Now, there's packit!

Oh, the wonders of advertising. And the memory of a 4 year old. Last weekend, I was in the car with the girls when SB suddenly remembered something very important she needed to tell me.

SB: "Mom, we need to get a packet."
Me: "A packet of what?"
SB: "You know, 'Now, there's packet.'"
Me: "What are you talking about? What is a packet?"
SB: "You can pack things you never could before. That old food will spoil in two minutes, but you put it in a packet, it's good to go the next day! It's perfect for school lunches."

It suddenly dawned on me that my daughter was quoting an infomercial. I had neither seen nor heard of this product before, but I knew. And if I wasn't positive before, SB had the final zinger to put any uncertainties to rest:

SB: "And mom, you don't get just one. You get TWO. So we have to call today."

I tried not to let SB know how hard I was laughing. I really wanted her to repeat the performance for Jack later. So a day or two later, we were sitting at the table and I asked SB to tell Jack about packit. She jumped into performance mode, out of her seat and with a flourish of her hand she said,

"NOW, there's PACKIT! You can pack things you never could before! For TEN HOURS. Order packit now."

She really wanted one, especially since they were perfect for school lunches. The fact that she does not go to school remained undaunting, as her heart was set on one. Not just one, but TWO!

A little later, SB was watching a cartoon. Suddenly, she came blazing into the room where Jack and I were sitting. As luck would have it, the infomercial was on at that very moment. And she had paused it so that I could see.

Congratulations

to Claire! The winner of the mystery prize giveaway. Thanks to all the contestants for your brilliant entries. I know you thought I forgot about it, and maybe it wasn't at the top of my priority list. The prize has been mailed, and judging from the text message I got on Thursday, it has also been received. Since I forgot to photograph it before I sent it, I'm waiting on you to send photo/video evidence, Claire. Even just a snapshot from your phone will suffice.

I hope you get lots of good use out of it.

Anybody want a Wii??

Wii for sale! Brand new still in the box. Bought it at Wal Mart, decided we didn't want it, and they only give you 15 days to return game systems. I was too late to return it! It's a black system with one controller, one nunchuk, and I think it comes with wii sports or something like that. I haven't even opened the box, but I will check to be sure. I also bought an additional controller and nunchuk.

I really want to get rid of this thing, as it has been sitting in our living room collecting dust for a while now. Paid $150 for the wii, and $30-$40 for the additional controllers I think. With tax and all, it was about $200 I guess for the whole shebang. Make me an offer. Please. I will ship for free or bring it to your doorstep if you're local.

To my daughter on her 4th birthday

My, how time flies. I cannot believe my little Sarah Beth is 4 years old! She seems so grown up; she is brilliant, beautiful and sweet. Yesterday was the actual day, but with all the birthday celebrating, I didn't get to blog about it. This one's for you, SB.


For your birthday, I have some wishes for you:

I hope you'll always keep your own sense of style. Even though I made you change your outfit for church last Sunday, I loved that you were so confident in your white dress with black stockings and tennis shoes.


I hope you'll never get too big for cuddle time.



I hope you'll always love your baby sister as much as you do right now. Even though she's kind of scared of you most days, I think she'll get used to your energy when she gets a little older.

I'm sorry I threw your fish away at Smith Lake. You spent the whole afternoon looking at him and making a nice home for him in his glass with flowers, sticks and dirt. You were so sad the next day when you found out that he was gone. You puckered your lips and said, "but I was gonna take care of that little guy." I hope you'll always love animals and be kind to them.


I hope you'll always keep the confidence you have in yourself and in the decisions you are allowed to make. We told you that we could go anywhere for your birthday dinner, and you chose McDonalds. We assured you that there were many other wonderful choices out there for dinner, and we all but begged you to choose something "better." But you knew what you wanted, and you stuck to your guns. Chicken nuggets, french fries, sprite and ice cream. But mostly you wanted to play on that disgusting playground. After watching you dance around the room and wreak havoc on that big plastic playplace with that smile on your face, I was so glad we didn't change your mind.

I hope you'll grow up never doubting how much your daddy and I love you. I can't wait for the day that you come to the full knowledge of Jesus, and I hope I get to be the one to pray with you when you're ready to take that step. The world is a much better and brighter place because you are in it. Keep your joy full, keep your smile wide. I love you.

I feel like I'm taking CRAZY pills

The office phone is ringing off the hook. A customer called to ask us to call his insurance company. His local insurance agent called to ask us to call their corporate office. Their corporate office wants me to please hold. My wait time will be at least 20 minutes. My call is very important to them. I hang up.

The local agent calls back and asks if I have called corporate yet and would I please keep calling the corporate office. Also, could we please do some temporary repairs to a roof real quick over the holiday weekend? No big deal.

Another customer called at 10:36 while I was on the other line. She called back at 10:37 and 10:38. Wouldn't it just be easier to leave a message? Lucky for her, since she calls all the time, I know her number. I'm just not anxious to return that call, since I know she is going to ask me the same thing she asks me every time she calls, (when am I coming by to bring her some pictures of her roof?) but our dates haven't changed, and I'm going to keep up my end of the bargain...unless she keeps calling and drives me to the nut house.

Another customer calls. For the second time today. I'd like to check our phone records to be sure, but I'm certain this one has called at least 40-50 times in the month of August. I answered those calls, and both times the "concerns" had nothing to do with their roof.

I realize that part of this job is dealing with difficult people, but sometimes it all comes together overwhelmingly on one glorious day, and today happened to be that day. As we are recovering from the stomach bug. And as one child who missed her morning nap is screaming through her second nap, the other child is pestering the bejeezus out of me every five minutes to put on a cartoon, despite my repeated warnings to STOP ASKING. And then Jack called to say that he wouldn't be able to keep the girls this afternoon so I could get out of the house for a little while. Because he feels like he is going to throw up.

If you're a doctor and you are reading this, I think I need to be medicated in order to survive the weekend. And if the baby whisperer is reading this, Philip, Annie needs some of your magic. If you're my mom and you're reading this, I'm sorry I can't take you to lunch and the nail salon for your birthday. If you're one of my children reading this, please go put yourself to bed and stay there quietly...and holy crap when did you learn how to read? If you're my husband and you're reading this, PLEASE don't throw up. I just don't think I could handle it. Also, somebody's roof needs to be repaired.

Because they just come to me in the middle of the night

Here's another haiku:

Loud baby screaming
Awake in the dead of night
I need some earplugs

EDITED to add:

SB had a rough bout with a stomach virus last night; I've been praying that I feel so awful because I was up with her every 15 minutes during the night and not because I'm getting it too. I prayed first that Annie wouldn't get it, then that Jack wouldn't get it, then that I wouldn't get it. I just checked on Annie in her swing to see her covered in something.

Please don't be throw up
Did someone spill curdled milk?
I need a nanny

Be sure that your sins will find you out

SB learned a valuable lesson today. Is still learning, I should say. I'm blogging from her bedroom, seated on the floor next to her bed on puke patrol. If you are weak of stomach, you may not want to read all of this story.

Earlier today, SB got a bag of dried mixed fruit (cranberries, raspberries, etc) and asked me if she could have some while opening the bag. I told her to wait and that I would get some for her soon. She started to whine and beg; again I told her to just wait a few minutes until I was done feeding Annie, then she could have some. I looked up a minute later to see her with a handful of dried fruit poised above her open mouth.

I was enraged. I yelled "NO!" and she dropped the fruit that had been halfway in her mouth back into the bag. GROSS. I tried to spank her while I was nursing, but that didn't go to well. So I sent her to her room and told her that Daddy would spank her when he got home.

He did, and even though he only popped her once, he connected with a force. I could tell it was an effective punishment. After they hugged it out and discussed once more why she had gotten a spanking, I made it clear that she wasn't allowed to have any of those berries. Later on in the afternoon, SB told me that her tummy was hurting. We cuddled on the couch with bunny until SB got up and wandered out of the room.

This is where you change the channel if you don't like puke stories.

We heard a SPLAT coming from the kitchen, and sure enough, her tummy had been hurting. The contents of her stomach were now splayed across the kitchen floor, and from the looks of it, SB had ingested quite a bit of berries shortly before throwing up. When confronted, SB insisted that she hadn't eaten any, although the proof was in the pudding, if you will. We didn't force the issue, because in my opinion, throwing up is punishment enough.

After about 2 hours of throwing up, SB commented, "I guess I shouldn't have eaten those berries after all." It's nearly 11 pm now, and she is still heaving about every 10-20 minutes, even though there's nothing left inside. My poor little girl has certainly suffered enough for the berry betrayal. I hope we are done for the night so she can get some sleep and some much needed fluids!

To the person who owns the dog that poops in my yard every day

HAIKU:

Poop is on my shoe
Why didn't you clean it up
Karma's a bizzle

Claire is currently the only contender for the mystery prize. An excellent entry; however, KC slander will not garner any points on this blog. I'll allow 2 more days for any takers.

And if you really can't handle the who I want to meet, just give me the superpower part.