Tonight is the night! Squirt and I are going to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians! We are so psyched about this movie. Squirt and I LOVED this series of books. He is starting to sound like an adult though. He has certain expectations about this movie and doesn’t want the movie to suck. I am super excited about seeing this movie with just him. At the beginning of the year, for two years now, one of our family goals has been to spend time alone with each child. It’s not like we have tons of kids, but it does get hectic trying to schedule alone time with each child. So thankfully, he’s not too cool to spend time with his mom on a Friday night. First, we’re hitting Costco for samples, then we’ll see the movie and after that have dinner. I couldn’t ask for a better night!

can be found at Walgreens at Westheimer and Farm Road. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. Lance also searched through Twitter and was told Walgreens at various locations around the city. He never found them.

Also, at all 7-11’s in the Chicago area, should that matter to anyone.

LOVE THEM!!!

So it happened. Finally, one of my kids has decided to cuss like mom. Can anyone guess who it might be? Of course, it’s the Baby Hulk. Who else could it be?

While at the doctor’s office today, I asked BH to put on his jacket. He said he didn’t want to put on his bleeping jacket. When I kept asking him to repeat himself just in case I heard wrong, he had no problem letting me know that he didn’t need his bleeping jacket. It wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that Lance was there. So both me and BH had lectures on our potty mouths. Maybe I’ll give up cussing for Lent this year.

Okay, really, I just hate their cookies. Despite the fact that the cookies really aren’t very good and nothing like I remember from my childhood, I have already had four cookies today. I made a stop at a friend’s house like a junkie trying to get a fix. I am supposed to be sick, yet have been eating so much, Marivi asked if I was pregnant. I’m not, but wouldn’t that be a good excuse?!

Meanwhile, I have five more boxes of cookies coming from my niece this weekend. How could I refuse my sweet little niece actually calling and doing the selling herself. I LOVE when kids selling things actually do the selling themselves rather than their parents. When I worked, nothing pissed me off more than parents who would slap a sign up sheet in the break room and expect orders. LAZY.

I also ate coconut M and M’s today. Thank you Brian and Jessica!!! You guys are so on the good list.

A little thing called will power would be nice right about now.

I completely forgot about this…The Blind Side. I can’t think of a movie this year that has sucked more than this movie. I admit I can be cynical about popular movies, but I do like mainstream movies too. Bring It On is one of my all time favorite movies. I’m not a Sandra Bullock fan, but I LOVE While You Were Sleeping. Probably because I love Bill Pullman, but again, another fluff movie that I love.

I can’t even properly explain why I hated the Blind Side so much except to say that it was laughable when it shouldn’t have been funny, the acting was terrible from Ms. Bullock to the main kid to the coach to the annoying little boy. There is nothing good about bad dialogue and bad acting. Seriously, this movie was painful to watch. I don’t like dumb concepts where a mom calls the coach during a game and the coach answers the phone. It just doesn’t happen.

Anyone remember Varsity Blues? Remember the Titans? Rudy? Wildcats? (yes, the Goldie Hawn movie.) All of these are better movies. Actually, anything on Lifetime, television for women, is better than this movie. When Sandra Bullock wins an Oscar, I can assure you that the puking I wanted to do yesterday will finally happen. It will be worse than Julia Roberts winning over Ellen Burstyn. Okay, nothing is worse than that. But this is close.

For Today…February 8, 2010

Outside my window…the sun is shining and it’s cold. It’s too nice a day to stay inside so despite feeling like dirt, I am taking the kids to the park for lunch. It’s not their fault I feel sick.

I am listening to…the little boys laugh. Kobra is cracking up at whatever the Baby Hulk is doing to him. Nothing is better than hearing the kids have fun together.

I am wearing…my workout clothes. I had such grand plans for this week, but here I am at home not even thinking about the gym.

I am thankful for…my parents who took care of the kids for the weekend. Paul and Brain who flew in to spend the weekend with us. And friends who helped celebrate my Baby’s birthday. Lance has been friends with the same group of guys since middle school. It’s a riot to listen to them. I don’t think there is a funnier group of people.

I am reading…the same thing. I am making progress in my books. Plus, I have a new incentive to keep reading my travel book. We’re taking a trip with Paul and Brian this summer to end of our year of 40.

From the kitchen…nothing planned just yet, but I want a week of healthy meals.

I am praying…that I feel better soon. I admit that I’m completely feeling the effects of my weekend, but I am still sick. Drinking while sick probably was a dumb idea. I’m still really tired and can’t shake this sick feeling. I was up the entire night coughing. It was so bad Lance left the room. The kids still have snotty noses and Goose is still really tired.

Around the house…I got a new shag rug for our living room. I love it! And so do the boys. Even the baby is rolling around in it. Now if I can just find some new shelves…

On keeping home…I just told my best friend that I don’t see myself wanting to clean this week. How sad is that? It’s only Monday, but I can feel it. Thankfully, we’re a pretty clean bunch over here, so I think it will be okay if this does turn out to be a lazy week.

Kobra…is starting to talk. Of course, it seems that Squirt and I are the only ones who understand him…Just the other day, he pointed to a picture and said Squirt’s name, then brother, then yes, and dog! I love this stage of childhood. Lance did not understand one single word. But he often doesn’t understand the Hulk so it’s no surprise.

I am laughing about…all the advice I got on how to cure a hangover. My favorite was ice cream, the source even funnier. And my brother, well, he didn’t understand why I waited so long to get fast food. As he and another friend told me, “it’s not like you’ve never been here before.” But NEVER again.

One of my favorite things…friends…who love you no matter what, who hope you feel better, say the right things, forgive and share in your mishaps.

To live the liturgy…I’m hoping we can get back on track with Super Saints. Our Lady of Lourdes was this past weekend. A friend and I are getting together to make a grotto out of cereal with the kids. Should be fun.

To be fit and happy…tomorrow I’ll be back at the gym, then I’m hitting it really hard all week. At least, that is the plan.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

• super saints
• playdate at the park
• swim lessons
• taking Squirt to see Percy Jackson
• going to see my in-laws on Saturday

A picture thought I am sharing…

YOU HAVE GIVEN UP DRINKING. F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

Today is the feast of St. Blaise. When Lance was confirmed, he chose St. Blaise as his confirmation saint because St. Blaise is patron over those with throat ailments. At one point in our marriage, (when one of the babies arrived, I think), Lance’s throat started closing in on him. Fear, maybe. We found a good doctor and have been big fans of St. Blaise ever since. Lance does his need voice after all. The kids, well, sometimes, it would be nice if they lost their voices.

This seems to be such a busy week in terms of feast days and secular days that we wanted to celebrate. (St. Bridig, Candlemas, St. Blaise, St. Agnes, plus 100th day of school and groundhog day.) There is so much to experience in just one week. And with everyone sick last week, we didn’t have as much early reading as I would have liked. We were going to cover St. Blaise this week in Super Saints, but had to cancel. After today, I think the boys will be excited to cover him next week.

After dropping the big boys off at school, we went to Mass. Baby Hulk started to fuss, but quickly calmed down without me getting upset. We went into Mass to find the Hulk’s favorite priest celebrating the Mass. Yay! These days I have been staying in the cry room, which I hate, because Kobra and the BH are so loud. They just don’t get it. Today, I wish people could have heard the BH. Father made a couple of statements to which he responded out loud.

We received the blessing of the throats, and of course, Baby Hulk had no desire for such a thing. Thankfully, I didn’t have to embarrass myself in front of the church to get him to cooperate. We left feeling really good about our time this morning. My priest even told me I need to invite him over to our house. I think he’s right. We love this priest and always talk about having him over, but never get around to it. Even Lance was able to attend Mass at noon and have his throat blessed.

I talked so much about St. Blaise today that Baby Hulk was able to tell the family why our cross had red vestments on today and about St. Blaise. I think he just wanted the treat, but I’m fine with that for now.

I copied a dessert from Catholic Cuisine and the boys really enjoyed it. The following are pictures from our night. Yes, I blessed the boys with cookies, but I forgot to stop and get candles today. They each listened very sweetly to my prayers, then ran off with their treats! I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I still have no hot water and at the rate I’m going it looks like I’ll be taking a shower at my neighbor’s house. After several calls this morning, I finally managed to get the warranty transferred over to me. I was super excited because the warranty is void if you’re not the original purchaser. I got excited for nothing because, of course, the warranty doesn’t cover labor. The labor for this job is $350. FABULOUS. This won’t come as a big shock to anyone who knows the former owners of my house, but they purchased a totally crappy, cheap water heater. It has the worst reviews. Why am I surprised?

Because I’m all about spending $1200 rather than $350, I decided it would be better to just invest in a new water heater. I’ve been calling plumbing stores and using the terms my plumber told me only to have silence on the other end. Maybe I wrote down the wrong word? How can they not know what I am talking about? Maybe I have the wrong plumber?

In my research for the perfect water heater, I read a customer service message board, and I swear to God people started arguing about the economy and Obama while discussing the customer service regarding their water heaters. It provided some entertainment in what would normally be a boring read about crappy customer service. I’m not sure of the connection, but there is nothing like a message board to bring out the ugly in people.

But hey, maybe they are on to something. Just maybe Obama is the reason I have no hot water.

Outside my window…it’s cold again! This would be great, except I feel sick. I have no desire to be outside right now. I am just hoping it doesn’t dip below freezing because I don’t want to bring in all the plants.

I am listening to…complete quiet. I really like this. One of the things I pride myself on is how little my children watch television. Not their choice, totally me. I don’t want them to have to be entertained and have noise all the time. When I have babysitters, the first thing I tell them is no television or maybe one 30 minute show. I want my kids to be creative and silence forces that upon them. It’s a little harder with people who leave on televisions all day.

I am wearing…my boxer pants and a t-shirt with Snoopy slippers.

I am thankful for…a good husband who takes care of me when I am sick.

I am reading…the same as before. I swear, it takes me FOREVER to read anything these days. I do have some options for a family vacation this summer if we take one or for my 40th birthday trip!

From the kitchen…I have some great ideas for the week, but right now I feel so bad, so I’m not sure what we’re going to do. Hopefully, by Tuesday, I can get on track and have some nice meals for the kiddos.

I am praying…for HOT WATER. Yes, it’s 33 degrees outside and I have no freaking HOT WATER. I just had someone come for an after hours visit to tell me, “yep, it’s broken and I can’t fix it until tomorrow.” Just what I wanted to hear as I was writing him a check for this visit. The plumber did tell me he thinks the work and parts should be under warranty, but that means another call and waiting.

I am creating…a photo book on Shutterfly. I have a free photo book offer that ends today! I figure I can at least put something together about me and my baby! Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Hopefully, I can get this together before Lance needs the computer. I hate to miss a free offer! Does this make me cheap?

Towards a real education…I am so excited about some plans I am making for Baby Hulk. I am getting super organized and I’m not sure why. I think this child is definitely going to need less organized plans. Regardless, I have some really cool plans for “theme” weeks like Dinosaur week and “truck” week. I can’t wait to get started. I just have to order a Handwriting program for him. Next September, I’ll start something more formal when he starts reading.

To live the liturgy…lots of plans this week, which are being messed up by the sick house. Candlemas is Tuesday, St. Blaise on Wednesday and the blessing of the throats, plus the feast of St. Agatha. I had the best plans for tomorrow at Super Saints, but we will have to postpone so that nobody else gets sick. I have been talking with a friend across the country and sharing ideas and this has been awesome. She and her son are going to start participating with us, which is such a lesson for our kids about the Universal Church.

Around the house…I want new shelves for our living room. We were supposed to go looking this weekend, but that plan got sidelined. We are also in the process of designing our garage. We’re meeting with the architect tomorrow.

On keeping home…just trying to get rid of all the germs. Then do a major clean before our company arrives.

One of my favorite things…Really, two of my favorite people: Paul and Brian. They are coming in town this weekend to celebrate Lance’s birthday.

The Kobra…is a MESS. There is literally no other word for him. He is into EVERYTHING! It is so cute, but slightly annoying. He climbs on tables, then gets mad when he falls over. He yells at the Hulk, which is really funny in my opinion. He gets into the trash, nonstop. None of the other kids were like this.

To be fit and happy…who thinks I am happy about the fact that I didn’t get to work out last week? And won’t be able to work out for at least two days this week because I’m sick. So not happy about this. But what can I do? I will take care of myself so that I have a great weekend. I promise.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

• lunch at the park- cancelled
• Super Saints- cancelled
• swim lessons- hopefully!
• mushroom throwdown- have a feeling Lance will be doing this alone, so not fair!
• Paul and Brian
• Lance’s birthday dinner at REEF
• three new restaurants over the weekend

A picture thought I am sharing…