Mippy Manor's Week in Review: Chaos Edition

Ahhhh... I am sure that I was not the only person who began this week by that phenomenon I call Holiday Hangover. Coupled with the fact that we had Tag here to boot, it was definitely not your average week. I'm not complaining, but it just was a bit off kilter.

Since it is officially spring, the kids have once again been playing outside with the neighbor kids when they get home from school. By around noon, they start asking if their friends are home to play yet. They have gone out during the day a bit this week, as our neighbor has brought over his two year old charge. The old storage bins from our minivan have been getting a ton of use. Ryli uses one for her Littlest Pet Shop paraphernalia and dolls. Landry has his filled to the brim with dinosaurs. Having Tag around up until Thursday night definitely gave them a kick in the pants as far as picking up their toys.

I was originally going to write the "Life With/Life Without" series that I have been doing the past several weeks for a total of eight weeks. That notion has officially left the building, as I came up with three additional topics. I'm rather ashamed that I didn't think of any of the three sooner, but at least I thought of them while I'm still writing the series.

Our lease here is up in under a month. I'm starting to gear up for the inevitable packing, which I will more than likely start as soon as we get the annual inspection done next week. The part I fear the most is taking the kids away from all their friends that live a hop, skip, and a jump away, but they will make new friends. Also, I will eventually need to scrounge up movers. I'll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.

We have to restart getting Ryli and Landry to sleep in their own beds. With Tag here, I had to have him in the room with me, which meant they were in my bed as well. That will start tonight with a vengeance. The stupid folded laundry did not put itself away, so that's what I get to do tonight as a nightcap. 

Thursday night we went grocery shopping with our neighbor Nicole. Of course the kids minded freakishly well. They had an audience to preform for, after all. The best part of that, though, is that we got a few treats to bake tomorrow, like pretzels and chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and Landry's undying love of play dough will surely require a replenishment of his stores. Hopefully, he will forgive me if I forgot to grab more food coloring. If he has a problem with it, I'll just remind him that we would have food coloring if he and Ryli did not demand to have their bath water colored.

I'm really missing Tag. More than I dare let on with Ryli and Landry. Soon enough, though, we will have a new place, ideally one level with a yard, and a puppy won't be so daunting of an undertaking. Tag would get tired and want to nap, and he would always find me and curl up at my feet.

Here is to a dozy of a week, with appointments three consecutive days. We get our monthly water delivery, I start a parenting class, and who knows what else. Thursday will mark one week from seeing my mom and Dacey. That will be quite the adventure, taking the bus and train to Union Station, and from there, on to an southbound Amtrak. My mom is going to bring us back on Saturday, That I can NOT wait for. The kids will get more excited as it draws nearer, I am certain.

And I almost forgot... Winter is coming! Season five Game of Thrones starts tomorrow night!

Mippy Manor's Week in Review: Choas Edition

This week has absolutely flown by. Seriously, I have no idea how it went by as fast as it did, but it is gone, and I know it won't be back

We started off the week with two brand new chore charts up on the wall. I'd tried them before to no avail, but now, the competitiveness is coming out and it is all about collecting those little aluminum star stickers. If I ask them to do something, and they still refuse, I remind them that they need to do it to get the sticker. Works like a charm. The only thing I have to do is hide the stickers where I can get them, but they can't. No easy feat when you still have two climbers on your hands.

Wednesday, the kids got the Easter box from Grandma-Mom (with all the grandparents being remarried, they have 7). They each got $10 in their card, which made the trip to pick up refills and grab a few groceries, so much easier. They're really getting the hang of the bus. Ryli held one of the posts and held on the entire time the bus was in motion. Landry pushed the button for our stop.They're getting better and better at the whole thing.

Thursday was a sit on my butt day. Once again, I tweaked my bum right knee. Whilst sitting on said butt, I found a new primary care physician and scheduled an appointment. I sense leaving that appointment with a referral for an MRI, and I think this one is going to be even worse than the one I had the day I realized that I was late for my period. I found out I was pregnant with Landry the next morning.

The older girls that live in the next building have come by every evening to ask if the kids can play. Ryli and Landry have had no problem sleeping at night, needless to say. They've ridden scooters, played  with Littlest Pet Shop and dinosaurs, drew with 3D chalk, and hit the playground. It's been nice.

The living room was rearranged yesterday. It's a totally new room, with plenty of space for the kids to play dinosaurs or Littlest Pet Shop. It will also prevent as much stuff (pony tail holders and toys) from getting under the couch so much. I'm actually a bit embarrassed that I didn't think of this set-up sooner. Oh well.

Next week is a busy one. The final court date for custody and all of that is Thursday. I'm not nervous about the hearing itself. Its the whole seeing X that makes me stomach turn. Landry gets registered for pre-k on April Fools Day. Personally, I find that slightly amusing and will probably bring that up at least once in his academic career. 

Mippy Manor's Week in Review: (Belated) Solo Saturday Edition

It has been a week of a severe case of the blahs. I will make no excuses for it. Sometimes, you just have one of "those" weeks where it seems eerily similar to Groundhog Day. With the exception of Wednesday, it was a seemingly endless case of S.O.S.D.D. (same ol' shit, different day, to the unfamiliar). I felt like I was constantly picking up messes, breaking up fights, and trying to come up with some ways to break up the tedium. On that front, I think I actually came up with a plan of action, so that will be implemented tomorrow.

Wednesday was a trial run of getting two appointments in neighboring buildings done back-to-back in one day. Epic fail. We left the house at 9:00 so we could run to the corner store for some drink and snacks. Each of the kids took a backpack with toys, and Ryli brought her umbrella, as it rained off and on throughout the day. I had my big purse with several bottles of water in it, and found myself carrying Landry's backpack a good deal of the time. It was not fun. At all. My appointment was at 11:00, and although they assured me I'd have plenty of time for getting across the lot for Ryli's appointment, it was much closer to five minutes. By the time it was all said and done, we were home at nearly 6:00. I neglected to take dinner out of the freezer to thaw, so the three of us made brinner (breakfast for dinner; for us, bacon, scrambled eggs, muffins, orange juice and/or milk), and crashed out soon after.

The Nerd Blocks came this week. Mine came on Tuesday, Landry's came Wednesday, and then Ryli's came yesterday. We each got a matching gag gift set of a whoopee cushion and two "ice cubes" with plastic flies inside. The whoopee cushions have been dubbed "The Farters" and have gotten an extensive workout. Ryli and Landry pranked their grandparents with them yesterday, and then Memaw and Pepaw helped them get their father.

I got a Guardians of The Galaxy magnet, and a set of nesting dolls. Groot is now sitting on the printer, watching me type this, shielding all his fellow guardians. There was also a Shaun of the Dead tee-shirt and a copy of Simon Pegg's auto-biography, Nerd Do Well, a little giraffe figurine that the kids demolished the box to, and the gag set. As soon as I finish off Wolf Hall, I will be reading Nerd Do Well. 

In the Nerd Block Juniors, besides the aforementioned "farters",  Ryli got a Gund Grumpy Cat, which is sleeping on her bed upstairs. Landry got a Digimon figure instead of Grumpy Cat. Then, there was Mega Blocks Spongebob Figurines in blind bags, Lego Friends erasers for Ryli, while Landry got a Lego Chima set, some goo, and a little throwing-stress ball-type thing each. I really like how the boxes for them are just enough alike that none gets overly jealous, yet different enough that they don't fight. Here's to hoping that maybe next month, they'll all get here the same day!

I did get my ink cartridge for my printer. I've almost emptied it already, printing out my To-Do list, my control journal for Fly Lady, recipes that have made it off the bookmark list and to the treasure trove of keeper recipes, and little chore charts for the littles, among other things. Things are falling into place.

This coming week's most difficult feat will start tonight. I have got to kick Ryli and Landry's cuddly little butts out of my bed. I'm too old to sleep in a virtual mosh pit! I've started to look into sleep trainer clocks for their room, to aid in the progress. And, regardless of the weather, I will wear them out this week, as they start their chore charts. Nothing too hard to start, just some things that would be AWESOME to get them into the habit of doing all by themselves. We can build on it from there.

Now, to take a little nap before they return from the weekend's final visitation. Here is to a much improved week! Eroy is in the house, and things are looking better and better. 

Mippy Manor's Week in Review: Chaos Edition

Another week is on the books, and once again, there were more days that I posted than days that I didn't. Even more posts when you take in consideration the two that just flat went out later than initially planned. I've bounced back from the hour that was stolen a week ago, and the kids have, too, maybe.

I got some mail this week from the Dallas Zoo this week.I am now toying with the notion of a family membership. They way it breaks down price wise, it'd be a steal of a deal, and let's face it, we would get a lot of use out of it. All the gorgeous weekends last summer that we just sat at home, and this year, I have weekdays to fill up since they no longer attend daycare. And there's the Giants of the Jurassic thing they've got going on this year. Landry has dinosaurs on the brain. So, I will probably come up with a way to get that membership, and start buying month long bus passes.

We gave Sling TV a trial run on Monday. It is cool.The kids did get tired of it pretty quickly, though. They were both sitting in my computer chair, jockeying for space, so it was no fault of the programming. The Amazon Fire TV stick came on Thursday. I already knew it had to be hooked up in the living room (the only TV we have "new" enough to have HDMI hook-ups). So, I chose to move the rabbit ears and converter box to my room and my rinky-dink television, and the Blu-Ray player will stay in the kids' room. My must watch shows come on after dinner, so that way I will be upstairs so hopefully the kids will start staying in their room.

Fly Lady is still misfiring. As soon as my ink cartridge comes in next week, I'm going to print out my Control Journal and give it yet another go. I'll start tomorrow, regardless. I have somehow managed to go to bed with the downstairs actually pretty much presentable every night this week. Wednesday night was the worst I'd left it, but we were all in bed by 7:30-8:00, after all. I had it all cleaned up except for sweeping, mopping and vacuuming when Miss Diva came downstairs demanding blueberry oatmeal. I just want to get to a point where I don't feel as if I'm cleaning every waking hour of every day.

Starting Wednesday, I'm going to do a series "Life With/Life Without". Every week, I will post about something I live with or without. The stroke, my clotting disorder, being car-less just to name a few topics. It will serve to let the you, the reader learn some of the reasons that I do things like I do. There is a method to all my madness, and it's getting better/easier all the time.

Last night, I decided to try making a batch of barbecue sauce up to get Ryli and Landry to help me finish up the remnants of Tuesdays Dr. Pepper Spicy Shredded Pork. I went to the kitchen under the assumption that I had the kids properly occupied, but Landry was right on my tail. So I took out all the ingredients and measured them and dumped them into the bowl, and Landry whisked them all together. I decided to heat up the sauce to kill time while we waited for the shredded pork to heat up and the french fries to bake. Landry stood on his chair and continued to neatly whisk the sauce. I melted a slice of cheddar onto the English muffins that were serving as buns, broke out the rest of the baby spinach for little salads, and loaded the makeshift buns with shredded pork and barbecue sauce. They both loved it, and now, I have another recipe the next time that pork butt goes on sale like that again.

Today, I think we'll lay low for the most part. Eventually, we'll take a walk up to the store so I can make Irish Soda Bread on St. Patrick's Day. I misjudged what we had on hand when I made the grocery list Monday. I've got some laundry to put away and a few other things that I need to get done upstairs. No playground yet, it will take a few days of Texas sun to dry that mess up. 

Mippy Manor's Week in Review: Solo Saturaday Edition

This week has been a tad disappointing, I'm not going to lie. Plans have been postponed due to illness; the weather has been bingeing on an illegal substance (it has been psycho... snow.. in March... in Dallas?); the farce of kindergarten round-up; the general gloom. In short, with the exception of cooking some incredible eats, my get up and go pretty much left me high and dry, following Elvis out the nearest exit. 

There were little bursts of activity. Bills got paid. The kids have been helping in the kitchen, which has been both a blessing and a curse. Our system of doing the dishes actually made me miss them about 15 minutes after Memaw picked them up at noon. It's actually got me pretty proud. I didn't ask for the help. Ryli volunteered and Landry had to get in on the action. 

Fly Lady was an abysmal failure. There's no way to distort reality enough to say that it was even a mild success. I liked the snooze button way too much this week, which honestly threw everything into chaos. Add to that I just never got around to filling out my little to-do lists, and I was not productive at all. I had already figured out I'm much more productive if I fill it out and follow it. I'm as ADD as the sky is blue, and I know that, I'm just not on anything for it. It just gives me a tangible tool to do what I need to do. This was by far the longest stretch I've gone without the list, and NEVER again will I do it.

The Mippy Manor recipe for cabin fever was perfected this week. Monday was to wet from last week to take the kids to the playground. We made due with an Aldi run, but that was it. Tuesday was rainy all day. Ryli and I went to round up while Landry had a sitter. Wednesday was all rain. Memaw was good enough to run us to Kroger. She sat in the car and I made the run I was going to do on Monday. Thursday was Winter Wonderland, Take Two. The kids got to go play in it for a bit and then we ran and checked the mail. Yesterday we were faced with the soggy aftermath. So, at noon today, I turned two rather stir-crazy kiddos to Memaw. 

With the kids gone, I commenced to kicking the downstairs in the hindquarters in peace, without the tornadoes that the kids have been. It took no time at all, and I was nice enough to leave some jobs for Ryli and Landry when they get home. I dumped all the clean clothes out on my bed so the kids are forced to sleep in their room at least for a few hours a piece. 

Tonight, after the work I left them is done, second dinner is eaten, baths are taken, and jammies are on, we'll make cookies.After they're asleep and the laundry is dealt with, the meal plan and shopping list gets redone. There was nothing wrong with the first set, but I found the 12" cast iron skillet I've been wanting cheaper than even Wally World, and I bought a new skillet that I can cook it the oven with. So, now that I have both of those, I can make more of the one dish recipes that I've wanted to try. Woohoo!

So, despite most of the week sucking, we're ending it on a good note. Now to survive loosing an hour tonight! And I think I missed the kids just a smidge. I found a ton of little toys under furniture and in cabinets, so I did this to greet them when they come home: