Of Hangers and Toilet Paper

As I was doing some quick clean-up around the house the other day and making my Costco shopping list, I had an epiphany about a couple of my many quirks.

First off is toilet paper. I remember many a times growing up we would be low, really, really low on toilet paper. In a house with 6 people that creates a potential for disaster. Now, as an adult, I have found that I have to have no less than two (2!) Costco size packages of toilet paper in my house. One of them must be unopened and when the other gets below half full, I buy another package. So sometimes that makes 3 packages at home. What a freak.

Second is hangers. We also had a hanger shortage for quite a while at home. I remember sneaking into other closets at home and stealing any empty hangers and whisking them back to my closet. Where they would promptly be stolen back when empty. So now, in my kids closet I must have triple the amount of hangers that they need. As for myself, I must have two dozen empty hangers in a spare closet. We had a roommate who moved out recently and asked if we needed any extra hangers. Yes, please. I inspected the bag that she left us, there must be at least a hundred hangers in it. SCORE!

I shall never go without again.

Kids

Oh how I love my girl for the crazy, random person that she is.


Favorite number - 44 Why? We don't know. She just likes to shout it out just because.

She pretends she is a pig most of the time. And she has the craziest snort to go with it that she will rip out at the weirdest times. It is loud.




Matootie Ma Toot Toot. Yeah, that is another one of her crazy things she says, we are not sure what it means.


Her little voice. Capitllar. Blutterfly. Titty Tat, Mommy-a. Some days she sounds like she is a New Yawk native.


Her cheeks. Both sets.



Her fast pitch swing. We seriously need to get her into softball. She has the speed. She has this crazy walk where she swings her arm like a fast-pitch softball pitcher and does this hop/gallop thing. Seriously crazy.

She will give you her last M&M without even thinking about it. She is amazing when it comes to sharing. She always has been. Unfortunately her older sister has figured this out, and will use it to her advantage. If she knows she won't get caught. But my little one doesn't care. She will still give.

Sometimes when she is talking and forgets what she is saying, she'll pause, look at me and say "Mommy I looove you."

Gives the best kisses. Complete with sound effects.

It's Over Now...

Yes, I got to go see The Phantom of the Opera this weekend. Yea for me! I adore The Phantom. This was the second time seeing it on stage, but that was over 10 years ago, so in some respect it was almost like seeing it on stage again for the first time. The only real bummer was that we made the joke before the show started that we were going to get stuck behind someone tall (nothing personal tall people, but it sucks getting stuck behind you sometimes) and guess what? We did. Fortunately for me, they had these booster cushions for vertically challenged people that were at least 6 inches thick. I still had to sit criss-cross (applesauce) and lean into the ailse to be able to see somethings. Nothing better than seeing The Phantom barefoot! The first half was good, but not great. Some people were a little flat or a little too shrill. Maybe they were ready for a break (it was the final weekend here). The second half rocked however. I was riveted and had plenty of goosebumps. And I got to see it with one of my most favorite people in the world.

My mom. Who loves it as much as I do. Which makes sense of course since I am a clone of her. I'm her own little Mini-Me.

Proof. My husband can't tell if he is talking to me or my mom when he calls me at my mom's house. Truly Freaks Him Out.

Oh, and I converted her. She now has jammies just like me! I knew she'd like them.

Lame picture (I know), it was all that whipped cream!

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and had us some fabulous food. We gorged ourselves and decided to go back to the Cheesecake Factory for our cheesecake after the show. Marvellous idea! We got three kinds of cheesecake. No, we did not eat it all right then. I took some of my share home for the next day. And no I did not share it.

And the best part of all of this? My girls were gone for the weekend, so I got to sleep in LATE the next morning. And eat the rest of the cheesecake for breakfast!

Then there was one....

...and now there are none.

Go into the light little fish...

I am not against pets. I would just like to have a pet that has a lifespan longer than a dishwasher cycle. I also don't do dead things. As in disposal and removal of them. Ask my mom. I made her come home from work one day to take care of a deceased pet. I don't like dead things. Period.

We have had aquatic frogs for the last year and a half. We raised them from the tadpole stage until they were full fledged frogs. We managed to keep two frogs (Cinderella & Juan) alive for a year and a half. Pretty good if you ask me. Well, a couple of weeks ago one of them turned into a floater. It wasn't dead, but was clearly on it's way. It would move if you forced it to, but then, well, it would float again. A couple days later the other frog did the same thing.

Have I mentioned I don't like dead things?

So someone came up with the idea to grant the frogs a final wish. We called it the "make a frog's final wish foundation." Honestly, we made that up all by ourselves. Someone took them to a nearby lake and released them into the wild for a final hurrah. I did not condone this action, but then again I didn't have to dispose of them. I feared they would clog the toilet and I was not about to bury them.

So then I said in one of my not so bright moments, stop by the pet store and get a fish to ease the pain of our children. In my head I was thinking about a beta, I think they last a fairly long time. I forgot to express that thought. Came home with 10, count them 10 goldfish. The ten cent variety. I believe they are called feeder fish. ARGH! They succumbed quickly over a period of 12 days. And guess who got to dispose of them?

One not so happy lady.

Chicken Pesto Pizza

One of our family's favorites and really easy to make. I mean, come on, it's pizza. My mom and I made homemade pesto and froze it into various size muffin tins. I pull out a regular size muffin tin chunk of pesto for this pizza. I also use a Boboli pizza crust because 1.) I haven't found a homemade pizza crust recipe that I like, and 2.) I'd probably be too lazy to make it anyway.

Ingredients

Boboli pizza crust

about 1/2 - 1 cup pesto

about 1/2 block of cream cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

3/4 cup cooked chicken, cut into strips

about 1/2 of a zucchini, thinly sliced

2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

red pepper, thinly sliced

onions, same routine

about 1/4 cup parmesan, romano or asiago cheese, finely shredded

Mix pesto and cream cheese together to your taste. We have kids, and they like it a little creamier. You can use straight pesto if you choose, but I like to add some cream cheese because it helps bind the pesto together and makes the sauce not as greasy. Layer the rest of the ingredients in order. Vegetable preference is obviously optional. I'm the only one in my family that likes onions and peppers on my pizza. Sprinkle finely shredded parmesan cheese (or whatever you have around) on top.

Enjoy!

Like Mother, Like Daughters

Me and my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

First, I need to apologize for my harsh language the other day. I was having a really bad day. And I couldn't wear my jammies to make me feel even a little bit better. They were in the wash.

The day started off fine, I went to another doctor's appointment. Doctor number five to be precise. The doctor that two other doctors referred me too. The doctor that took me FOREVER to get an appointment with. But that is another story. I was excited to go see this doctor because he was a SPECIALIST'S SPECIALIST. Basically, he only dealt with problems similar to mine and a few other things. I didn't get my hopes up too high, but I was trying to be optimistic. After all he was a SPECIALIST'S SPECIALIST. (I promise I won't say it again in caps.)

So I get there, tell my story for what must have been the umpteenth time to an M.A. (Umpteenth is a number, just go look it up if you don't believe me.) Then I get to tell it again to the doctor. Redundant. Why did I tell the M.A. in the first place? But I have asked this question too many times to let it bother me yet again. So we are doing the doctor/patient thing and he's talking about all these tests he is going to do, tricks he has up his sleeves, blah, blah, blah...then he says the magic words, I'd like to do an MRI first.

Wait.

I've already had an MRI. Did they miss something? Is there something else he wants them to check out?

No.

My stupid doctor's office DIDN'T transfer my records over.

Nice.

Especially when it was the DOCTOR that told me she would have my records sent over to the new doctor. The buck stops with you lady and this is not a good sign of how you run your practice. You suck. (I'm reverting to grade-school insults.)

Did I mention how long it took me to get in to see this guy?

So, I'm trying hard to keep my cool and not explode all over this doctor. Like the Incredible Hulk. And I try to esplain (I'm leaving this typo in) to him my frustration about what a waste of time (and money) it was to come see him today, calmly. He offers a few apologies about "Medical practice red-tape, negligence, blah, blah, blah." Whatever.

It's just my life. NO big deal. I can hold on and wait for another few days. Wait, that is what this whole process has been, I can just hold on for another few days while I wait YET AGAIN because of some mistake or oversight. ARGH. Don't think that I am being irrational here. I understand it takes time to get in to see a doctor, to get test results back, answer phone messages etc, etc, etc. But the mistakes have just happened too many times over the last few months. The only way I get through each day and hold onto my sanity is based on when the next doctor's appointment is, when the lab work results come back, anticipating a phone call etc. It's like my own little Advent calender in my head. 6 days to go, pop another chocolate in my mouth, go to bed.

Did I mention they are weening me off of the medication that makes me feel better? It's only a "short-term" medication. It doesn't "solve the problem", it only "masks" it. Whatever, I felt a whole lot better on it than I do today.

So that threw my whole day into a downward spiral. I went straight to Krispy Kreme, bought some doughnuts (no numbers needed) and ate them. Then I laid on the couch and slept.

The one thing I forgot about was that a few weeks prior my husband had paid for me to get a massage. And it was that night. Let me tell you, that hour made all the difference and washed away the whole day's worth of garbage. I felt soooo good afterwards. And I came home to clean jammies.

Lessons learned: must get a massage every day. Need to buy back-up pair of jammies.

P.S. Sorry for all the cap usage. I'll do better next time.