death & taxes

this year's taxes are going to be the death of me. i just spent almost 2 hours on the phone with turbo tax -- 45 minutes on hold, and the rest chatting with a really nice girl from iowa -- about the problem we're having trying to do our taxes online this year. what a pain in the patootey!

we're filing married filling separately this year so we can get a reduction in our student loan payments. and it's not as bad as i thought it would be -- christopher's still getting a decent refund and i don't owe as much as i thought i would. but there's some kind of glitch in the turbo tax online software that won't let me in to edit the state return so i can efile the whole thing. i've been done with the federall since forever, and i've just been waiting to figure out what's up with the state! incredibly frustrating. but my new friend from iowa hooked me up with a download of the state return so i can finish christophers, but she also clued me in to the fact that it'll be cheaper to buy the desktop version cuz you can file 5 returns with it, whereas online you have to pay for each return individually. i think i need to make a trip to target this evening! *smile*

and just becuz my life had been flowing along so smoothly, i now have pink eye! what a joy! my eyeball hurts so badly that i just want to take it out and throw it against a wall! i just can't catch a break!

calgon -- take me away!

some days, when alexander wakes up, i know that we're in for it. today was one of those days. the fact that it's 8:30 and both kids are in bed asleep kinda says a lot. the fact that he didn't take a nap today was just a minor portion of today's specialness. he woke up in one of those moods today. almost like in his sleep he was abducted by aliens who decided to see how many of mommy's buttons could be pressed simultaneously before my head explodes. *smile*

it started as soon as he woke up. he hadn't even made it all the way downstairs before he started whining: "mommy, i'm hungry!" which, of course inspired his sister to join in the refrain. today was not a day that we had any concrete plans, and i, frankly, was feeling completely uninspired to really move from bed. but i've got the whining twins downstairs demanding food, so...*sigh*

but feeding them didn't make it better. instead of cereal (cuz we were running out of milk) i made toast and scrambled eggs. but every other second there was something wrong that caused the throwing of napkins and shoving away of bowls and spoons. if not for my meds today i would have found myself in jail for baby-maiming. *smile*

lunch was marginally better, and by the time we finally made it to the grocery store, i just ignored everything except what was on the shelves, prices, and how much cash i had in my pocket. but when we got home and he decided he didn't want to nap, i decided that it was a battle i wasn't prepared to fight today. he was actually decent while isabelle was asleep. we cuddled on the couch and read our new national geographic magazine (thanks, grampa! *smile*) and learned about new animals and stuff.

but come dinnertime, the aliens regained control. by dinner i'm usually done cuz i've dealt with it all day, but christopher is fresh from his other battlefield and ready to pick up the baton. sorry, alexander. daddy wasn't in the mood to deal with the bouncing, humming child not eating his dinner. and then when the after-dinner hitting and cup throwing commenced, it was all over. after the smoke cleared, alexander was crying and in his pj's and isabelle was angelic and coloring. it was about 7:15 when i kissed alexander goodnight, and he hasn't been heard from since, which is amazing. and isabelle followed shortly after, cuz her juice tasted funny. i convinced her that if she just went to bed, that in the morning everything would be ok. *smile* i wonder how much longer that'll work? *smile*

i am not a hoarder -- i just like to have a lot of stuff *smile*

my husband is convinced that i'm a hoarder, just becuz when we started dating i had piles of stuff and paths through my apartment. i'm really not. i just have issues with getting rid of things. and i like to acquire things. my current acquisitional obsession is beads and my online store of choice is lima beads. they're awesome! they're having a month-long sale where they posted a crossword puzzle at the beginning of the month and every day's clue tells you what's on sale. you could print out the crossword puzzle and do it ahead of time so that you knew which days to shop. it's been really amazing and really bad at the same time. their prices are awesome and the quality of stuff is awesome, so i've been doing a lot of shopping lately. good thing i've got a major project i'm working on where i need a variety of product, cuz i've got a huge variety of beads now *smile*.

beads are really the only thing i'm collecting at the moment. i've really let go of my shoe collection, cuz i've realized that i only wear my heels at church and the rest of the time i rotate between 3 pairs of birkenstock. and with clothes, i donate regularly to my church's rummage sale so that i have space to replace. i do a lot of shopping at the rummage sale as well. i like to help out, cuz then you get to shop ahead of the actual sale and get all the good stuff. and i figure that if i'm paying "full" price, then it's all good (but is there ever really a way to justify $3 as full price for a suit or suede jacket? *smile*)

i'm so tired of being sick and tired

there really is no rest for the wicked, or the weary. i got lucky today, becuz it's sunday, and usually i'm at church in the morning. chris is used to being in charge today. so i called off from church, ate breakfast with my family (our sunday morning tradition), and went back to bed for several hours. what an amazing feeling to wake up after 1pm! i haven't slept that late in YEARS! chris took the kids to mass and then they came home and had lunch. apparently, alexander checked on me at one point and saw that i was still sleeping, so he didn't bother me. amazingly i didn't even hear him come in. since having kids, i've developed mom-senses and can hear the tiniest thing. but not today. i guess i really needed that nap *smile*

after my mega-nap, i worked on our taxes for a while and the kids played with play-doh. they're napping now, and i really should be doing more jewelry stuff to get ready for my big adventure. i've only got a week left to get all my signage and everything together. chris built me some beautiful displays, and i'm really excited about the whole thing. it's coming together nicely *smile*. i just hafta remember to take pics of all the new stuff before i take it to the shop. i like to have photos so that i 1) remember what i've made & 2) have a reference if someone likes it and wants something similar. you can't really copyright jewelry designs so i'm not worried about that. i'm always taking pics of stuff i like and doing something similar. or at least planning to *smile*

laundry and the stench of pee

i do a lot of laundry. but my laundry duties have been compounded by leaking girl & boy parts and pink eye. amazingly, isabelle, at only 2, is much better about not leaking than alexander. friends have told me repeatedly that boys take longer than girls, but i just have a hard time grasping that concept. but alexander has always been a heavy wetter. nighttime and naptime have always been an issue. naptime has gotten better, and he's dry after his nap 5 days out of 7. but there are still times at night when he soaks through his nighttime pullups.

isabelle on the other hand really loves wearing her tinkerbell, dora or princess panties and tries really hard to keep them dry. she is SO much easier. she just decided one day that she was ready to wear panties and that was that.

but the laundry situation this week has really gotten out of hand. with alexander's pink eye, he's already spread it to his other eye, so we had 2 days of quarantine. but that meant changing his bedding and my pillowcase (cuz he snuggles with me in the mornings), as well as all the towels and washcloths and that's a lot of extra laundry. and even their laundry bags smelled like pee, so they got washed too. the sheets aren't really a big deal, but his spongebob comforter and blankets take up an entire load all by themselves! and of course i don't want to go to a laundromat to use the huge washers. what would i do with the kids? *smile*

i finally got all of the regular laundry folded, plus the extra load of towels, and i've got a load in the dryer and one in the washer of just his bedding. i've got to get clean sheets on his bed before naptime. one more thing to remember!

...the icing on the cake...

and to top it all off, i have a sinus infection. i went to my favorite place today, med express, and got an official diagnosis of why i feel so craptastic. i really wish moms got sick days, cuz i could really use a day in bed tomorrow *smile*

but i am really excited cuz i have a new jewelry venture coming up. starting at the beginning of february i'll be selling my things at a store called crafted treasures here in monroeville, pa! i'm super excited about it! it's like a perpetual craft show that i don't have to do anything for *smile*. look for more info on my other blog. i've got a ton of stuff to do to get ready for it, lots of stuff to make and inventory and get tags on and stuff. and i have to get my husband to agree with me on my design and display choices. this was much easier when it was my project by myself *smile*

HELP!!! i'm being held hostage!

by my children, of course. more specifically, my son who has pink eye.

pink eye sucks. especially in a kid, cuz he doesn't understand the need to wash his hands constantly and not touch things and not rub his eyes. it started in his right eye and has spread to his left eye. we spent the entire day in the house yesterday and i can't do it again! my friend michele is coming over today so i can go to the store and replenish our meager rations. God bless her!

of course, we didn't leave the house at all yesterday, which sucked as well. and they really want to go somewhere today, but i'm waiting for a call from the pediatrician to find out if we're still contagious since he spread it to his other eye. hence my call to michele. I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!

i missed pilates on monday, cuz it was a holiday so we did something together since chris was home. and i was in quarantine yesterday. i wanted to go to the gym and just get on the elliptical machine or something when chris got home, but i went to the store instead. maybe today.

and of course the stuff i blew out of my nose this morning was a color not to be discussed. but mommies don't get sick days, so...can i call a temp or something? *smile*

gotta take a shower so i can go out in public. bleh!

oh! the pain!

i do pilates twice a week. and when you skip, it hurts. i took off the week between Christmas and New Years, not intentionally, but becuz we were at grandma's house the monday after Christmas and something came up that wednesday. so this week, when we went back to our regular schedule, i went back to pilates both monday & wednesday.

mondays always hurt, but when you've taken a week off, they hurt more than usual. but it's just regular pain. sometimes we use little hand weights, but most of the time it's just stability balls. they get heavy, but it's nothing compared to wednesdays. on wednesdays we use the body bars. we all rush to class to get there early cuz there's only five 6 pound body bars, and you don't want to get stuck with a 9 or, heaven forbid, a 12 pound body bar. you'd think that 6 pounds would be nothing, but today my shoulders and obliques are KILLING me!!! oh my goodness! it makes me realize that i missed the wednesday before Christmas as well *smile*

my pilates instructor is awesome. she's this little 5' bundle of energy. i don't think she weights 100 pounds. but she's ripped. and she can do all the exercises and talk at the same time. there are some times that i can't even breathe. and i've been going for over a year and still can't do all of the outer thigh workout. she's seriously hard-core *smile*. but even she, herself, has said on occasion: "this is when i would stop if i were on my living room floor" *smile* she also does a class called bodies in motion, which is jumping up and down for 45 minutes, and one called cardio variety, which almost put me in the hospital. it reminded me of the time my mom went to an aerobics class and ended up in the emergency room. the one time i took cardio variety i literally had to stop and go outside holding onto the wall becuz i was gonna pass out. i felt the heat rising and i was going down if i didn't stop jumping up and down. *smile* needless to say, i haven't been back *smile*

but even though pilates hurts, i really like the way my clothes fit. and since i can't afford another new wardrobe, i've got to do what i can to stay in the clothes i've got and still feed my candy addiction *smile*

...and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

finally, the holidays are over. it's amazing how much more work they are when you have children. the whole mystique of santa and waiting for them to go to bed before everything can go out under the tree. and the meshing of traditions -- i've always been a shaker and my husband never had anything under the tree until Christmas eve, when they did the exchange between the siblings, and Christmas morning when santa's gifts arrived. but the kids were great -- i allowed them to shake and squeeze things (but not the coughing, sneezing baby from grampa & gigi *smile*) and they quickly grew tired of it when they realized that Christmas was still DAYS away. the torture! *smile* but we managed to have a wonderful Christmas morning, and they adored all of their gifts, even the ones with lots of tiny pieces that we're kicking ourselves for letting them open (obviously we would never have bought tiny legos! *smile*).

and now that the holidays are over, and christopher is back to school, we can finally get back to our regular lives -- watching tv all day (pbs kids, mainly) and eating when mommy remembers to feed everyone *smile*. actually, my days are pretty scheduled: mondays are gym days, so i do 30 minutes on the elliptical machine before my pilates class and then a group of us let the kids run wild in the "basketball room". tuesdays are usually laundry or groceries. wednesdays are pilates and spinning (which kicks my butt! *smile*). thursdays are either laundry or groceries. and friday is my free day. of course, sometimes the schedule alters cuz i may have a client or a doctor's appointment, but for the most part, we're pretty regimented. i also have to squeeze in a trip to my allergist, but that's changing since my friend lisa is no longer my shot technician. the girl that gave me my shot this morning hurt me so badly that my arm still hurts almost 12 hours later! needless to say, i am not gonna be her guinea pig and i'll be getting my shots at my pcp's office from now on. if i could get a stash of needles i'd try to get lisa to do it for me in exchange for free haircare, but there's probably some laws against that or something *smile*.

but the cookies are almost ready and i've got to get the cocoa going so when the kids come in from sledding they'll be ready. we're probably the only family that routinely goes sledding after dark *smile*. actually, i just looked outside when i went to take the cookies out of the oven and saw alexander out there shoveling the patio! i'd bought the kids snow shovels at biglots thinking that they could "help" daddy shovel the driveway sometime, but i never thought they'd use them *smile*. i wonder why they're shoveling the patio? i'll find out when they come in. *smile*