Adventures of the Mister

I'm going to go ahead and tell you now that I can't believe it's March. Time is flying past me way too quickly. We've just been so busy with things that I haven't even had a chance to notice the days just floating away from me. There have been about a dozen things I've wanted to jump on here and tell you all about but then life happens. And I have the attention span of a squirrel...so I forget...and the posts get lost in the recesses of my brain. (It's sad, I know. I'll try to work on that.)

But!

I couldn't resist showing you pictures from the trip the mister went on recently. I unfortunately did not get to go. And this is me with pouty face because that place is amazing!!But someone has to stay here and mind the laundry piles. I have learned over the years that the laundry does not clean itself. ((And again...this is 2015...why hasn't someone invented a way for that to happen yet??))

Anywho. He got to go to Newquay, which is pronounced "new-key"...kind of like "hey, man I've got a new key" lol. Don't pronounce it "new-quay" or you'll just look like a crazy American. (Don't ask how I know this.) But yes, he got to go and since I did not, he brought me pretty pictures to live vicariously through them. 

((That's a lot of mussells!))

But he also brought me what has become my new favorite British thing. It's food, of course. Lol Because right now I'm enjoying as much of the Brit food as I can, seeing as how we don't have forever to eat it.

This is clotted cream....and it amazing! It kind of sounds like it would be like whipped cream (or at least that's what I thought before I saw it). But it's kind of like sweet butter. But not. I don't know. But it's soooo good! 

It's going to be one of the foods that I (for serious) miss when we leave because you can't get real clotted cream anywhere but here. And the good stuff comes from Cornwall (that little "tail" at the southeast part of England), which is where this came from. I've become a clotted cream junkie. If you put butter on it...I put clotted cream on it instead even though I don't think you're supposed to do that. In fact, I'm probably bastardizing it with my American ways...but I can't help it. It's just so tasty!!!

Hmmm...since it is 2015...maybe they can find a way to get mail across the pond faster so someone can mail me clotted cream and other delicious Brit foods once we're back in the States. ((I need to find someone to make this happen asap!))

Scrubba-Scrubba

Have I ever told you that I have a love/hate relationship with my dishwasher? 

On one hand, it washes the dishes. That's super awesome. Especially when you have 3 kids because children seem to require more dishes than adults do. Or is that just my children? Well, either way, all I have to do is rinse those dishes off and load them in there and that lovely dishwasher does the rest.

I'm also kind of head over heels for the way it looks. The front of it is integrated into the cabinets so you can't tell there's a dishwasher there. No ugly appliancey front in my kitchen. No, sir. 

But see...that's where the love ends.

Little did we know when we moved into this house, the water is really hard. And you're all sitting there like "oh, I have hard water...I totally feel ya." No. I mean no offense to you and your hard water troubles, but no. I promise you have no idea. I thought I knew all about hard water. And then we moved here.

Our dishwasher has this super fancy container (because I don't know what else to call it) in the bottom. It's where we have to put the 4 pounds of salt every month or so to soften the water. This little red, plastic button pops up (you know, like on a turkey) and telling me "hey lady, it's salt time!!" Well, truth be told, it's talking to the mister because I don't add salt to the dishwasher. I make too much of a mess with it.

Now this wouldn't be so bad, except that salt *sucks*. 

Every. single. damn. time we put salt in there, our dishes come out looking crazy.

Every time this happens I am forced to get out the toughest scrubbing pad I can find, turn the water to boiling hot and scrub the dishes (the ones I just put through the dishwasher) until my fingers are achy and bleeding from all the effort. (Ok, that's dramatic. They aren't really bleeding. But they are pretty achy.) And this process continues for about 4 loads of dishes. Washing in the dishwasher, rescrubbing, washing again.

So you could go ahead and tell me to wash the dishes by hand after we add the salt...because that would make more sense, right? But oddly enough, I never remember that it's going to do this until after they come out looking like they've been dipped in cornstarch. (Any other plans?)

So, dear dishwasher...you win again. Hopefully next month I will remember to at least run an empty load before I put the dishes in there for you to dirty, instead of clean. 

And the Countdown Begins

Can you believe it's February? And! It's February 2015?? Because it is....you know, in case you've been living in a cave or something. It's February now and I'm not sure how that happened. Maybe I've been living in a cave.

So what does that mean? It means we're two-thirds of the way through this assignment.

What?! ((I know!!!!!!))

In a year(ish) we will be back in the States. (That's kind of insanity.) A big part of me can't really wrap my brain around it. There's so much more I want to see and do here that I kind of feel like I want to hit the pause button. Like I need to tell some mysterious guy somewhere -- the one who kind of seems like puppet master in this scenario since he gets to decide the when's and where's....like I need to be all "hold up! Wait! I need more time!" Because really, I'm going to miss things like this...

But then there's the part of me that's all....pizza....BBQ...taaaaccoooossss. Because yeah, you can't just say "tacos". No. It's most definitely said "taaaaccoooossss". I haven't had a for real taaaaccoooo in over 2 years. (Ugh, now I'm hungry.) 

And of course I miss all of my family and friends too. I can't wait to be on the same continent as all of them. (Oh, and my dog too. I can't forget him. Even though I'm pretty sure he's going to give me pouty face and not speak to me when I see him.) Hopefully we'll live much closer than we've been before. Like, you know, a few hours away at most. (Hint hint, Mr. Puppet Master!! Are you paying attention??)

Really, if we're counting pros and cons...I'm ready. And for the record...whoever picks us up from the airport...bring food. (Preferably taaaaccoooossss!!!)

Can You Actually Say That?

So, wow. I was amazed at all the positive feedback on my censoring post. For serious. I was bracing for impact. Like some crazy old woman with an umbrella was going to come yell at me for speaking my mind. And because I said hell...and shit. I don't know why she'd have an umbrella, but I think she would.

In honor of that though (the feedback, not the hypothetical umbrella-weilding crazy lady) I thought I'd share the grocery shopping post that was going through my head the other day. (Hopefully I can still do it justice.)

I know I am a pain to go grocery shopping with. Brian has gone with me several times and always comments on it. He'll try to look at something and I will just disappear. And really, I blame my kids. Have you ever taken 3 kids, all under the age of 5, to Walmart on a Saturday? You have to be efficient and you have to move quickly. Otherwise you end up with random things in your cart that you don't want or need. Like socks with drunk looking cats on them, or 5 boxes of dairy-free coffee creamer. And if you try to put them back?? Oh, well, your children will scream bloody murder, insisting that they NEED that creamer. It could start the apocolypse if you don't buy dairy-free creamer for the coffee you don't drink.

I move quick in the store. I want my groceries and I want to get out because I don't want to be there. And I have yet to understand how anyone could mistake me for one of the chatty people. And, in all honesty, I know a lot of them are probably just trying to be nice. But for real folks, pick someone else.

I don't want to have a conversation about how crappy the quality of produce is. That's why I buy it off base - I don't like buying fruit that already looks like it went 10 rounds with a 4 year old hopped up on an espresso IV and a box of Lucky Charms. And I don't want to talk about GMO foods because that is a topic that's right up there with religion and politics and we just don't talk about it. And please don't bring up the 10 damn lunchables I've stuffed in my cart. This is such an issue for me. I've become overprotective of my lunchables like I created them and I blame Pinterest for it. It's become the new *thing* to make your kids these super awesome lunches with sandwiches shaped like stars and hearts and freaking rabbits. Um, hello random grocery store lady! I like sleep!!! Do you sleep? Because I would have to give up sleeping to make a sandwich shaped like a damn rabbit. So I give my kids lunchables.

Let's see,...what's in there today? Ooh. Looks like it's pizza. Awesome. And here's a granola bar. Andddddd....hmmmm....a pear. Merry Christmas.

Mom, it's February.

Well, Merry February then. Sweet! Lunch is done.

Again, I know I'm a pain to shop with, I know people probably think I'm rude when I just walk off while they're talking and if I could wear a sign that says "please don't talk to me - I just want to get my shit and get out of here" I totally would. But that would most definitely offend some people. I tell myself that it's less offensive to pretend I didn't notice they were talking. Or to mumble some incoherent response to a bagger's opinion on what I'm buying, or the weather. (Yes, dear bagger person, I get that the weather sucks. We all know and I don't want to talk about it.)

Maybe one day I won't be such a grouch when I shop. Then again, to stop being so grouchy I might have to find a way to enjoy grocery shopping and I don't see that happening. 

You Can't Say That!

I was having this conversation with a friend yesterday about censoring yourself and it kind of coincided with this project I’ve been working on for the last eon or so. Anyway, as I’m pretty sure I’ve told you before -- this is not my first rodeo. Or my first blog. But just so we’re clear, I’m just talking about blogs, because I’ve never been in a rodeo. (I’m digressing) So my project…the one that has taken me at least an eon, but I finally finished today ((gold star for me!!))…was to back up my old blog. You know, save all the posts & make sure I have copies of the pictures and videos & all of that before deleting it into the mysterious abyss of the internet. 

As I was backing it up, I started rereading old blog posts. This led me to rereading even older blog posts. (And now you know why it’s taken me an eon to finish this project.) And what I realized is that what I loved most about those old blogs & all those posts is that I didn’t hold back. I didn’t censor. And now? Well, I do it a lot now. And truth be told, sometimes it feels forced…writing a post like that. The ones that come the easiest are the ones that I don’t think about. I just sit down and start typing and whatever happens, happens. 

But somewhere along the way, between the last blog and this one, I started worrying too much. And yeah, for semi-good reasons because, let’s face it. I don’t like drama any more than the next person. But I got tired of people’s shocked responses -- omg, did she just say that? (Maybe.)...she doesn’t really cuss like a sailor on leave, does she?? (Yeah, she really does. Sometimes.) ….oh, you can’t say that! It’s not polite! (Well, actually…)

But I had this whole post going in my head yesterday at the commissary about how I don’t like talking to people while I’m at the commissary. I want to get my groceries and leave. And I’m very obvious about it. I don’t walk slowly…I am a woman on a mission: 1) put groceries in the cart, 2) pay for groceries, 3) get the hell out of the store. I don’t want some random person’s thoughts on why lunchables are the worst lunch choice for my children. And I don’t need the bagger’s opinion on feminine hygiene products. And sometimes when people feel the need to get chatty with me while I’m shopping, I feel like screaming at them. (In reality, I pretend like I don’t know they’re talking to me and I just walk off while they’re still talking.)

But instead of writing what I wanted to write, I censored. (And said it to my friend instead.) But I miss the old way of doing things. And the thing about it is that, yeah, when we filter we’re playing it safe. We tiptoe around so we don’t offend anyone. But really, someone is always going to be offended and you can’t please everyone. That’s kind of what I’ve been thinking about anyway. I kind of want to go back to the old way but I kind of don’t want people all up in here like “hey, lady, let’s talk about some manners…and you’re overuse of exclamation marks…and the word shit”. And I’d probably have to admit to how many times I give my kids lunchables to take to school because it’s easier than anything else. (But for the record, I make them take some fruit too. I feel like that balances out the processed junk in the lunchable.) I don’t know. Maybe I’ll keep censoring. Maybe I won’t. I’m far too indecisive.

Victory is Sweet

Back, many many moons ago, when Hayden was a teensy tiny baby, he had this Downs specialist that he saw. And while I don't remember a lot about the appointments (because, hello, that was 12 years ago), the one thing that I've held onto all these years & will continue to hold onto for many more was the advice she gave me. She told me to always treat him *as if*. 

.....As if one day he would be a doctor, or a teacher, or the next nobel prize winner.

....As if he would, one day, win the Olympics.

....As if he could do anything.

Because the truth of that is, the only limitations he would have would be the ones we would give him. Don't look at him and see the disability, but instead the possibility.

Over the years, we've tried to explain this to those who work with him. Sometimes they go with it, sometimes they don't. There have even been some who look at us like we're crazy because apparently we didn't get the memo that Hayden has Down Syndrome. Didn't we know that there's going to be a lot of things he just can't do?? (No, I guess I was out  sick the day that memo went around.) 

Reading has been one of the biggest "problem areas" we've had. A lot of those same people told us to just accept that he would never learn to read. It wouldn't happen. To which I say "ya know...at one point everyone thought the world was flat...and if you sailed far enough, you'd fall off. And those same people never thought you could fly to the moon. But here we are, living on a round planet, and no one's fallen off yet. And we've even landed on the moon." 

My point. (Because I promise I have one.) It's been a long road of trial and error with the reading thing. We've tried everything. And more times than not, I end up frustrated because he's just not catching on. I think he is...he thinks he is...but he's not. (There are a lot of tears sometimes.) But this year, his teacher is on board with the "see the possibility...look at the future...see the big picture" ideas that we have. And he introduced us to the Edmark reading program, and said "what'dya think?" And Brian and I said "sure, why not? We've tried everything else. Let's do it."

At home, we work with the flashcards. We do the take home books. He works with the actual program during his school day. And slowly I've been seeing improvement. But I'll be honest...I didn't want to get too excited. I've seen it before and then I realized that it wasn't working like I'd hoped. So I just kept my fingers crossed, and my head down, and we've kept working.

But last night, Hayden and Brian and I were sitting on the couch watching that new Muppets movie. I don't know the name of it. The Muppets? Who knows...and that's totally not the point. The end of the movie came, and we were all singing and having fun to the end of the movie music. And then when it was all done, we paused the movie so it wouldn't move on to whatever was next. And this is how it went.....

Hayden: The End...

Me: yep. It's the end. {looking at the tv and realizing the screen says "The End"} Wait. What?

Hayden: {pointing to the tv} The end.

Me: Did you just read that????

Hayden: Ugh. Yes! The end! 

Me: OMG! You read that?! You can read what that says?! You can read "the end"!!!!

There were high fives and hugs and all kinds of excitement, and thankfully he didn't notice the tears in my eyes. But I am so proud of him. And, even better, he is proud of himself. That's so important! 

I feel like we're finally getting there. And that victory is super sweet y'all.

Magical

So I'm pretty sure that you've just been waiting on the edge of your seat since last week to find out how everything went at the Harry Potter Studio. Like, it's all you've been thinking about, right? You don't have anything else to do. Lol! Well! The wait is over. I can finally tell you that going back was amazing! 

One of the great things about going there is feeling like you don't have to hide your Harry Potter nerdiness. =) You can nerd out all you want! Inside the studio, everyone is a fan. A huge fan! (There are even adults in costumes.) So I can totally be all 'yeah this is from that scene in _________ where they did this and that, and oh, remember when ________ happened?'.......and I don't look like a total dork. 

What was awesome was last time we went, my attention was 1/2 on Harry Potter stuff, and 1/2 on my kids. Even though the adults outnumbered the kids, I can't help but constantly watch them. The studio gets packed and kids can wander. And my kids are huge Harry Potter fans too so they were in awe of everything just as much as we were. So I was constantly making sure I knew where each of them were every.single.second. This means I missed some stuff. But! I got to see everything the 2nd time around. I didn't have to worry about my kids wandering off or getting lost. I could give the studio & all of it's fun stuff 100% of my attention. (Yay!)

But the fabulous part...the super super awesome part...was that because we went now (instead of the summer)...it was Hogwarts in the Snow (a.k.a. Christmas at Hogwarts). And! They'd added some new things on top of that! So some of the areas were totally new! (Double yay!)

So pictures? Yes? And I should go ahead and tell you that there are some that you've already seen. But! It's because I just learned how to do panoramic pictures on my phone so I couldn't resist it. And yeah, they look a little wonky in a few. (Like there's a blurry line in it or something.) I don't know if I was going too fast or too slow. (I'm still learning)

The Great Hall at Christmas

Educational Decrees from Order of the Phoenix

The "Fat Lady" portrait that guarded the entrance to Gryffindor Tower

The Gryffindor boys dormitory

The Gryffindor common room

Costumes from Professor Lupin and the Boggart (dressed as Nevil's grandmother), along with things from Lupin's office

The Potions Classroom

The Burrow (a.k.a. Weasley house)

Borgin and Burke's Dark Arts Store

((this was new! Eek!!))

The Death Eaters...They recreated the scene at the beginning of Deathly Hallows (this was also new!!)

#4 Privet Drive

The costume for Aunt Marge after Harry "inflates her" in Prisoner of Azkaban

The Dementor costume

Buckbeak

Diagon Alley (I don't know why it looks like a V...it's not. That's just my camera...or the strange person taking the picture)

Hogwarts in the snow

So there you have it! Our trip to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios 2.0. And what's crazy is....I'd probably go back again. Lol But what I'm really waiting for is the Harry Potter stuff at Universal. (I know! I know! We lived there for how many years, and never saw it? I know!!) 

Anywho! I'm off to have a productive Monday! Much love sweets!

Nerding it Up

Good morning!

So I've been back in school for a whole 4 days and it's weird. And, really, I have no idea why. Every summer, like a good little student, I enjoy the 3 month break and soak up every single non-studying minute that I can. But for some reason, taking that break in the middle of the school year completely threw me off. 

Actually, I think 2015 is throwing me off. I got up this morning and thought today was Wednesday. I was completely convinced of it! Like, I had an argument with Hayden for 10 minutes over whether or not today was Wednesday or Thursday. Turns out he was right, but don't tell him I said that. 

((Did I lose a whole day? Is the mom-crazy finally making me lose my marbles?? Does someone know where I can find more?))

But! It's really awesome that it's Thursday! Do you know why? Because you'll never guess where I'm going tomorrow. I'd let you guess, but you won't. I'm going back...to the future. (Ha! I know. Corny! But be prepared for me to make that joke all year.) For serious though, I'm going....

...Back to Harry Potter Studios!

Eek! I'm WAY excited! 

I thought I had to wait 2 more days! But I don't! It's tomorrow! I'm doing a happy dance right now!! (ok, not really) But I'm so excited! 

Last time we went, it was for Kierstin's birthday. And it was awesome. But I'm kind of a Harry Potter nerd, in case you didn't know that. And taking 3 kids to that does not allow for adult Harry Potter nerds to spend as much time as they would like taking everything in and learning everything they can. It's just not possible. Kids get bored. They look at stuff, and go "oh, that's cool...that's pretty....take a picture....let's look at something else". And their mama is standing there like "but...wait...oh, I wanted...ugh, ok...."

So tomorrow (eeek!) I'm going back with friends (and no kids) to do it all over again and learn all the stuff I can. All the stuff I didn't get to learn the first time. 

Can you feel the excitement all the way across the pond? 

Another Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe it's 2015? I can't. Like not at all. Where does the time go? A few days ago, Brian and I were talking about movies coming out this year and our conversation strayed to this...

Do you remember that? (You should!) So it's finally 2015....where's my hoverboard?! I'm totally kidding. I don't need a hoverboard. I'd fall on my ass. And my butt's still healing from the boulder incident in Scotland, so maybe I should avoid anything that hovers. (Yeah, that's probably for the best.)

Anywho! Did you have a wonderful Christmas? I really hope so. Ours was *delightful*. The kids will tell you that it was the best Christmas ever. (But they say that every year, so I'm not sure you should believe them.)

It was pretty awesome though. And they did make out like bandits

You may notice that Hayden has a new LeapPad there. This is my warning to all parents of kids using LeapPads. Please listen carefully. (Seriously.) Yes, I know they tell you that it's super durable. That they've made it so that kids can't really tear it up or break it and it's supposed to be near-indestructible. It's not. Should someone (even a child), say, fall...and land on it...with their butt...it will break. That screen will shatter, rendering it completely useless. So now you know.

But I suppose I should be productive. I only have a few more days until I head back to school -- wait, did you know that I took a term off? I did. I needed some time to get things done around the house. Like super cleaning and organizing. Plus, with the trip to Scotland and everything, I just thought it would be best. But! I start back on Monday so I only have a few more days for *me*. (Which really translates into, a few more days to lay around and read as much as I want without feeling guilty about it.)

I do hope your 2015 is getting off to a super start! Happy New Year sweeties! <3

That Time Again Already?

Is it seriously December 1st? Please someone tell me I'm dreaming, and it's not. That November isn't really over already. But it is, isn't it?? (Sad!) But, we did have a pretty awesome November. And if I could go back and hit repeat on it, I totally would. 

We celebrated the little man's birthday. I do kind of have sad face about that tho -- he's growing up so much, and I'm just not ready. But it's one of his favorite days of the year because he loves getting to blow out his candles so that kind of evens out the sad mama moments. (And if you haven't seen him with his new Iron Man mask, you should. It's a permanent fixture on his face now.)

Oh! And we had Thanksgiving too. (Duh! lol) But I don't have pictures of that. I actually never take pictures of Thanksgiving. Maybe it's the exhaustion from the cooking. Maybe it's the trauma from violating a dead bird. Who knows. But it's the one holiday that never gets photographed. Hmm... It was wonderful tho. Take my word for it.

But now, we have made it to December. And I am just remembering that I need to go to the garage and find our Christmas decorations and dig out our Elf on the Shelf. ((Dammit!)) I'm really not sure how I could ever forget him. It's not like the kids haven't asked me about 800 times today when he's going to get here. (Because, you know, he was supposed to be here last night. But it seems he might be a little confused by Heathrow Airport because he didn't make it.)

Oh December! I'm just now sure how it crept up on me so fast! I suppose I should get to work on all that Christmasy stuff soon. (Man, I'm slacking this year! Didn't I learn my lesson last year?? Guess not.)

Well, anyway. I hope things are good for you, where ever you are! And that December's arrival isn't as shocking for you as it was for me. :) Much love sweets!