The face of a sickie

After being cooped up all day with her sisters yesterday, Mary woke up crying and screaming that she was sick and needed to stay home. Being the fabulous mother that I am, I just assumed she was trying to play hookey from Pre-K. It wasn't until she refused to eat her cottage cheese that I KNEW she wasn't lying. That child could eat a gallon of it if you gave her the opportunity. She is like that about feta cheese as well. She has a "unique" palate which is why I know something is wrong when she is off her food.

So here is a picture of the sicko in action. Note the really lovely red-ringed, puffy eyes. In my defense, she didn't look nearly this bad earlier this morning, but she certainly has degenerated throughout the day. Now I'm trying to figure out how to convince her that a nap is a good thing. Why do kids fight napping? I would give my left arm for a good nap!

Of course, I also have to consider what this means for tomorrow. I have only been actually IN the office for a whopping four hours this week. I suppose I should just be grateful that I have the luxury to work from home when I need to, huh? :-)

I did take a picture of Mary looking not quite as pathetic. this is more like how she looked this morning when I was being mean and telling her she had to go to school! Once again, the four-yr-old wins the battle!

Hooray for Mother Nature!

Like a good chunk of the US, we were slammed with snow and ice overnight. Yeah us! I'm sitting here in my sweatpants and fuzzy fleece sweatshirt hanging out and working from home. There is just something about this time of year that makes me want to hide away in my house and not come out so I'm always looking for an excuse to stay home. We received the much anticipated auto-dialer call last night so Sarah could even sleep in for a bit. OK, "sleeping in " in this house means 6:30 - 7:00.

We actually didn't get nearly as much snow as they were calling (no surprise, we never do), but we got a boat-load of ice. Here is a picture of our deck table. You can see the thick layer of ice under a wee bit of snow. I am digging the icicles too. I also took a couple pictures of some of the trees in our back yard. I just liked how they looked. It makes the sad, droopy evergreen in the back neighbor's yard actually look pretty. I think snow makes everything look a lot prettier though. I'm sick that way!

Here is part of the big tree in our yard. The white, blobby streaks are big, fluffy snowflakes. Did I mention that I love snow? Snow rocks!

Oh, and dontcha love the grey sky? It is perpetually grey here for the duration of winter. This isn't just because we are in the midst of a snow storm.

Oh how I wish for a snow day!

We are supposed to get slammed with snow today. Well, not Cleveland-slammed, but 6 to 9" is quite a lot of snow for Central Ohio. It started falling through the night, but so far we only have about an inch or so. I have been monitoring the school closings online (since I have been working since 5 am) but so far, nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Doesn't Mother Nature know that I want to work from home today? I really don't want to put on dress pants and nice shoes. I REALLY don't want to go out there knowing that I'm going to have a crappy drive home. Yuck.

The magical hour of 6:00 am is rapidly approaching. Why am I thinking we are not getting the phone call from the school district? Yes, we have a hoity-toity school district where they have an autodialer to call you with school closing information. It actually takes some of the fun and anticipation out of the prospect of a calamity day. Of course, when Hurricane Ike blew through here and we lost power for seven days, the auto-dialing was useless without a power source for our phones.

Ah well, I guess it is time to head to the shower, get dressed and slap on some makeup. There is always tomorrow.

Working at home today

I'm so lucky that I can work from home. Right now I'm sitting here in my pjs watching some SAS code run. It is SOOO much better than doing this from the office. It is baffling to me why more businesses don't allow their employees to telecommute. I mean, I understand if you have a job that doesn't involve heavy computer usage, but otherwise, why wouldn't they?

Do they think their employees will get less done? I find it to be the opposite for me. Because I'm more conscious of my time while I'm at home, I make up any goof off time that I might have. I would bet that I get way more accomplished and I'm far more focused here than in my office cave.

The only thing that would make this better is if I had a wireless connection and a laptop. Then I could be the ultimate in telecommuters and be plopped on my couch with my feet up while I worked. Boy, that sounds like heaven! Getting paid to sit around on the couch! I'm really good at that, too.

Why Doodle Bears should be banned...

Yesterday I was thinking I was the blogging queen or something because I actually did a post that included a picture. Yeah Me! Of course, the feeling of euphoria couldn't last. Shortly after I finished my post, Joe came down from Mary & Leah's room and told me I needed to go up there.
Uh-oh.

So I went up (camera in hand after being warned) and this is what I found:

Mary overjoyed at her Doodle Bear experience.

Here are her arms and legs. I didn't capture the best part of her legs. She drew stick figures all over her upper thighs. We just don't need that posted on the internet.

Here is Leah after being busted. She wasn't quite as gleeful as Mary.

Now because I do not wish to give up the crown, I will continue to be blog queen and post some VIDEO!! Leah went to her first dentist appointment yesterday and she did great. She was most excited about finally getting her very own bag of goodies. The minute she sat in the chair, she asked for her swag.

How much will this cost me one day?

So we took all the girls to the dentist today and I'm thrilled to report that Sarah had a stay of execution. She gets another six months before she has to go to the orthodontist. Thankfully the dentist wants her to acquire some more permanent teeth before she takes the plunge.

Her BFF (do seven year olds have BFFs?) just got a mouthful of hardware today. I haven't seen her yet but apparently talking is going to be quite difficult for a few days. I just hope that BFFs experience won't taint Sarah's view of her upcoming orthodontia work. Sarah doesn't take to pain very well and even the mere thought of being uncomfortable makes her cry. Maybe she will forget all about it by the time it is her turn. Is that possible?

As I look at her semi-toothless smile, I am forced to wonder what it will cost me (in both dollars and anguish)? I shudder to think!

Winter treats

So I have long thought there was a conspiracy afoot to keep my fluffiness on my frame. First thing you should know is that I am horribly weak and have no will power what-so-ever. So in my mind, I am planning out all the healthy things I should eat, but I have an implementation issue. Take today for instance. Because there are a few flakes of snow, church has been cancelled. You know, the place where a very large carrot cake was supposed to be eaten? The carrot cake is now festering in my refrigerator and calling to me.

I know I could just turn away from it and go about my business. I think that a stronger person could. Unfortunately, I'm sure the lure of carrotty sweetness and cream cheese frosting will prove to be too strong.

I think I will have to armor myself against this sweet devil by dragging out all my old weight watchers stuff. It will remind me just how fluffy I am. Perhaps it will give me a fighting chance. So once again, I will fight the temptation and hope to win until the next battle.

Why bother?

So I am a very lucky woman in that I have someone clean my house every other week. This is a relatively recent development (since October) and I have wondered since that time why I didn't do it sooner.

Of course, a day like today makes me realize why I didn't do it sooner. Since it was a totally yucky day out, the girls were all cooped up in the house. Now my once sparkling home looks like a tornado went through it. Make that three tornadoes. It truly makes me wonder why I bother having my home cleaned? Is it worth it?

Heck Yes it is!

And in the beginning...

Why am I starting a blog? I have no idea. I just liked the name I picked for mine. Anyone close to my household will know what it is all about. Lets just say that in this family, going #2 warrants a sweet reward!

Perhaps as I go on, I will have more enlightening things to say. But then again, isn't the point of blogging to just randomly say whatever comes in your head? Now I am inflicting all my ramblings on the residents of the world wide web. For that, I apologize.