In my next house (no, I don't have any plans for buying new house, and yes Hon, I know this one is messy...just putting it out in the universe y'know) I'm going to have a shower big enough that it doesn't need doors to clean, cos life is to short to be scraping shit off glass each day!  My husband will be the first to point out that we don't do that now, and I'd be the first to admit I suffer pangs of guilt at my SIL's when I see the scraper hanging.  Bu really...wouldn't this be better???

The smart-arse ones reading this will say "hey, just use a shower curtain lady", to which I say, "If I wanted to be occasionally grasped by a wet clingy thing when I least expected it, I'd never have had kids." 

Ultimately this would be best...just not in northern Illinois in January!

Today is a lovely day to garden

There is a gentle breeze to blow the mozzies (mosquitos) away, the sun is out but not blazing and the soil is soft enough from the rain yesterday to pull the weeds out without swearing too much.
Definitely a lovely day to garden.
There are going to be few things I'm going to miss this #summerwegotoEcuador, and my garden is one of them.  After such a late start...where dandelions were welcome 'cos they were the first to bloom, everything is lush and green and looking pretty good after 9 years of work.

Oh well, time to go get my hands dirty on this perfect gardening day!
Okay, I've been out an hour and I take back the cool breeze effect.  Gonna have to spray again!

The great clothes experiment

So today is July 22 2013 and I'm looking at my wardrobe stuffed with 'NothingToWear'.  Inspired by Scoutie Girl and some other stuff I've been reading, I think it's time to address this obsession.  So I'm going to try a whole month (after I've bought some new bra's as mine are falling apart).

Here is my list:

• No new clothes
• No new shoes
• No new accessories

AND

• No new handbags (my Achilles heel!)

 I can make stuff, alter stuff, sell stuff and buy clothes for the kids (when they grow out of it).  People can give me gifts, I can lose weight to fit more and concentrate on the crafts I love.

If I can get through 2 months I can buy the Mini Course $27, tell my friends and hopefully get some support from my hubby.
So here is the state of the wardrobe/closet

and here is the last thing I bought:
A stripy tunic from Macy's in New York...on sale of course!

Wish me luck!

Santa's little helper sacks out

E is sleeping with his blanket wrapped around his head like a santa hat...if Santa wore a beige and navy hat that is.
He looks like a little elf...perhaps one of Santa's grubbier, more poopy and sweaty elves.

I can see clearly now the grime has gone

holy moly...we have just had the windows cleaned courtesy of a lovely man called "Jose". It's startling just how grubby they were.
Tempted to leave the screens down as I can see so much clearer now.
Must clean windows more often...lazy housewife that I am. At least I can feel virtuous about hoovering the screen and not outsourcing that job today.

The learning curve

This weekend LittleE has learnt to:

• Find the hidden scissors
• Cut his clothing with scissors
• Open the locked cupboard under the sink to investigate the sprays, dish wash powder etc
• Grab a knife off the bench
• Wave a knife in the air
• Stand on his little table in the family room and turn the fan and light switches on and off
• Stick his hand in the neighbours dogs mouth
• Climb onto the fireplace
• Unlatch the screen door so he can wander outside

its a wonder we haven't had to go to A&E at all this weekend! On the plus side he can now string "Good Bye" and "Daddy" together so technically that might be his first sentence...if we can make it to his 16 month birthday on the 23rd we might just be OK!

Friday Feast

Appetizer
When you were a child, which crayon color was your favorite?
Blue - not sure why though my parents thought they were adopting a boy and bought clothes accordingly, so I spent the first 3 months of my life in blue.
It came in handy with 3 other siblings as we all had our favourite colours so if Mum bought 4 things (plastic combs etc) she could get them in "our" colours so there would be less arguing.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest), how likely would you be to change jobs if it required you to move?
In a flash...unless it was somewhere really scary like back to my very very small (school and nothing more) hometown. We quite fancy moving to the Krakow office at the moment, the weather can't be any worse.

Salad
Take all the numbers in your birthday and your phone number and add them up, one by one. What’s the total?
82...embrassed to say I used the calculator...mental arithmatic is NOT my strong point

Main Course
Have you ever “re-gifted” anything? If so, what was it and who did you pass it on to?
Of course, if you don't love something set it free I say! In case family members are reading this...I won this large ceramic basket with fruit (so NOT me or my orange/purple/red kitchen) and regifted it to a secret santa session at mummygroup. The recipiant did not like it either, but someone else thought it was faboulous so it ended up in a happy home again....aaaaaaahhhhhh.

Dessert
Name something you need from the store.
Dishwasher soap, or we will be forced to do dishes by hand and that's probabley grounds for divorce.

Different styles of parenting...

M: "LittleE's feet are cold, do you have some socks for him?"
Me: pointedly looks toward the mountain of laundry about to cascade of the sofa behind him
M: ignores me and cuddles our 'freezing' child dressed in overalls, sweatshirt and drool, completely engrossed in Elmo
Me: extracts the first two socks (a grey one and a white one) before the laundry avalanches and throws them to M
M "they don't match"

Friday Feast

Appetizer
What are you proud of?
I've changed enough to manage to find someone who loves me as much as I love them.

Soup
What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize?
When I was living in the UK I won an all expenses paid trip for two to Milan and 1000 quid spending money...I put my 5 closest girlfriends in the jar and drew out Linda, who loves fashion the most anyway, and we had a BALL...bought a wonderful pair of Italian sandals I'm never going to give away even if I now have post pregnancy feet

Salad
Name something you do that is a waste of time.
Surf www.cuteoverload.com every day and look at the pictures...I'm addicted

Main Course
In what year of your life did you change the most?
1999 - went overseas, went to Findhorn, travelled to the places I wanted to and started a new life with only selected past baggage that I chose.

Dessert
Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?
Looking out on the river in Merrill (or any body of water for that matter)

Rhino head

Yesterday LittleE took a dramatic tumble out of his high chair just as I went to pick him up and crash landed on his head and shoulder. I don't know who was more shocked, but he started howling first, and all I could think was "I've broken the baby"
I scooped him up and we both howled together while I checked him for broken limbs and head injuries. I think he might have been crying cos I didn't catch his spectacular leap, but I know I was crying from guilt for not catching the acrobat.
I decided I didn't want to test the rapid response of the linc ambulance (though I know they always need something to do) and rang the doctors, who wanted to see him even though he had no serious fall signs other than the bruise.
Lorraine came along for the ride to make sure he stayed awake...and to talk me off the very tall tower known as "Worse Mummy in the World" and after he howled at the DRs he was passed all clear.
I spent the rest of the day alternatively cuddling him and checking for dilated pupils, vomiting and changes in behavior...somewhat consoled by the fact that MIL told me M had also survived a tumble down the stairs not much older.
So today LittleE has a big round bruise, a new name "rhinohead" and we have a reminder from the garage door guys that skateboards will be much worse...so much to look forward to

Just write

Still finding it hard to get back to bloggin, even when I have posts buzzing around in my head...I blame Dooce, Mr Angry, Jonny B and some chick from Belgium with a twattish boyfriend, I'm completely intimidated by their writing. get to the end of their daily posts and find myself tongue tied...or is that fingertied?
Maybe I should challenge myself to a week of not reading and writing with the reward of reading at the end of it. But first I have to put the washing on and check out small fluffy creatures...sigh...

Can you spell stupid?

It's spelt "M-E"..and I blame it on my husband for making me tidier.
This week I managed to recycle an entire unopened box of clothes ordered from Lands End. Got the box and did not have time to open it as I was feeding LittleE (see previous posts, you stick to anything you touch during that process, especially as I'm teaching him "high five" at the same time) and left it in the hallway next to the large cardboard boxes from the new toilet. Come Tues night I'm rushing around getting the rubbish out and neatly stowed all the boxes and put them out for recyling. Thursday morning finds me running around the house going "LittleE...where did mummy put the box?...did you eat it?..."which might be possible though I had seen no sign of jeans and shorts in his poo...and I get very up close and personal to poo these days.
I finally figured out I had just recyled $180.00 worth of clothing and rang waste management. The very helpful operator told me the local guy would call me back. The very helpful local guy gave me the number of the recyling plant. The very helpful lady at MURF (the recyling plant...no idea...maybe recyling was invented by the irish) checked with the operators on the line. And at the end of all that I found out that it would have all gone to the landfill as rubbish-sigh-and that a lot of people lose cell phones in their recyling as well.
After all the helpfulness I feel a bit mean...but I'm sure that there is someone's relative from MURF walking around in my size 14 Jeans from Lands End going "SCORE"
On the bright side, today I figured out that if you crush a few cheerios and roll squishy banana pieces in them, your baby can pick up the squishy banana better... and you have to spend less time extracting said suishy banana from the seat of the highchair..."SCORE"

bit messy though

bit messy though, originally uploaded by zela.

LittleE has gone to sleep at 8am...after not having more that 10 teaspoons of food. Sometimes I long for the days when I'm worried about him eating too much, or junk food or borrowing the car.
Its the second morning that he has woken at 5am, the little horror so figuring out how the day rescedules is such a juggling act, must have got it wrong this morning as he fell asleep the moment his little head hit the pillow...oh well, that's 45 minutes of cleanup and checking email and showering I now have.
It will all be worth it when he smiles up at me when he wakes up.

12 2006 eating toes 008

12 2006 eating toes 008, originally uploaded by zela.

Oh how I wish I was this flexible again...must start yoga...must start yoga...must start yoga

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

am I a bad housewife if I

sweep the bits I can't get into the dustpan down the heating vents???

Oooooohhhh...special and unique

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 128 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

my current favourite picture of littleE at the moment

as you can tell from the post time, I'm having trouble sleeping at the moment, I think this is the worse jet lag I've ever suffered (apart from the time I got a lung infection and collasped on the plane to wake up to an oxygen mask and the cabin crew trying to undo my bra...better than smelling salts to bring you around that is...)
It might have something to do with getting littleE back to his usual sleeping through the night routine.
Like him, I seem to have hunger pains at 3pm...I think I ate an entire packet of Jaffa cakes in the first night mmmnnn chocolate mmmmnnn orange...and now that I've got him off night feedings my boobs are going to explode again.
I now have this theory that WonderWoman must have been breastfeeding to get those cone hard breasts...though the teeny tiny waist blows that out of the water!
Anyho...off to make a nice hot drink of milo and surf youtube for entertainment.

3 things I have discovered today

1: the whole top of the diaper champ comes of and can be washed...you don't want to know why I needed to know this...trust me
2: the sponge headed paint brushes are good for getting into the bits you need to clean in the diaper champ
3: overtired babies are hard to get to sleep

Its going to be a long day today I think!

Life Experiences Meme

Bold the ones you've done..

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper (Yes, I have! Really!! LMAO.)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne.
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse (Too bad I didn't actually PLACE that bet!)
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (A few hours. Never an entire day.)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love (THAN! It's "THAN", you idiot who wrote this, not "THEN". Sheesh.)
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow (Though I've often expressed my own milk, and felt very much like a cow at the time...)
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark...disguised as 'lemon fish', with chips...mmmnnn
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (Only ALL. THE. TIME. I love to sing. :-) )
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived.
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach (Nope. Only squashed them.)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read (Way more than one!)
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating...fish count right...
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

Its easy to live in the Midwest

Frances and I were talking as we went to the 4th of July fireworks at spring lake last night...which BTW were themed 'Red White and Boom' like the whole of the celebration this year, and booming they were, they must have spent extra money on the noisy ones this year as the ground shook when they did the big finale...anyway I digress.
She said that's it easy living in the Midwest,no hurricanes like Florida, no scary snakes like Texas (not sure where that came from) and even no real threat of tornadoes where we live. We decided that any city would live in fear of someone blowing up the inner city, ie the Sears tower, but that now just seems like an everyday danger, along with being hit by a car (much more likely).
I think that makes me grateful, the safety factor, somehow its good that boring is also safe, but I confess to a certain ambivalence about the lack of exotic dangers (ie alligators), something I'm sure will change when our small baby finally gets onto a bike or starts to toddle in the land of no fences.
In the meantime, life is easy in the Midwest, the sun is shining, the baby is sleeping and I'm about to go out and get some fresh air...in hearing distance of sudden infant noises of course!

4th of July baby

4th of July baby
Originally uploaded by zela.

So when I lost baby number two, i lost the will to blog and promised myself that I would return when I had my own baby in my arms...well here he is, Eilot Alexander Weaver, having a wee patriotic moment under both his flags on the fourth of July.
I stil can't beleive he is ours, he's so cute when he sleeps.
We are going through new parent purgatory at the moment and struggling to get through a night without tears from at least two family members. He seems to want to stay awake for 6 hour stretches anytime after 9:30pm and screams unless he is being fed, naps for 10-15 minutes then starts the cycle again.
I cling to anyone who tells me that he wil sleep through the night eventually, I think we are most tormented by not knowing what is wrong and why we can't soothe him...we have taken to calling him mr crankypants at night.
How can anyone that looks this cute turn into a howler monkey so easily -sigh-

Testing to check

testing testing 123

Flickr

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Merrill July 05 019

Merrill July 05 019
Originally uploaded by zela.

This is Sharon, the MIL and FIL's next door neighbour at the river...she's been married to Joe for 50 years and they were one of the first people to welcome MIL to the river when she had just married FIL...by rustling up a group of friends, grabbing their pots and pans and clanging them together as they walked over the meet the new bride and groom...being a sweet Georgia peach and not used to the wild ways of Wisconsin..I think the MIL freaked out a bit, but became freinds and now counts Sharon as one of her nearest and dearest.
Sharon and Joe didn't want to have a fancy dinner so Dawn (the daughter) and Judi and Jerry (she's the pretty redhead in the pictures) and others cooked up a surprise.
At 3pm on Saturday we all met at the top of the drive, turned on the siren on someones golf cart and walked down the hill banging all the muffin tins and saucepans we could find.
The extended family had managed to make excuses to be there already, we loaded the 3 pontoon boats with booze and food and carefully (with generally comedic results) tied all 3 boats together and sailed on down the river enmasse. Sharon and Joe had a great time (she was pretty shickered by 9pm) and we eventually moored for a bbq to finish things off.
Just the perfect way to celebrate 50 and a fun way to introduce my sister to life on the river.
Try not to look to hard at how much the cake is leaning...she insisted on 4 layer banana cake with whipped cream and choc icing on top.
Click on the photo if you want to see more of the party.