the history of the family and the land. And they included playing in the creek and looking for wildlife. Other times we would play bat mitten or croquet or tennis together as a family. And on easter we would always go visit the cemeteries to place/pick up flowers. Of course this also included more family history lessons.

One of these Sunday Lunches is where I learned that chickens on a farm really can't be a true pet. But family time and history were wonderful.

Sunday Lunch was one of the things I missed most about home when I went to college. It is was all that I knew. When Michael and I married we started the tradition with his parents. OK we don't spend the whole day there and eat dinner there, but most Sundays we do have lunch together. Sometimes it is home cooked sometimes it is out. But it still is what makes Sunday feel like Sunday to me.

So on the few Sundays a year we don't have lunch with Michael's parents and we don't go out. It seems wrong to end up having sandwiches and chips. That is not Sunday Lunch! That is what happened last Sunday. I worked (at church). Rehm had a baseball game (not normal) and Michael and the rest of the kids went to it. Michael's parents had something else to do. On the way home from church I called Michael to ask what the lunch play was. He said "sandwiches."
I have to say I was disappointed. That just doesn't constitute Sunday Lunch in my world. I said as much and got treated to Chuy's for dinner.

I hope this is a tradition that carries on for many more generations in my family. It is one that definitely left a huge impression on me and I hope it does the same for my children.

All Four

It is extremely difficult to get all the kids to sit still for a picture together. I snapped this one last Sunday when we went to Chuys for dinner. It isn't great but it has all four in the frame and that is quite the feat these days.

Aren't Bob and Larry cute? I'm crossing my fingers that the shirts still fit at Halloween and can become their costumes, but I think they will have other ideas.

Jenn

Pig Tails

Today Charlotte wanted pigtail buns. I really don't have a clue how to style girl hair so this is my best attempt. It is not great but for a four year old it works. Then Charlotte decided that Eliza should have pig tails and Ruby decided she wanted them too. Apparently pig tails are the secret to getting Ruby to leave her hair alone. When I do one pony she has it out usually in about 5 minutes and definitely the first time she is in the car. Today she kept her pig tails in through 2 car trips and 4 hours of school! This is a record! Who would like the job of informing her she needs more hair if she wants more elaborate styles. I'm not sure she is going to like that news and she can be quite a force to reckon with when she doesn't like something...

If you have any tips on girl hair I'd love to hear them. My bun consists of putting hair in a pony tail holder and then twisting it around the pony tail holder and securing it with a second holder. I can also do pig tail braids. I have no clue where to even start with french braiding or anything more elaborate. Do they have a book for that? or a web site?

Jenn, who does much better with boy hair.

Ants!

The ants arrived in the mail on 4/4. I didn't know what to expect in the mail but I thought they would at least be in a box. But no they were in an envelope. How crazy is that? Sending ants in the mail in an envelope.

This is what we found when we opened the envelope. The ants were in a small tube taped inside a piece of foam.Rehm inspecting the ants. Rehm checking out the ant farm while waiting for the ants to cool off. We also had to make a few holes in the gel to help the ants figure out where and how to dig.

The ants in the refrigerator. Yes, they are in with the eggs and insulin (for the cat). Apparently harvester ants can sting and are very active. To get them in the ant farm you put them in the fridge for ten minutes to get them nice and cool. This slows them down significantly and gives you time to dump them in the ant farm and get the lid on before you get stung.
The ants as soon as they were dumped in the ant farm. We were successful in getting them in without any escapees or stings.

The ants just six hours after getting dumped in their new home. The instructions said it could take up to 48 hours for them to figure out how to tunnel in the gel. Apparently they sent us very smart ants. It didn't take them anywhere near that long. Michael and I had a hard time deciding where the ants should live. We wanted them somewhere easy for the kids to see but not easily accessible. We really didn't want 25 stinging ants loose in the house. We decided the best spot was on the kitchen island. We needed something sturdy to put them on so the kids could see them easily. The only thing we could find was a container of almonds. It seems kind of cruel to have them sitting on top of a container of food but it was the best solution we could find.





Tunneling after 24 hours.













Tunneling after 48 hours










Tunneling after 6 days. They are not nearly as busy now. We seem to get a new small tunnel about ever 48 hours now.


We have had the ants 10 days. They are still very neat to watch. They do not dig as furiously now and seem to have definite rest times and work times. They even have a sleeping area the created at the base of the ant farm. It is directly above the third light from the left. Everyone is enjoying learning more about the ants and watching them work. According to the directions the ants should live from 1 to 3 months. So we should have live entertainment for several weeks to come.

Jenn

Uncle!

There I said it. I give up! It just isn't going to happen this year. I kept deluding myself that I really would do it but I have finally admitted defeat. The box you see there, has been sitting on my counter for 4 months and 12 days. It contains my holiday cards. I was so proud I actually got them designed and ordered before Valentine's Day this year! Ah, the best laid plans...They came between Christmas and New Year's and life was busy so I thought I'll get to them after the kids go back to school. Then the cleaning crew "organized" my stacks and the box got put at the bottom of the stack, making it much less visible and in the way.

January came and went. I thought I'd put a cute Valentine's sticker on them and mail them in February. That didn't happen and I thought oh I'll put a cute little message on the envelop making a joke over them being late and send them at Easter. That didn't happen. Then I thought I'll send them so they arrive on April Fool's that would be clever and cute. That didn't happen. So finally this week after moving the stack and box for the umpteenth time I decided it was time to give up.

I am not super woman after all. I can't do everything. And this year one of the things that is getting skipped are the holiday cards! And I am not going to beat myself up about it. Hopefully, I'll do better next year or decide not to do them before I go to the trouble and expense of ordering them.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are having a great 2008. Here is a picture of the holiday card.

If you must have an actual copy to put on your fridge leave a comment with your email address (or just email me) and I'll put you one in the mail. Otherwise consider this your holiday card from our family.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy St. Patrick's Day, Happy Easter, Happy April Fool's Day, well you get the idea!
Jenn