Fly on the Wall- #4

Hey friends!  Welcome to the 4th Fly on the Wall Group Challenge. This month, 11 awesome bloggers and I are describing what it would be like if you were to take a peek inside our homes....

Have a "look" around mine, and then go visit the other blogger's pages. There's always something fun, sentimental, or better yet, embarrassing going on.. It's like your house, only we're admitting to the craziness. You have our permission. How often can one say that?

If you were a fly on the wall at my house this month, this is what you would have witnessed:

Cast:
Me
The Man
The Eldest (daughter, 19)
The Middle (son, 14)
They Youngest (son, 8)
Henry and Lila (our new dogs )

At dinner:

The Youngest: (looking at his plate) "What IS this?"
The Eldest: "It's Chinese."
The Middle: (five minutes later) "What's inside these egg rolls?"

The Youngest: (whispering like it's a secret) "We don't know. It's Chinese."

In the bathroom:

The Middle: "Wow, Mom. Props to you."
Me: "What for?"
The Middle: "For cleaning the toilets every day. How are you doing it? The water is always blue."
Me: "Um, it's a tablet you put in the toilet tank. Should I be scared that you didn't know that?"
The middle: (walking away) "Wow. Just trying to give you a compliment.."

3 hours later.

The youngest: "Mom! Did you see the magic water in the toilet?"
Me: "It's not magic. It's a blue tablet and I...."
The youngest: "It IS magic!! Come look! I can make the water turn green!"

About my sleeping pills:

(Convo at dinner)

The Man: "BTW, Michele. You HAVE to go straight to sleep after you take those new sleeping pills. You just aren't yourself after you take one."
Me: "I try, but I just can't get to sleep. What do you mean by 'not myself'?"
The Man: "Let's see. Well, last night, you got up and made chicken tacos. 3 of them. At midnight. You don't even like chicken tacos, and you ate them all."
The Eldest: (nodding) "The other night, you made dad get you a big bag of Gardettos and you ate them in bed. When I tried to take them away, you asked me for a Hershey bar."
Me: "OMG. No Wonder my yoga pants feel tight! Are you guys messing with me?"
The Middle: (not even looking up) "You told me I was your favorite child."
Incredulously, I look to my youngest for some comfort.
The youngest: "What? You told me Happy Birthday. My birthday is in October. I didn't say anything because I thought you bought me LEGOS or something..."

Saving dough:

The Middle: "Mom, can I have another bag of chips? I'm starving."
Me: (cutting out coupons and feeling exhausted) "You know what? I told you were are trying to save money. Remember how we're trying to cut back? You guys can't keep eating everything in sight. Don't you know how much we spend on snacks? Blah Blah Blah..."
The Middle: (picking up and observing the NIKE box that was just delivered to our house). "Hey! Are these the new YOGA shoes you were searching all over the country for? The ones you said 'couldn't be found?"
Me: "Yes...They were a gift."
The Middle: "From who???"
Pause.
Stare-down.
Silence.
Me: "Do you want Doritos, Cheetos or Chips?"

That awkward moment when: (new dog edition)

-your boys are laying in dog beds. They are doing this because the new dogs are lying in their beds.

-your youngest child asks you to use your indoor voice because the dogs are sleeping.

-you realize you have two new names to mess up when you are yelling for someone in your family.

-you realize you are using more FeBreeze than Pledge.

and finally,

That awkward moment when:

-your daughter tells you to not to freak out over your male dog showing his private parts every time the wind blows. She then proceeds to tell you that as a CNA she has been working in the men's unit.
"If you've seen one mom, you've seen them all." she says.
You don't remember hitting the floor..

Thanks once again to the Fly's creator, Karen @ Baking In a Tornado, aka "The lady who puts everyone first", for hosting this challenge! Would you like to join in the next FLY challenge? Click on the FLY button on my side bar. Karen will hook a blogger up.



Take a look at what the other bloggers have going on inside their homes. Go do it! Tell them I sent you. You know you want to...

Baking in a Tornado

Just a Little Nutty                              

Stacy Sews and Schools             

The Sadder but Wiser Girl                

Menopausal Mother                  

Moore Organized Mayhem       

My Brain on Kids                                                                       

The Momisodes

The Rowdy Baker

Finding Felicity

Caramel Living

Happy Weekend, friends :)
-Michele

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2+Crazytown =7

Hello Friends!  How was your weekend? Eh, weekends are never long enough. When Sunday comes, I sit back and try to place where every bit of those two days went. Yet, every Sunday answers the same. "You've gotten enough done, Michele. No more, no less." This has to be enough.

This was the weekend my middle child and I had been waiting for. We've wanted a dog for a really long time. The problem has been on my end. I have terrible allergies. Our long look has been heartbreaking and just plain hard on the boy. We've wanted someone to love; someone who would complete the dynamics at our house. Let's face it, the ol' "follow me home" blog was also running a bit dry...New material for sure!

We loaded the family into the car and took a visit to our county animal shelter. Ugh. You would be missing your soul if you go in there and NOT want to take them all home. They bark and put on their show from their kennels. It's like a talent show; the prize being a forever home. I loved so many of the dogs :(  The five of us narrowed down our choice. I think we all chose Henry right away. The kids were in love.

Our new puppy is a Chihuahua-mixed Jack Russel. We named him Henry and he's taken to the name quite well. In one day, he is already chasing balls and returning them. He will keep us very busy. He's cuddly, he's fast and he pees all over everything. Ack! For the most part, he's what the kids were looking for.



On the way out of the shelter, we passed Lila. Ugh. Lila is a beagle/bull dog mix. She is at least seven. She is getting grey and it is quite obvious that Lila was never asked to walk. This is the fattest, saddest little dog I've ever met. My daughter thinks she lived with an old, dying woman and they were sharing hard candies... I immediately wanted to bring her home. I could talk the kids into it, right?  The pound said that getting someone to take her would probably prove to be difficult. Two people had already cancelled on Lila.

We put the kids in a room with rambunctious Henry. Then, we let the elder, Lila into the mix. They did their smelling routine and started to share which kid they wanted to jump on. Mark and I sat outside the room, watching all three of our kids laughing and smiling at the two dogs who were strangers just moments ago.
"We have to take them both, Mark. They'll love the house and the yard. (1/2 acre)
"Are you sure?" He asked, knowing how much work was ahead for us.
"We'll be saving two little lives. I need that. The kids need that and of course the animals need that.
24 hours later, we adopted those cute animals, put them in our car and let the windows down. This is what freedom feels like! I could feel Lila in my arms breathe out deeply, relaxing and realizing (?) she was safe.

We drove to Petco. They saw our "new" dogs by the way the kids were twirling around the leashes and running to the "cute stuff." What the workers were probably MORE excited about, was the man and me. We were the couple dragging along and apparently wearing hats that said, "We're Tired AND We're SUCKERS! Sell us anything! We just want to go home."

New dogs, like new children, are not cheap.

***

Two Rules right off.

Dad: "The dogs are NOT to be on the furniture. Do not accept any of their poutiness. Be strong."
Me: "No matter what happens, I can not have any dogs in the sewing studio. I'm not kidding."

Dogs can't sleep where?

No spoiling?

Put your foot down, Mr. Man.

Henry resting on my cutting table... eh. I'm okay with it.

I believe my family is complete. For now.

What was your weekend like? How was the weather where you live? Pet owners- I will eventually get my life back, right?

Happy "Love-every-soul-who-is-locked-safely-in-your-house-tonight," friends :)


-Michele

Secret Subject Swap #6

Hey friends! It's SSS time again. I can't believe how quickly the months are passing. I'm so glad to be past February and into March. The sun has been out the last few days. It's been wonderful. March in Utah came in like a lamb. It makes me wonder what's to come...

If you're a regular follower, you know that the Secret Subject Swap is a collaboration between various bloggers. We receive secret topics from other bloggers and put our own spin on the subjects. This time, there are 15 bloggers participating. If you would like to see their subjects, I will post their blogs at the end of this post. Go have a look and leave a comment. We all love that :)

My Secret Subject was given to me by the beautiful Meg at Just a Little Nutty. She is funny, creative and kind.  She also has an awesome FB page with funny antidotes, product reviews and recipes. Give her a follow or a "like".

Meg's topic for me was "There are three children sitting on a log by a stream. One jumps up pointing and shouts....."

Here we go:

Look Closely. 3 kids.

The three kids sitting on a log are mine. The youngest stood up and shouted, "I'm going to push her!" He wasn't being unkind; he was being impatient...and he was talking about me.

"Push her, I must!"

If I opened my eyes, I would be able to see my three children tapping their toes, arms crossed, and waiting for their turn. Instead, I kept my eyelids closed and let the blazing sun be the only light I could see. I could feel the heat from the day penetrate my skin; warming an already overheated body. It was the deepest part of summer; my favorite time.  I was balancing on a large tree branch; my feet curled tightly around its bark. My right hand was wrapped twice around a large, gnarly rope.

I'd done it a million times; let my weight carry the rope across the wide pond. I didn't need to look. I would grasp tightly, let my feet loosen their grip from the branch and hold onto the knot at the bottom of the rope. Right at the edge of the first swing, I'd let go and fall into the deep. The the cool water would envelope me. I'd exhale under the surface, come up for air and pull the rope back for the next person waiting for their turn.

This time though, I wanted to inhale the whole experience. The way the salt tasted on my upper lip. The feel of the soft breeze swirling around my body even while I was standing still. I wanted to hear the sounds of the leaves dancing on the branches. They would keep beat with the swishing of the other trees..  If I could hear past their song, I might catch the pond's ripples, softly breathing up and down along the edge of the tall grass. Absolute heaven. All with my eyes closed. Today, I would live in that very moment. I would breathe deeply knowing how the pond would feel on my first jump of the day. There would be more than one jump, of course, but there was nothing like the first; when your hair and skin haven't yet been hugged by the water..

"I'm going to push her!!" I heard again. I suddenly remembered that there were others waiting for this kind of moment. I began to smile knowing that there was a lifetime of these same experiences in store for the children. Still, I wished this day would last forever.

Transferring my weight from the safe branch onto the bottom of the weather-ridden knot, I finally opened my eyes to take it all in...

*

*

*

"DO NOT PUSH HER!" I heard my husband yell. "She's not even sitting down!"

Icy air came at me and stung my cheeks. The soft blue sky that I remembered was slashed with white snow.

Two of my three kids were waiting patiently. I looked at the rope still in my hands. The thick, grassy cord was tied to a sled. It wasn't summer at all...

My eldest jumped on behind me, pulling me down; the middle child jumped on after her.

For the last time, the youngest yells, "I'm going to push her!"
My husband nods. It's a completely different sight now that I've opened my eyes.

Listening to the laughter around me, I hold the rope tightly. I know that this will also be a day to memorize.

Take it all in. Remember to breathe. Try not to blink.

Here we go...

Thanks Meg, once again for the topic. If you are interested in joining us for the next Subject Swap, you can visit its creator, the wonderful Karen @ Baking in a Tornado. You can also read all about the swap by clicking on the SSS icon on the side of my blog.

Don't forget to check out this month's talented participants!

Baking in a Tornado                         

Chewylicious                   

The Momisodes                

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy                   

Just a Little Nutty                    

Follow Me Home            

Stacy Sews and Schools            

Life on the SONny Side               

Dates 2 Diapers                             

Tiny Steps Mommy                      

Menopausal Mother

A Mother Life

Sadder but Wiser

My Brain On Kids

The Insomniac's Dream

Happy "Spend-Today-In-The-Moment", friends :)