defiant use of urine

i just don't understand it. my daughter uses urine as a weapon. defiantly. it really drives me bonkers. if she's pissed off, and getting completely naked doesn't get her what she wants, she'll pee on the floor. sometimes she just pees while she's still fully dressed. the other day she peed on the couch while she was watching a movie & by the time i found out, it was cold, which meant it'd been a while since it happened.

it's almost like she's a dog with that extra store of urine so they can mark their territory. she can pee on command, as long as it's her desire & not mine. and she can hold it all day. there was one day that she hadn't gone to the bathroom all day. it was after dinner when i realized she hadn't gone all day & i finally forced her to go potty.

i know you're not supposed to *force* them to pee or it'll become a control issue & they'll be scarred later in life. i also know that you're not supposed to *punish* them for having accidents. but if i tell her she can't have something & her response is to pee on the floor, then that's not an accident.

and i'm so glad that we found a little spotbot for cleaning the floor from these incidents. if i had to pull the big carpet shampooer upstairs everytime we had a DUU then i'd be exhausted! we had 2 this evening: she peed while standing on the stool IN THE BATHROOM washing her hands, and again standing in her rocker picking pajamas. the ones in the bathroom just really blow my mind. she's peed on the floor IN FRONT OF THE POTTY. now, when she was sick & had unhappy poopey that was all over the bathroom carpet, that was different, cuz i really do think it just came out of her bottom. i'm just glad that one was IN the bathroom, cuz i could just take that carpet & throw it in the washer, where i'd have had to use the carpet shampooer in the hallway or her bedroom.

but i just don't know what to do to get her to stop DUU'ing. she still doesn't get what she wants, despite the stripping or peeing. and she gets a spank on the bottom (which is usually conveniently naked *smile*). and she hasta help clean it up (except for the unhappy poopey). but i'm tired of cleaning up pee pee! and i can only imagine what our house would smell like if we didn't have a shampooer. bleh!

joy & sadness

i am SO in love with my new sewing machine. it's absolutely amazing. but i'm also sad. it won't use coats & clark embroidery thread. i love c&c cuz it's cheap. my kenmore was totally cool with it. and when i was at joann's today, i discovered the c&c embroidery thread. i don't know how i could have missed that entire display of thread in all the years i've been shopping at this same store, but... :) so i bought 6 or 7 spools of it today, and the first spool i attempted to use caused me to take apart the bobbin case AGAIN! it looked like there was 1/2 a spool of thread tangled up in there. what a mess! and what sadness, cuz i have to upgrade to better thread. at joann's that's much more expensive, but at the store where i bought my machine, it's really not. when i finished cleaning out my machine, and started the embroidery design again, this time using good thread, there was no problem. and it's a fabulous piece of work -- it totally looks like i bought it! :) i'm so excited, cuz i'll be taking my bags to a whole new level. yee haw! :)

my new toy! :)

over the summer i went to see my dad, cuz he had some pretty major back surgery, & my sister was there at the same time. she had this fabulous bag that i knew i couldn't afford to have her make for me (she does AWESOME work & she's totally worth it *smile*) so i decided to make one myself out of denim. i ended up making 3. and i love doing it, so i started doing it to sell. i don't know what it is about making these bags & wallets that i love. it's actually a pain in the neck to take apart all of the jeans so i can use ALL of the denim, including the seams, instead of just cutting them. but i love the process of it. instead of being a normal person, i do it more patchwork style like a quilt, and cut up the denim & sew it back together. it's awesome to see it come together into something completely different.

so the ones i made for myself were a lot of fun, and it didn't matter that my little kenmore machine had some issues. it really doesn't like to sew lots of layers of fabric in general, and it really hates sewing more than 3 or 4 layers of denim. even with the right needle & the right heavy duty thread. i've broken more needles than i can count & the thread would break constantly. so i started thinking about getting a new machine.

now, my sister, being a *serious* quilter, has a viking sapphire. the last time i went to visit her i wasn't even allowed to touch it. when she told me how much it cost, i totally understood why! i knew that my husband would have a fit if i even thought about something that cost that much money. but then i got an email from a local sewing machine shop that they were closing one of their stores & liquidating their inventory. my mind started going to the bad credit card place *smile*. so, of course i stopped in and saw the machine i *really* wanted, that was on sale for $1688. not bad for a machine that has an MSRP of $3000. but still definitely in the heart attack range for my husband. and it had a lot of features that i really didn't need, but would be really nifty to have if i were a quilter, which i'm really not. so i went back and told the lady what i do & what i was looking for. she introduced me to my new baby, the babylock sofia 2. LOVE IT!!!

it's a little machine, but it's got a lot of power. and it does embroidery, which i wasn't even thinking about, but am so excited about now! such a fabulous machine. so awesome, that i didn't even realize what time it was. i finally got a chance to play with it this evening around 8pm once everyone (including my husband *smile*) was asleep. the next thing i knew, it was 10:45! hunh? where'd the time go? :)

sewing on this machine was like a dream. it's got so many decorative stitches. i haven't even learned how to do the embroidery on it yet. i had a lesson at the store for almost an hour just to learn the basics of how to thread & wind the bobbin & access the nifty stitches & whatnot. the girl suggested that i play with it for a couple of weeks until i'm comfortable & then come back to get a lesson on the embroidery side of things.

i sewed for 2 hours or so, once i got the bag i wanted to do designed & pinned together. i had not one broken thread or mishap at all. it was so fabulous. of course, i've only had the machine for mere hours (i bought it this afternoon) but i'm already convinced it's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. why didn't i do this sooner? :)

one thing i'll hafta get used to is not using the presser foot. there's a stop/start button that really is easier to use. and an adjustable speed regulator. i don't even know where the presser foot plugs in at! :) it also ties off the thread & pulls it to the back & cuts it for you. i feel so lazy now! the only thing it doesn't do is wipe my butt for me! :)

i had to stop, cuz i still have the rest of life to do tomorrow, so i do need to go to bed sooner rather than later. and i've got tech week for lucia starting tomorrow night, so i won't have time to play again until maybe friday. but maybe i'll be able to sneak in some time during the day this week. :) do i really need to finish the laundry? :)

I HATE VOMIT!!!

i really hate vomit. i hate doing it, i hate seeing it or smelling it or seeing someone else doing it or cleaning it up. but unfortunately, it's one of the joys of motherhood. ick! someone (either alexander or christopher) brought home these germs & i'm really sick of it!

alexander threw up the 1st time at school a week ago today. and then he was sick last wednesday night. i guess when i was cleaning up, i didn't wash my hands well enough, cuz i was then sick all that night & into the day on thursday. bleh! but i discovered that i am blessed with two of the best friends a girl could ask for. both my friend kellie & my friend michele came over into my germ infested home to help me with the kids while i was on my deathbed. how awesome is that?! i am so grateful, cuz i really had no idea what i was going to do with them while i couldn't get out of bed, except to throw up. i'd told alexander to climb up on a chair to get down the cereal & bowls so they could eat in front of the tv (with no milk!) and i told them that they had to be quiet cuz mummy wasn't feeling well. of course, just before that i was a scene from the exorcist with my head spinning and my demon eyes glowing as i ordered them out of the bathroom so i could worship at the porcelain goddess :) i think that helped them figure out that mommy was a little bit sick.

luckily, i've been doing frequent shots of pepto, which has kept BOTH ends happy. alexander hasn't gotten sick since saturday night. but now isabelle has diarrhea, which is the other component of this virus (which we think is rotavirus). i'd thought she'd been vaccinated against it, which would explain why we've been dealing with this for a week now & she hadn't gotten sick. but maybe it's too strong for a mere mortal vaccination. maybe it's SUPER VIRUS! able to leap tall daddies in a single bound! with the power to lay low anyone in it's path with either vomit or diarrhea! make way for SUPER VIRUS! but whatever it is, i hope it passes soon. i've always said i'm better with poop than with vomit, but when the pooper isn't wearing diapers anymore, it's a slightly different story :) getting poop out of panties is not for the faint of heart. what i wouldn't have given for a pair of rubber gloves! and to make it worse, we were out shopping, so we were in the bathroom of a sewing machine shop. they had sewing machines piled everywhere! including the bathroom! but thankfully they also had clorox disinfecting wipes, so we were good :)

anyway, i must go do battle with my can of lysol. there are surfaces that have yet to be disinfected yet today! GERMS BE GONE!!!