Boys will be boys

Garrett is working on potty training...ahh, the joys of toddler-dome. It's progressively getting better, or at least it was until today.

In the bathroom, after reading The Potty Book for the umpteenth time (we read it at least twice EVERY time we try to use the potty) I am getting Garrett re-dressed.

Garrett: Look!

Me: (thinking oh dear lord, what happened in the second I was blinking my eyes...) What?

Garrett: Look at my penis - I can make it big! Yay!

Me: silence.

Anyone out there want to be the one to have that conversation with a two year old? Keeping in mind that this is a two year old that WILL repeat what you say to anyone at any given moment. Yeah, I didn't think so...

And that is why I opted for the silence.

But rest assured that after he laid down for his nap, I got a great laugh out of it. And you know that after you got over the initial shock of it, you were laughing too...

Let me paint a picture for you...

All week long, the kids and I have been talking (ok, I have been talking, but I force them to listen) about having a picnic today for lunch.

This morning comes. Then we get everything together. We get ready to walk out the door. And it's cloudy. Not just a little cloudy, like the sun is hiding. But all out, straight grey. And who wants to picnic in that?!

So a change of plans, and we went to the mall. What kind of fun is the mall for two little boys you ask? Only the MOST fun EVER! Seriously, if you can get past the acid-trip like carpet, take a journey to the Great Mall. It's fantastic.

So off we go to the mall. And on the way Garrett falls asleep. Now this probably does not sound like a major deal...but let me tell you...Garrett is a boy who needs his sleep. And getting woken up...well that is a major deal. But no matter, we pressed on with the day.

After having a jolly good time with Sydney and Christine, I decide that it would be best to leave before the boys had a meltdown. So into the car we went. Bennett was out immediately. Garrett, unfortunately, did not.

And not only did he not fall asleep in the car, but he remained awake ALL afternoon. Until 4:30 pm, when he fell asleep after a 5 minute car ride. And when we went inside and he woke up, he started screaming. And didn't stop.

Turn on your imagination to paint this picture...Garrett screaming and sobbing. Bennett screaming because Garrett is screaming and he thinks is a game. This continues for, I kid you not, 10 minutes. And so I started screaming too...because hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. But apparently the boys did not enjoy my joining in...luckily, my screaming shut them both right up.

But turning on Dora didn't hurt either. I love that little spanish speaking girl...sometimes she is such a lifesaver...

And then I got to take an Organic Lab Midterm....how in the world could anything top that?!

Haircuts and contacts

Today Garrett and Bennett got their first 'real' haircuts...as in, the first ones that were done by someone other than their parents. All in all, I would say that it went rather well -- and check out how good they look!










And, for the record, Shear Madness totally rocks...the videos were the key to the haircuts! Although the suckers didn't hurt either...

In other news...I am missing Spring Break already. I don't know that I can take classes over the summer...I'm totally ready to have my nights free.

And I lost a contact. It was in my red and somewhat angry looking eye all day, but when I went to take it out, it seems to have disappeared. Probably not such a good thing, but nothing I can really do about it now...

The new teether...

Who needs teething rings when you've got rawhide?!

Familial

Perhaps this is proof that narcolepsy runs in families...






...and also proof that it starts at a young age...

Vacuums and strollers and bedspreads...oh my!

I have come to realization that I am old and nerdy. Which isn't in fact, a realization, I already knew that. So more or less, I have simply found another way in which I am old and nerdy.

I have been shopping lately...which I love. My current favorite purchase include a new bedspread and skirt, new bathroom stuff, a sit and stand stroller, and a new vacuum.
And the part that makes me really old and nerdy? While I love my new bedroom stuff, and my new bathroom, what I am totally excited about are the stroller and the vacuum. They are totally awesome.

Having a new vacuum has made me obsessed with vacuuming, just to see what it might suck up. Totally gross, but I am loving it. You would not believe how much pet hair this thing can pick up -- I swear I don't know how I didn't choke on it before. But this new vacuum is made especially for people who have pets -- and it works just as promised. If you have pets, I do believe that you should have one. Then you can be totally grossed out and a little in love with your vacuum too.

My Widget

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Ma'am

So far today I have been called ma'am 6 times. And that was all before 7 am. Because no one who isn't old enough to be called ma'am goes shopping at 5:30 am...unless of course you are me.
So far today I have done laundry, studied, gone shopping, emptied the dishwasher, and steam cleaned part of the carpet after my can of diet coke exploded on it. That is what the world comes to when you wake up at 5:00 in the morning. There isn't a whole lot else to do, other than be productive. Except sleep, but that was obviously not an option...

Sigh...I'm tired already and the sun is barely up!

Lies

There are few things that make me crazier than lies. And I don't mean the big "no, your honor, I swear I thought the car was mine, even though I didn't have the keys and the alarm was going off..." type of lies. I mean the little "Last week..." when really it was only yesterday type of lies. The ones that people can tell themselves so often that they start to think that they are true, rather than something they made up without any really good reason.

I think one of the reasons that it makes me so crazy is because usually the only point in telling these lies is to present yourself ina different way, making yourself into someone that you aren't, thus creating another, and slightly larger, lie. And then you say it so often that you start to believe it yourself. I ran for five miles...I drank the entire bottle...I paid this much... Things that no one else really cares about, but that people use to create a false reality.

And it's the false reality that makes me crazy. Probably because I have some seriously undiagnosed OCD type affliction, and I pay attention to these tiny little details that no one else notices. But it's the tiny little details that stand out when people start creating their own 'mini reality'. It makes it somewhat ackward - you can't really spend all your time correcting someone's representation of things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things...you'd make yourself (not to mention everyone else) insane. But you have to admit, it's somewhat insulting to know that people are lying to you for no good reason at all. Thus, the reason that it makes me nuts.

Is it really so hard to tell the truth? I think not. Now hearing the truth? That's where the real challenge comes in...

TurboTax

Tonight I did my taxes. Not the most exciting activity, but one that is required by law nonetheless. And I figured that the only real way to put off studying was to be doing something productive instead. So I did my taxes.

Two years ago I took my taxes to a tax service to have them done. Seemed like a great idea - quick couple of questions and then it was done. Although apparently it was a little too quick, since a few weeks later I got a letter from the IRS informing me of a rather expensive error made by the preparer. So then I had to pay a boat load of money. Which was less than fun, as you can imagine.

Last year I thought that I would get smart and do my own taxes. So TurboTax became my friend, and I buzzed right through things, no problem.

This year I returned to the reliable TurboTax method (yay!) and once again was buzzing right through. Until I was ready to pay my Kansas state taxes (which I always have to do) and I realized that the amount due was less than 1/10th of what I had paid last year. This concerned me a great deal, thinking that I was shorting the state on money (or so we will all pretend, since it makes me sound like such a fine and upstanding citizen), so I redid my taxes for the state, and came up with the same low number.

I was still quite puzzled over the whole thing, so I decided it best to break out the info from last year, just to have a quick peek. It's a good thing that I have no aspirations of being an accountant, because that's when I found the mistake...on last year's return, and for $2300 in FAVOR OF THE STATE! Now, if there is anything worse than having to pay a lot in taxes once spring rolls around, it's doing it and finding out a year later that you really didn't have to. Now that is really awesome.

Luckily I have the trusty internet (what did people do before that was so readily available?!) and I found the forms I needed to attempt to fix this rather large problem. Would you believe that it was as easy as checking a few boxes and tossing the form in the mail? I'm not sure that I believe it either, but I'll be crossing my fingers that it is and that it results in a refund check for me!

Moral of the story? I love TurboTax. And the other moral of the story? I should never become an accountant.

Marshmellows

The weather today was nearly perfect, and the kids and I had plans to meet some friends at the park for the afternoon. Because it was in the middle, we went to the park near my house, and so we decided to pick up the dog and take her with us. Because, as Garrett says, "she's a good dog". So I run in to get the dog, who is in the kitchen via a baby gate. And that's when I see it.

Marshmellows.

Or rather, the bag that used to hold all the marshmellows. And a select few marshmellows that are scattered about on the floor - apparently they all did not taste the same. Now, given that this bag was mostly full (and on the counter) when I left, only one thing could have possibly happened. The cat and the dog teamed up and decided to get crazy while I was gone, so the cat knocked the bag off the counter and down to the dog (because the dog is way too little to be able to reach anything on the counter).

I'm no vet, but I can only guess that a bag of jumbo marshmellows is probably not so good for dogs to eat. And, in case you were wondering, not so much fun to clean up off the kitchen floor either -- talk about a sticky mess! But I am feeling rather smart, since at least they weren't on the carpet...that is a mess I don't even want to imagine...

Just a minute....

Garrett (who is almost 2.5) has developed a habit that I would love to rid him of, although he probably picked it up from me. Any time I call his name (no matter what he happens to be doing at the time) he immediately responds with "Just a minute..." It doesn't appear to matter if he is doing nothing other than staring at the wall, it's always "just a minute..."

This morning I called his name because he could be done sitting in time out, and would you believe that he said the same thing then? Oh yes, when I said time out was done, he replied with the standard "just a minute..." I don't think that time outs must be having the desired effect...

So now the question is this -- do I let it go and pretend that hearing "just a minute" every time I call his name doesn't make me completely crazy? Or do I try to break him of the habit, which in all truthfulness is mostly harmless?

Test taking

Taking an organic chemistry test can be equated to donating a kidney while awak and without anesthesia. That's right - it's that much fun....

The good news is that when you are taking organic chemistry, you get to have that fun over and over again - all semester long! Now how lucky is that?!