Am I a bad mom?

Or just a lazy mom?  I admitted to my husband this morning that I don't generally like other peoples kids. Well at least strangers kids.  We went to PBS kids in the park this morning and I'll be honest, I really dislike these types of events.  They stress me out and I usually end up cranky and often hostile.  Parents shoving their kids in front of yours to get a picture with a stupid Chik Fil A cow? Really? Hovering around the Cookie Monster tent trying to sneak in a picture with their kid when I've been holding our place in line for 45 minutes in the sun.  I understand we all want the best for our kids, but when I get around that many helicopter parents trying to make sure their child gets their "fair share" it makes me crazy.  My daughter is 22 months old and you know what? I tell her that life isn't fair, we don't always get what we want and often someone else will get what we think belongs to us.   Not saying that my kiddo doesn't get tons of opportunities and fun things, she's an only child for pete sake, there really isn't any competition at home unless you count the family dog.

If I had my way I would never go to these events, but I, like many other parents worry that she may someday during a long expensive therapy session claim that I never exposed her to normal childhood  experiences.  I'm debating whether to put my little tornado in dance class or tumbling, she would have fun and get to socialize. But darn it that means I have to put on my interested face,  ask questions of other parents, try to remember their names the next time I see them.  It's all so much work.  Yup I'm a lazy mom, I feed my kid processed foods, I use Elmo like a sedative when I need a break, and I only very rarely do fun "kid" things with my toddler.  So sue me :P

Back from the Dragon

We took the little monster with us to the Mini's on the Dragon event this year.  She usually does so well in the car that we thought this would be a piece of cake.  Turns out our little one does not have an iron stomach when it comes switch back turns and curves.  Luckily we had access to a Laundromat to wash her car seat multiple times.  Every time we got back into the car she would start re-enacting the Exorcist on us.  Shockingly a 20 month old toddler can projectile vomit hard enough to it the back the seat her mother is sitting in.   So we have decided it may be a few years before we attempt this trip again.

We stayed in a nice cabin at Fontana Village, got to see our wonderful friend Alex. And we came home to a front lawn that looks like a freaking jungle.  I'm sure our neighbors are super stoked with us.

Rain, rain go away...

Why is it that on rainy, stormy days it sucks any will to be productive out of you?  I really had good intentions today to do laundry, get some house packing done, trip packing done and possibly even some homework read.  Instead I've watched three episodes of Glee, had two marshmallow eggs and am working my way through a Reese's peanut butter egg.  Damn you Easter candy.  Working at a retailer that has awesome candy deals right now is not helping my weight loss goals.  Which to date is 16.5 pounds. But stuffing my pie hole with peanutbutter and Peeps is very unproductive.  I'm hoping to redeem myself a bit with some serious baking for our trip. I'm going to use Sneaky Chef recipes to fit a little extra fiber and vitamins in our meals over next weekend.   I haven't tried these recipes yet, so I may have to report back that we starved to death in the woods of North Carolina.  I'm pretty sure the wolves will take advantage of our weakened states.  

We are joining the Mini's on the Dragon even this year. Over 500 cars cruising through the woods, it's always fun and nice to get around others that truly enjoy their cars.  And to be around people that validate your own craziness.  Unfortunately my Royal Wedding barf bags won't be arriving in time for us to use. Apparently there are some issues keeping them in stock.  318 curves  in 11 miles tends to leave my hubby and me a little green.  Yet we intend to do the drive multiple times. Can you say masochists?

It's my potty and I'll cry if I want to!

So on a whim my hubby and I decided to take the huge step of buying a potty for my 19 month old.  I figured no hurry, at least it will be in the house, she can get used to the idea of it being there.  Buying it was a lesson in how not to scar your child for life. We were in Target in the potty aisle and looking at our options.  Hubby vetoed anything that made sounds, or had lights. I was looking for something that was easy to clean. So during our grand debate our little one starts pulling potty's off the lower shelf and starts trying them out. I of course find this hysterical and am laughing out loud, while my husband waits patiently for me to get a hold of myself.  My husband likes to say he was raised Catholic, you don't talk about the bathroom,  you don't mention the bathroom, you certainly don't read in the bathroom and you get in and get out in the quickest time possible.  Where in my house we all talked about the bathroom and our personal time in there over the dinner table.  I still use the bathroom as my personal meditation chamber.  But enough about my issues.

So we finally pick out a simple utilitarian potty that hubby kindly pointed out looked like a chemical toilet on a boat.  It was kinda fancy I thought, you could take the top seat off and put it on your regular toilet and the bottom becomes a two piece step stool. Bonus!

So after a few weeks of my daughter dragging her new potty back and forth from her room to our bedroom, using it as a seat to watch Elmo from and a step stool to reach my bed, I thought let's see what happens if we offer it up?  So yesterday I was about to give her a bath and asked her if she wanted to use the potty. She said "yeah" because she has never said yes. And I sit her down and low and behold! Eureka! She goes, no muss, no fuss, no crying just "hey look what I did"!  I assumed it was a fluke but today she did it again! 

Now here is where the inevitable lesson comes in.  So after congratulating her on a job well done, I tried to get her OFF the potty. No dice, wasn't having it.  So fine I figured I'll go into her room grab a diaper and come back and try again.  In that short amount of time, she had gotten off the potty, squatted on the bath mat and pooped.  Seriously I haven't cleaned poop off the floor since my dog was a puppy.   So lesson learned get diaper before you start the process and for heaven sake never leave them unattended when they are diaperless!

Good news is always welcome

So we met with our realtor last night and boy was I nervous. We have a few projects around the house that need to be done. Our bathrooms haven't been updated, we are in serious need of paint touch ups, so I was afraid he would give us a low ball estimate on what our house could sell for.  In my nightmares he would say we couldn't even get as much as we owed on it.  But fear not! He gave us the best news, that he believes once we spruce up a bit we will actually be able to list for more than we were hoping for.  And he assured us that people are buying.  He came with tons of information for us, packets of current homes for sale, comparisons and a packet of homes that have sold since the beginning of the year including the ones he's sold.  He showed us all the ways he will showcase our home, including getting it on TV. All in all it was nice to talk to him and I loved how prepared he was for us. He was very encouraging and he certainly lit a fire under us! We are shooting for May 1st although that might be a little of a time crunch.  He also gave us some numbers of very affordable painter/handymen that we may be able to pay to help us meet our deadline.

So Florida is looking closer and closer.  I dreamed last night about the time I visited Orlando in July, it was hot and sunny and sticky with humidity and I'm thinking I'll be ok with that again lol.

Too much stuff

Ok, now like most people I have a sick fascination with the show Hoarders.  But maybe it's because I know that I'm just a few bad choices away from ending up on that show.  Now don't get me wrong I'm not the nasty rotting food, dead animal hoarder. I'm the "ooh I need that pair of scrapbooking scissors because the other dozen pairs I have don't make that shape".  Or I'm the, "no I can't get rid of any of my darling angels clothes even though I have no plans on having more children" person.  I'm trying very hard to downsize everything. I have a very large garage sale stack growing.  I'm making some hard choices about items that don't really have any personal meaning just that I've been lugging it around for about 7 years.  Worse my husband is almost as bad as me.  We spent a half hour sorting through cables that he swears fit to specific items and that we couldn't possibly part with.  And I won't even get started on his Lego collection. 

But after our move from Washington state I know visually how big a 12x16 moving truck is and that is what we are hoping to fill with our next move.  I'm not so sure we can do it. We moved into a house just under 900 square feet when we moved to Indy, now we are in 3000 square feet and it's stuffed.   And get this we put together two awesome matching Ikea computer desks in our office and now realize there is no way to get them out of the room in one piece.  If you have ever taken apart an Ikea item you know that really wasn't what they intended with their easy assemble yourself products.  I think we are officially at the point of no return, we have made it too far in the process to stop now.  We must grin and bear it and hope we survive.

A full schedule

So my darling husband reminded me around noon today that I had class tonight.  I'm taking a class which is basically teaching me how to take a test.  Weird I know, but it's a very hard test and learning how to take the test is half the challange of passing it.  I was thinking how great it was going to be tonight to work on the house, I'm in that stage where I've made a horrible mess in my efforts to sort, organize, purge and pack.   But I know that if I can just get over the starting mess I will have a good grasp on this process.   But instead I'm going to have go to class for three hours.  Try really hard not to let my mind drift to all the other things on my plate right now.  I have a full day of work tomorrow and I think it will be ok, I'm starting to find my place an be more confident in at least I'm not walking around with that blank terrified look on my face.

Luckily I have a new job were I can get as many boxes as I can carry out to pack in.  I've spent the last two month on craigslist trying to find free moving boxes.  And poof! It's like the box fairy has graced us with an unlimited supply.  That is if I remember to take them home lol.