Not Enough Time

I was going to write a blog about the severe crush I have on my ex-karate instructor, but I have to clean the family room before I hit training. This job is seriously cutting into my blog time!

Maybe I should just do a quick milestone blog.

My 7 year old - wait, she turned 8 last week - just hit the multiplication tables at school.
My 6 year old is reading chapter books.
My 2 1/2 year old is starting to memorize board books.
My 18 month old is talking like crazy! We are up to - mama, dada, papa, uh-oh, spongebob (bumbah), up, help me (hep me), nuh-uh, oh no, sippy (ippy), butt, eyes, and block (bock)

I have never had an early talker. If you don't consider this early, please don't tell me. Let me live in my ignorance. My other kids didn't talk until after the age of two!

OH!!!! And I have lost 7 lbs! Not as much as I hoped, but I am excited because I went off the diet while Ryan was in Germany and fully expected to gain some weight. When I went back to the routine, I found I had lost 1 pound without trying! Woohoo! I guess I really am shifting the lifestyle. Very excited.

-Sara

Friday Freak Out

It was Friday. Ryan was on his way home from Germany. I had started a blog about my father's accident. MomBFF invited me to the gym with her and a male coworker of hers, we will call him John.

I decided working out was far better for my emotional state before heading to work training than obsessing over a blog about a plane crash especially since Ryan would be on a few of them all day. I left the blog half done and headed for the gym.

I had lifted weights and was finishing up my workout on the elliptical machine when one of the TVs in the room caught my eye. It wasn't the soap opera playing; it was the crawl underneath -

"BREAKING NEWS"

I only caught a few words the first time it went past - evacuated . . . emergency vehicles . . . other planes still landing and taking off.

I yelled, "WHAT!?!" and stopped pedaling. MomBFF kept going and looked at me like I was crazy. My heart jumped into my throat as I tried to process what I saw while waiting for the crawl to start over.

- Its a local news crawl
- They mean our airport
- Calm down, wait for it, wait for it

After what seemed like an eternity of "stay tuned from more coverage" and "breaking news live at noon" advertisements in the crawl, it came across again.

"A plane landed at Epply (our local airport) after reports of a fire . . . "

MomBFF watched my heart attack come on and mentioned, "Landed sweetie, it says landed, everyone is fine." But I didn't really hear her.

"Surrounded by emergency vehicles, the United Airlines plane has not yet been evacuated. . ."

Severe panic mode - Ryan flies United.

I now understand panic attacks. They suck arse. It was a full tense body, stomach on the floor, heart in your throat, ears ringing, feeling of running in circles sort of thing.

THANK GOD FOR MOMBFF - "Chicago, his plane hasn't even reached Chicago yet. He flies into Omaha later tonight, remember?"

The freak out was over. I was left feeling sick to my stomach and the tears welled up. I kept composure until I hit the locker room where I sat letting those silent tears run their course. I came back out to find John yelling at me to quit slacking. I told him to stuff it as MomBFF filled him in on the drama.

"So? That's nothing to freak out about," he insisted. Men, they are morons, but he did make me feel better. Yelling at someone feels good when you have pent up adreneline.

What have I learned? (I always have to figure out what I learned) Even though I have come to terms with the accident that caused my father's death, I guess I am always going to be overly sensitive when I see the word "plane" on TV.

-Sara

PS Ryan landed at 7ish later that night and made it home fine :)

Almost a Year

****Warning - sensitive material, may not want to read if you are hormonal today, or extra emotional****

After my father died, I found myself poring over memories and experiences. It amazes me how many moments aligned themselves at the end of his life.

We didn't discuss death often, but when it came up there were a few issues that were clear. The first was his adamant stance on open casket. He would NOT have an open casket funeral. When he was young he went to his grandfather's funeral. The image of his dead grandfather lying in the casket haunted him. He did not want any of us to have the image of him after he passed away. One time I told him, "Oh, we will have an open casket. You will be dead. You won't know the difference."

Not a single one of us had to see him after he died. The plane crash made an open casket completely out of the question. Since I make everything all about me, I am sure it was God's way of making sure I kept my father's request.

My father also worried about arguments over his possessions. When my great-grandmother passed away, there was a mad rush over to her house to clear it out. She didn't have anything of great value, but some relatives who got there first seemed to grab items just to grab them. My dad was appalled.

He later asked my siblings and me if there was anything of sentimental significance that we wanted when he died. None of us could think of anything we HAD to HAVE if he were to die. He laughed and said, "I thought for sure you would all say my ring." He was referring to a black hills gold ring with an eagle on the front. Immediately all three of us were spouting - Well yes, we will fight over the RING!!!

Once again, the plane wreck made this point moot. They never recovered his eagle or his wedding ring. My MomL told the funeral director she only wanted the rings if they showed no signs of damage due to the accident. During the wake, I pulled him aside and made sure he knew I wanted the rings even if they were simply a pool of melted gold.

He took me into an office and explained the plane went down around 9:45 PM, he arrived on the scene around 2 AM and the wreckage was still burning. There was nothing left.

I can't decide if everything lining up was fate, or if it is simply me being a pattern geek finding every possible lined up connection. Guess I will never know.

-Sara

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I love snow. I think it is beautiful. Howevah ~ enough is enough. Since the middle of December we have had a yard full of the white stuff.

First of all, I am annoyed I still have Christmas lights still on the house. Yes, we are THOSE neighbors. I will admit, there were two windows of opportunity to get them down when the roof had finally become dry, but both were work days and Ryan always said it could wait until the weekend. The weekend always brought more snow.

At least I got the pop-up Santa out of our yard as well as the lights off the little tree and the rope lights down from our entryway. Those were the only power cords I could free from the layers of ice during our one day of 50 degree weather. The blow-up snow man and penguin are still out there, but thankfully the snow has them buried. The two spiral Christmas trees are still visible, but I tried. Their cords won't budge.

Sigh, I will have to wait yet another week. If it hits March I will really have to hang my head. I have noticed that the other people in the neighborhood don't have theirs down either, but we were the only ones on our street that decorated this year. We look like the sore thumb.

Secondly, why does it snow EVERYTIME Ryan goes out of town? Shoveling really sucks arse. Thank the LORD for Bill. I love Bill. He is our retired neighbor. He was forced into early retirement due to a back injury and is chronically bored to tears. His favorite winter hobby? Attaching his snow blower with extra large blade attachment to the front of his riding lawn mower and obsessively plowing our street. He claims he only does it so HE can get out of the neighborhood, but he can't fool me. He does my driveway as well as five other neighbors. He's a sweetheart.

OH and ONE more snow story. My family cracks me up.

My brother answers a phone call from my mother:
"Hello"
"I am an AMAZING driver, do you know why? I almost got into a car accident."

How he kept a straight face is beyond me.

"What happened?"
"I was on the interstate" - she drives a very expensive, fast, non-snow friendly car, and she drives like the little old lady from Pasadena (for those who don't listen to 60s music, that is really, really fast)

"And the guy in front of me slammed on his brakes. I hit my brakes and they DIDN'T WORK!" - someone should really tell her that ice can do that when you are going 60 mph.

"There was a wall to the left of me and a car to the right of me. I started sliding all over the place and even sideways down the road, but I didn't hit anyone!!! Aren't you glad I am a GREAT driver?"

My brother politely ended the conversation without taking any shots at her. What a great son he is. He turned to me (the only part of the phone call I heard was his random yas and uh huhs) and said -

"Mom says becareful. The roads are really bad."

Thats my family. They keep me laughing endlessly.

-Sara

Stop the Ride, I wanna Get OFF!

Do you ever have one of those days? The kind of day that leaves you feeling like you have ridden the rollercoaster one too many times and then got on the tilt-a-whirl? And now you are stuck knowing you would feel much better if you just puked up the corn dog and funnel cake, but ew, you don't want to end your experience with dry heaves?

I had one of those today. It is why I am sitting here blogging at 2:30 AM when I should be in the middle of a great dream.

The day started out wonderful. The rollercoaster was treating me well. I got the big kids to school okay. The four babies were angels. I did dishes, laundry, swept, and vacuumed. Next I get the crew all down for naps by the time my sister came to watch them.

Training went well. I am amazing :) I was on cloud nine by the time I headed to school to grab the big kids. Then the tide turned.

Grabbed the big kids, raced home, rushed my son into his wrestling clothes, jumped back in the car, got him to practice with two minutes to spare, went to the bank, got there five minutes after they closed, stopped at MomBFF for cash, grabbed dinner on the run, picked up my boy, came home, fed the babies, tended to so many kid problems my food got cold, took a phone call from my mother asking about lunch with my daughter tomorrow, realized I didn't pick up cupcakes for her birthday, read a book to one kid while trying to change a diaper, enforce a time out, and inspect brushed teeth, THEN after I get three kids in bed, my sister needs help getting insurance quotes, oh now SingleBFF needs help figuring out her maximum GPA capabilities this semester, I find a moment to eat between IMs and after struggling for a half hour to get the fourth child in bed, I get a moment to breath. (I have no idea how you working mothers do it, seriously)

Of course what do I decide to do to wind down? I made the mistake of watching some emotional TV programming. Tears. Tried to go to bed but couldn't sleep. Looked at the clock and decided to grab the laptop. It is 9:30 AM in Germany. Good thing Ryan loves me enough to talk me down.

I have decided the lesson for today is - Don't make a huge life change while your husband is out of the country. If you do, at least turn off the phone, send the kids to bed early, don't answer IMs, and stick to sitcoms.

-Sara

Today is the Big Day

I start training today!! I am super excited. It feels like the first day of school. I am slightly disappointed about the dress code. They told me jeans and t-shirts are fine. I was hoping for an excuse to dress up! I am still going to wear my slacks and button down. And my new shoes! I NEEDED new shoes. Don't we all?

Wish me luck!

-Sara

Quick Update

Turns out I had strep throat. Ryan made me a doctor appointment yesterday after I woke up with pain in my left ear. He said enough is enough and go in to see someone. I did, and now I am on meds. Both babies are on meds as well. They had swollen glands and since I tested positive for strep, they didn't bother testing the babies.

It was adorable. They checked the baby's ears and nose and eyes and throat and sufficiently ticked him off. Then when they went to check me over, he started yelling and swatting at the doctor! He was trying to protect me. So sweet! I love that little guy.

Ryan left for Germany today. I start training for my job on Monday.

It is going to get busy around here! Hope everyone has a great weekend. I have to get back to chores.

We are playing the laundry roll playing game. I am MaryLou from Louisiana, and my babies are BettySue and HenryLee. The older two are Jenna and John. We are getting ready for a week long treasure hunt so we HAVE to get all the laundry done before we can pack. It is hilarious to hear them attempt southern accents.

-Sara

But I'm feeling MUCH better now

Date night was fun! Ryan pulled into the driveway right in time to pack up the kids for grandma's house and head out to the show. The drive downtown wasn't the greatest. I was getting over being sick and hadn't eaten much that day. I will admit, I was hoping for a nice dinner beforehand, but knew we were cutting it too close. Weird phenomenon - my body became queasy at the mention of fast food. It didn't even want a healthy sub shop.

So there we were, driving to our first Broadway show since our fateful, love-sparking show we saw nearly four years ago, and I am stuck in a bitter mood.

I literally went from a mature thirty-one year old, married with four kids woman, into a jilted, spoiled, Disney princess brat in two seconds flat. I huffed and whimpered as I drove. I hate driving on date night. It's the boy's job. Of course Ryan had offered to drive, but we were pressed for time and he drives like a little old lady. I wasn't handing over the keys to that slow poke.

He tried asking me what was wrong. I kept saying a woman standard, "Nothing, I am just starving." Ryan came up with some great food suggestions, but it wasn't about food anymore. I couldn't have my dinner out, and I was refusing to accept less. However, I did stick to woman etiquette. I lied about what was bugging me. I told him thanks but my stomach wouldn't let me eat. Half true I suppose. He didn't need to know I was in the middle of a stubborn fit. If he was any sort of REAL man, he would KNOW how to fix me without having to ASK me! Duh.

Then he kept making it worse, "We will find you something. You will be fine." I didn't WANT to be fine. Men, sheesh.

At one point I literally said, "I don't know where your new positive take on life is coming from, but it is starting to seriously piss me off!" Wow, yeah, I am glad I was driving and didn't have to see his face. He was probably holding back a chuckle. He always laughs at me when I get pouty. I am sure you can guess how much laughing helps my mood.

Once we got downtown everything took a turn for the better. We found a spot on the street right in front of the theater. We saved eight bucks in parking! Ryan bought me a three dollar cookie and a five dollar vodka/cranberry drink. It lightened me up quite a bit. Thank goodness he has enough man skills to ignore me at times. Date night could have gone horribly wrong.

The show was amazing and I had a great time.

Well, except for the scene where Christine sings to her dead father. Yeah, no one warned me. I became a mess, but I snapped out of it by the next scene. I called my sister and yelled at her for not giving me the heads up since she is a Phantom fanatic.

"You didn't KNOW!"
"NO!!!"
"You used to listen to the CDs with me all the TIME! How could you not know?!?"
"I dunno"
"You really don't pay attention do you?"
"um, yeah, not so much."

Oh well, it was still amazing. Next show on my list: Les Miserables. I have seen it, but Ryan hasn't. It is my second favorite. Maybe next time I can be a grown up for the whole night!

-Sara

Mommy's Okay, Mostly

I hate being sick. I get whiny. I loathe being sick when Ryan is out of town. There is no one to listen to my whining. I guess I can whine here . . .

My glands are swollen, my temp won't go lower than 100.4, my body aches every time I cough, and it is really hard to stick to my diet when my throat is killing me. I keep eating those calories, however, because I know if i don't I am just going to pay for it later.

The two year old is my entertainment. She lines up her toys and talks to them dramatically. Yesterday was a performance of "where'd the crabby patty go?" It was very suspenseful.

The baby is my cuddle monkey. He plays nicely for a while, then climbs into my lap to make sure I am still alive. He pokes at my nose and eyes and says, "k? k?" I answer, "Yes, mommy's okay," and he promptly gets down to play again.

My oldest has been my savior! She cooked diner for me last night. She carefully read the directions on the frozen diners and nuked four of them. Then she handed them out to each kid, warned them they were hot and even got sippies for the two little ones. She got big cuddles from me later. She begged me to let her cook noodles or scrambled eggs, but I told her no stove by herself until she is eight. "Mom, I turn eight next week!" Crap. I told her I meant ten :)

My other child, he has become the disappearing boy. I went looking for him last night after getting that weird mommy vibe since he was gone a long time and very quiet. He was up in his room playing nicely with some toys and books. I guess being sick has thrown off the mommy-dar.

I am surviving, but it sucks arse! Ryan comes home tonight. We have tickets to see a show, but I have to admit I would much rather curl up with a good book, my mp3 player and seven pillows. I'll let you know who wins.

-Sara

I can stop freaking out about weight!

I have been dying to get below the ex-husband weight. Today I am officially there! Four pounds gone forever and only 49 to go! This week I can stop calling myself Jolly Sara.

Now the task becomes losing baby#4 weight. I am hoping to accomplish this in two weeks, but I know it is healthier to hit the mark in three. What I want to know, is why, if it is only healthy to lose two pounds a week, do the contestants on biggest loser go for double digits? Is it because they have doctors on staff? Maybe I should get my own team. The interview process might be fun . . .

-Sara

Thanks Babe! I Love You Too!

Husbands drive me nuts when they are trying to be helpful. I was sick on Saturday. He was very thoughtful and sent me to take a four hour nap. That part was wonderful. In the meantime, my mother called to have my older son come spend the night. I wake up to find him gone. No problem yet.

The next morning, however, I meet up with her at church. My son is wearing extremely worn jeans and a t-shirt two sizes too big. Turns out my lovely husband let him pack his own bag for the overnight. Thank goodness he brought a toothbrush! I had to listen to my mother mention, "I think it is great that you are going to the gym every other day now, but don't you think you should make laundry a priority? He said he couldn't find any clean clothes."

Mortified. That boy had clean clothes. Sheesh!

Oh, and while I am on a husband rant. He needs to stop telling people I am going back to work for goofy reasons. He told one set of people I got a job so I can get a new minivan that has seats which turn to face the rear. Yes, I would love one of those, but I am happy with my current paid off van thank you very much.

He told another set of people that I am getting a job because I am turning into my mother. Which to him means I want gobs of money for shopping. LMAO!!! While it is true I would LOVE to have extra money so I don't have to say, "honey . . ." everytime there is a craft sale, in reality I spend less money on shopping than any other woman I know. What is he talking about?

Tonight I mentioned to my mother-in-law that my younger daughter is signed up for the 2008-2009 school year for half day preschool. Ryan made an off the cuff comment about, "Well, this is assuming she keeps her job and can afford it." UGH!!! Don't make it sound like I need to work. Preschool was in the budget before I talked about this job.

Men - weirdos. I assume it is his way of making conversation with people while keeping our personal stuff private. I should start piping up with some nonsense of my own -

"I have to build up my Just-In-Case-I-Decide-To-Leave-Ryan fund."

"The deal is I work for a year, then I get to conceive twins."

"Ryan is making me pay for my own boob job."

"I'm not really getting a job. It's my cover for the affair."

-Sara

The Results are in . . .

I have the results of the polling! No, I am not talking about Hilary and Barack. I mean the baby question! The question I asked the blog readers was "Should Sara have another baby?" This was your response:

Yes absolutely, she should have a few more - 35%
Sure, she has four, what is one more - 35%
No, four is a good even number - 21%
ABSOLUTELY NOT! She has too many already - 7%

I wasn't going to show Ryan the poll, but unfortunately he caught a glimpse of it a few days ago when he was walking past my computer.

"Do your readers HATE me or something?" He wasn't impressed.

BUT I WAS!!!! I was extremely excited to see that over 2/3rds voted on my side! More babies! Thanks so much to those of you who voted. I will have to put another poll up soon. It was fun!

- Sara

oh, and PS - to the person who voted the fourth option . . . I know who you are, I know where you live, and don't worry, when I have another kid I will still watch yours too :)

Watch Out, Sara's in a Mood

I don't remember PMS being this horrible before the second set of kids. Ryan might remember differently, but this time around I am snapping at everyone in the house!

I probably would not have even noticed it, but I caught myself yelling at the baby. My older two shot each other a look that seemed to say, "we better get outta here, she is even yelling at her favorite kid!" and they took off.

Lately I have been watching my cycle like a hawk . . . refer to ChitChatMoms episode #34. Anyone else out there with a long cycle? I am sitting at 31-32 days. While I don't mind waiting an extra few days for the mood swings, the bloating, the having to mess with strange contraptions, etc, it does feel like hormones are simply BURSTING by the time we get to it.

Last night I went from happy to angry to sad to enraged to indifferent to adoring to bitchy to giggly to exhausted in roughly 45 minutes. Maybe I should head back to the gym today and work off some hormones.

- Sara

Why we love SingleBFF

Just a typical night watching Project Runway

SingleBFF - Why am I SO RETARDED!?!?!
MomBFF - Ooooo! Oooooo! (raising her hand)
Me - We ask ourselves that EVERYDAY
SingleBFF - I hate my life, shut up
MomBFF - that's why it is a bad idea when cousins marry
SingleBFF - what?
MomBFF - forget it
Me - she said, "that's why it is a bad idea when cousins marry"
SingleBFF - who are cousins?
MomBFF - your PARENTS
Single - my parents? are cous . . . no they aren't

By now we were laughing hysterically
SingleBFF - I don't understand
Me - What are you doing that makes you retarded?
SingleBFF - I can't figure out Oregon Trail
Hysterical laughter starts up
MomBFF - what's more retarded, that you are trying to play Oregon Trail, or that you can't figure it out?

While MomBFF and I tried to figure this out, SingleBFF answered for us:
"Geezuz, why isn't this working?"

And we still don't understand why she was playing Oregon Trail.

-Sara

No School Today, Yay . . .

These sentences literally came out of my mouth today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, while eight kids roamed my house.

"Get that block of cheese out of your mouth! We slice it first!" - spoken to the 16 month old

"Who taught the baby how to open the fridge???"

"We have 47 weebles, are you really going to freak out because you can't find the yellow knight?" - spoken to the first and second graders

Through a door - "You will have to wait. I can't get the mp3 player away from the baby until I am done in the potty."

"In this house we don't draw initials into our peanut buttered toast. Sorry, it is just one of my rules."

"Absolutely no moon sand while babies are awake!"

"Nap time . . . . alright alright alright . . . bust out the moon sand"

"Yeah, you are right, not enough moon sand for four people, go grab the play doh too" - they were in heaven

"What do you mean your underwear got sucked down the toilet" - my poor niece had a meltdown, I promised her we would get her new ones (she was changing clothes in the bathroom).

- Sara

Ignorance is Bliss

WOW, I am HUGE!!! I knew I wasn't skinny anymore. Skinny ended LONG ago, which is why I joined a fitness center. At the gym yesterday I decided I might as well step on the scale and get a good starting reference. I think my eyeballs nearly popped out of the socket! No wonder my son calls me big mama! Great, now I have to break up with SingleBFF. I can't be seen with that skinny bitch anymore. Sheesh. Why didn't anyone TELL me I was growing at an enormous rate?

I suppose my mother has tried. She slips it in from time to time. Not outright, no, she is sneaky. She says things like, "I bought these pants for you, I THINK they will fit" or "Look at this picture of you in junior high, man you looked good." Unfortunately I never listen to my mom about size or weight. She is 4' 11" and 110 lbs soaking wet. She enjoys my junior high looks because that is the last time I was her size. Guess how much she weighed on the day she delivered me. 120! I only know because when I went to the doctor my junior year of high school and stepped on the scale I heard her say, "WOW, I wasn't even that big when I was nine months pregnant with you!" Thanks Mom!

I grew up not caring about my weight. I knew I was active, taught dance and although I am a sucker for sweets and fast food, I generally ate healthy. In my early twenties I was a full time dance teacher, and while not smoking hot skinny, I was adorable. Marriage added ten lovely pounds. When I got pregnant with baby #1 I didn't care how much weight I gained as long as I didn't hit my husband's weight, forty more. Thankfully I didn't, and six weeks after delivery I was back down to pre-pregnancy size. Teaching dance 20 hours a week helped. I wasn't so lucky after baby #2. He added ten pounds. Baby #3, ten pounds. Baby #4, you guessed it, another ten.

I was still okay, ten pounds under my worst fear. Then I stepped on that scale yesterday. I am THIRTEEN pounds heavier than I thought. Three pounds over the dreaded ex-husband weight.

For those who aren't number geeks - I have 53 pounds to lose to attain a healthy fit body. Sigh. That is how much my oldest weighs. I'll keep you posted.

- Jolly Sara

Newly Amended House Rules

For those of you with young children under the age of three, here are some rules you can look forward to possibly implementing!

1. The previous rule "If someone says 'please stop,' the person has to stop" is now amended to the following - If it involves your body, ex: hitting, tickling, poking your nose, splashing you, etc., you may tell them in a nice voice to please stop and they have to stop. If someone's words or singing or other goofiness is bothering you, you are allowed to ASK them to please stop. If they don't, please ignore them or move to another room. It is unacceptable to yell, "please stop, Please Stop, PLEASE STOP!" or "please stop telling me to please stop."

2. The previous rule "Respond to the parents with either yes sir or yes ma'am" is now amended to the following - You must respond with yes ma'am/sir when given a direction. This phrase needs to be spoken clearly and at a level audible to human beings. This phrase will be followed by actually completing the direction and coming back to confirm the task was completed. It is unacceptable to yell, "I SAAAID yes MA'AM!!!" or, "Yes ma'am, BUT . . ."

3. If you don't flush the toilet, you owe mommy a quarter.

4. If you leave the front door open, you own daddy a quarter.

5. The previous rule "Change your underwear every morning" is now amended to - Change into CLEAN underwear every morning and after showers.

6. The previous rule "Put your seat belt on when you first get into the car" is now amended to - Get in the car, shut the door, sit with your buns against the back of the seat, buckle your seat belt, leave the shoulder belt on your shoulder, stay facing forward with your back against the seat, do not play with the headrest in front of you.

And most importantly -

7. All booger picking and playing with your privates must be done in your bedroom. No one wants to see it!!!!

- Sara

Ho Hum, Fitness Fun

So I walk into a fitness center with my sister, a facility my brother highly recommended. She wants to get more flexible. I want to get my energy levels back to keep up with the kids. Okay, I'll be honest. Sex was WAY more fun when I had my dance teacher energy. The baby is out of the bedroom. It is time to recapture the moments like drunken pacman night. But anyway - My sister and I figured it would be an uneventful trip to find out details on the membership plans. We were wrong.

My stereotyped vision of fitness centers is a building full of overly upbeat individuals ready to sign you up for the world as well as pushy trainers who hound you to get personal circuit routines. "We want to pump (clap) you up!" That is not what we encountered.

We walked in and were practically ignored. Me, ignored!?! After a few minutes of us hanging back trying to figure out if we were suppose to approach the woman behind the desk, who was already talking to a young couple, or head to the young lean man behind the counter trying desperately to find something to make him look busy, he finally made eye contact with us. No greeting, no can I help you, just a look on his face that told me he was half hoping we weren't expecting him to talk to us.

My sister and I exchanged looks and walked over to the counter as he finally uttered with a forced friendliness, "Do you need something?" We clearly looked like we had never entered this building before, "We were hoping someone could show us around."

Now he showed even less interest in us. He explained he was only the personal trainer, but the woman at the desk would be able to help us soon. We figured we would help him be helpful, "Tell us about the personal training." His response - "I do it." We gave up on him.

When the desk lady was done a few moments later, she approached us and began her exciting tour. She stayed about two steps ahead of us, which made hearing her above the hum of machines next to impossible as she pointed out areas along the way. It consisted of, here are these, here are those, over here is the stretch area. Thanks lady, we would have NEVER figured that one out with a big sign that said, "stretch area."

Although she did turn around and face us as she mentioned the tanning bed. Yes darling, we can tell this is where you spend your time. You look like you have cow hide underneath that inch layer of makeup. "oh, but that is a separate charge." Lady, do I look like I am going tanning anytime soon? I am neon white with enough love handles to render the tanning bed incapable of an even tan. Really, just keep walking.

"Do you have kids?" ROFLMAO. Do I have kids? Do you see this post-pregnancy belly that I haven't gotten rid of in 16 months? Of course you don't see it, you don't make much eye contact. You probably don't know what a post pregnancy belly looks like. I forgave her.

"Yes, lots of them." It was the first time she cracked a smile. It was the first time I had to look serious so she could understand I was being literal.

As we sat down at the desk she pulled out a price sheet, but she only covered the month to month rate. She went on to discuss hours of operation and offered us a free trial week. When my sister mentioned she was leaving town for a week, the lady said she would have to talk to her manager about delaying her week until she got back. "oh, is he here?" her response - "no, he doesn't come in until noon. He makes me work the 4am - 12pm shift, it definitely isn't the one I wanted, but what are you going to do. I needed the job." Was this girl for real?

We didn't have many questions at this point but as we were getting ready to leave she said, "I know you probably don't want to pay this, but my boss says I have to mention this other option . . . " and she went into a quick spiel about the year up front rate. HELLO, this is your idea of customer service? Do we look broke or something? We are the perfect people to talk to about this option. We pay for our car insurance a year at a time to knock a hundred bucks off the policy. We crunch our budgets to pay off our cars within the first two years to avoid interest, and that is only if we didn't have the cash to pay up front. We exchanged glances again, shook her hand, and exited the building.

After we laughed our way to the car we realized this is exactly why our brother joined this gym. They obviously don't bother you, don't up sell you, and leave you to work out in peace.

. . . We are going back next week to sign up :)

- Sara

Dads Do it Differently

I can't blog long because I have to get to the store while the baby is napping (don't worry, Ryan is home), but I wanted to drop a line about my frustrations with my oldest daughter.

She has been struggling to get school works done on time. It is irritating for me since these works can't be completed at home as they use Montessori materials to do them. Every week I talk to her about work ethic, learning to work through distractions, how to be less OCD, etc. Yeah, no big changes.

Then RYAN opens the work plan (comes home for parent signatures and keeps track of such items) and says, "unacceptable, get caught up, or you are grounded, stay caught up or no skiing on our Colorado trip," and now she is a working fool.

Not fair!

. . . and why didn't I have him do that six months ago . . .

- Sara

Surpise, It Works

My furnace went out yesterday. 28 degrees was the high and my furnace goes out. Great.

In the morning I noticed it was slightly colder in the house, but I figured Ryan turned it down. At noon I put the baby down for a nap, and when he woke up an hour earlier than usual, I started to suspect something was up. The poor baby was freezing. I picked him up and went to check the thermostat.

Even though it was set at 68, it was showing the house at 65. I am guessing the boys room was down into the 50s. We immediately called a heater repair person, but we would have to wait until 5:30.

After I picked up the big kids from school, it was getting frigid. I forced two layers on all seven kids and asked Ryan to attempt a fire in the family room fireplace. We have been in this house for nearly two years and have yet to light anything in either fireplace. Our excuse? Bats.

Our first spring we heard the strangest screeches coming from the fireplace. We thought for sure we would have to call someone out to remove a nest before we tried it out. We decided to risk it and lit a few logs since we didn't hear anything last spring. Ta Da! It worked. I love a good fire. Too bad we didn't have marshmallows.

I guess it was a blessing in disguise. Fixed the furnace for under $200 and found out our fireplace works just fine!

- Sara