Hungrios?

I tend to be a little lax about constant monitoring of Quinn when I'm trying to finish an edit. Nothing shows this better than the events of this afternoon. I guess I had forgotten to lock the lazy Susan pantry because Quinn starts bringing me items from there into the living room. First it was the salt, then fettucine, then two packets of oatmeal, then bulghur wheat. I didn't worry too much about this. I did pop into the kitchen at one point to see where he was putting them when he took them back in there. Turns out he was building a tower of boxes next to the fridge. It got pretty high. I was impressed. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when the tower collapsed. The rigatoni box popped open and released a few pieces of pasta onto the floor. I got the boxes all packed away and the lazy Susan locked up first of all. Then I told Quinn to put the pasta in the trash, which he did. I guess maybe he palmed a piece or found another later because when I came back into the living room a few minutes later, he was chewing on a mouthful of something. He obediently spit all the soggy pasta pieces into a napkin for me, no worse for the wear. Guess he should have eaten his sandwich at lunch, huh?
Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

No freakin' way! This is my 100th post! Can I get Emeril Lagasse to come cook for me like he did for Jon & Kate Plus 8's 100th episode? Better yet, can I get my hubby to come home and cook for me instead of working? Okay, enough chit-chat. It's Not Me! Monday, the day of the week where I get to DENY all my shameful deeds. Maybe I'm not the worst mommy in the world, but sometimes I think I'm in the running! Just kidding. I didn't DO any of these things!

I did not discover Quinn playing in the toilet this week, swishing around a baggie filled with trial sizes of diaper cream and hand sanitizer. Not only do I ALWAYS keep a close eye on my dear child, but if I did catch him at something like that, I wouldn't freak out. I would calmly explain that we don't play in the toilet.

I did not have to discreetly dispose of our frog. This was not the third living creature that has traveled from the acquarium to the toilet. I have not completely given up any hope of pretty semi-tropical fish, nor do I think we're going to have to continue to restock the giant acquarium with more starter fish.

I am not newly obsessed with the show "Dance Your Ass Off." I don't compare myself with them and think that I am such a better booty dancer than any of those black girls.

I did not go to the grocery store THREE times in THREE days. That is a total waste of my precious time and completely unnecessary, since I'm a totally put-together mom who never forgets items and always plans ahead for meals.

I am not barely getting in my Not Me! Monday post less than an hour before midnight. I am so well organized that I do have to squeeze "important" things like blogging into my "I'm so freakin' tired my eyes are scratchy and I can barely hold my head up" nighttime schedule.

Well, those are the things I did NOT do this week. Can't wait to see what next week brings! Love, Us.

It Could Have Been a Great Day

Jalal had the day off, and I didn't have Bible Study today, which means I had the day off, too. Trish had given us a couple of coupons for Cheesecake Factory, which we love but don't live anywhere near. So we literally drove to Buckhead in Atlanta for lunch. Our plans were to stop in Commerce at the outlets on our way home. First of all, our server at CF was not very friendly. She treated us like crap, I think because of Quinn, who by the way did not cry at all and barely fussed. He spent a lot of time playing peekaboo, blowing kisses to a fly buzzing around us, and saying, "Cheeseburger Fries!" in a super chipper voice. She let both mine and Jalal's teas sit empty for a lot longer than is acceptable. She was just not a good server. So Jalal tipped accordingly, which is still not that bad for most people. On the bright side, our food was awesome, and a piece of cheesecake layered with chocolate cake was a nice (completely unnecessary) ending.
Jalal was interrupted during our meal a couple of times. First the background. Jalal's bar and restaurant have both gotten fantastic ratings lately and are ranked pretty high up in the company standings. He decided (and his bosses agreed) that they deserved a treat. So they've planned a whitewater rafting trip. Because there were enough banquet folk agreeing to fill in for them, Jalal didn't have to call in corporate reinforcements. These interruptions started when the banquet captain decides she doesn't want to work tomorrow night. Yeah, tomorrow. Talk about last-minute! So she doesn't even call Jalal to tell him; she just tells one of her supervisors that she is trading the shift with another bartender, who doesn't even know the computer system! It's just a little ridiculous that people will come out and OFFER to do something and then change their mind when it's too late to get anyone else in to do it. The second interruption was the news that the supervisor closing tonight was throwing up. So, here we are in Atlanta at noon and Jalal has to figure out how to get to Spartanburg to work that evening. Another girl agreed to stay late, we spent about an hour rushing through the outlets, and then I ironed while Jalal shaved and dressed. He had just enough time to swing by the dry cleaners to pick up his suitcoats. Of course, since he was off today, we took them ALL to the DC this morning, dropping them off at 9:30, plenty of time before the 10:00, same day deadline. Since they didn't close until 7, and Jalal made it at 6:45, he was feeling pretty good. Until he pulled up and the employee turned off the lights and said, sorry man, we're closed. Jalal was livid, to say the least. He said, no, it's not seven, please go back inside and get me my suits. But the computer is shut down! Then start it back up. The guy does go inside and start up the computer, asked Jalal his phone number, and looked up the order. Then he informs Jalal that his clothes aren't cleaned; he only tagged them at 3:30. Hmmm. Can you imagine the emotion going on inside Jalal? I can. He gave the guy a piece of his mind about the fact that his clothes were supposed to be done by 5:00, that he was on his way to work at that moment, and that he needed them to keep their end of the bargain. After saying that we'll be taking our business elsewhere, he told the guy he wanted his clothes back. So the man hands him his bag of coats. Jalal says, "are they all here?" The man says, "Of course." So Jalal opens the bag to find one coat missing and a pair of pants that did not belong to him. Seriously? Well, he can't go to work without a jacket, even on his night off, so he had to wear one of the dirty ones. I can't tell you how ticked off he was. What a stinking day! It was supposed to be so much fun! Oh, and I didn't finish my edit until 11:30, on the road, and we couldn't find a single place to steal wi-fi from, so that didn't get returned to my boss until after close of business. Crummy all around. Thank God there was cheesecake! Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not slack off yesterday and not post a "Sunday Silly Stories" post. Because I am always diligent and know how much you look forward to me writing. Ha!

I did not look at my watch three times during the sermon at church, which was good and even funny, but really long and rambling.

Quinn DID NOT literally pee on the floor at Walmart yesterday. I ALWAYS check his diaper after church, so that wasn't the issue. I noticed his pants were damp after lunch, but I let Jalal convince me it was probably water or drool. When I realized at Walmart how wet he was, I took him immediately to the bathroom at the front, only to find it closed for cleaning. Do I rush back to the bathroom at the back of the store? No, I catch up with Jalal, who stops to look at cell phone cases on the way. In the electronics aisle, Quinn, sitting in the cart, looks at me and says, "Bobby." Oh, really, honey? Is that what's running down your leg onto the floor? And thank God I had a cloth diaper in his bag to mop it up with. Of course, I had a backup outfit. I would never push my poor child through Walmart with no pants on. Not Me! I have never felt like such a redneck. Whoops! Guess that'll teach me.

I did not take a picture of Quinn's no-no, when he stole a bite of chocolate cake as I was making cake balls last week, all the while trying to keep a straight face and say, "No! That is a naughty thing to do."


So, yesterday was Father's Day. We had a very nice day. Cards to wake up to, a digital picture frame, and a specially made Boston Cream Pie from Strossner's. Jalal almost messed up all my plans by coming home after three hours at work because he'd hurt his back. So I had to convince him to stay home while I went out to Target (and Strossner's) and then had to sneak the cake and the present in from the car and hide them both while he's lying on the floor in the living room. In all, it was successful, though. Well, that's enough for today. Love, Us.

Sweetest Bedtime Ever

This is short, but I just had to share. I just put Quinn to bed, and he's been a little sick with a cold, so we've had our ups and downs this week. But after he cried for some unknown reason while I was dressing him, he settled down for a book and cuddle. Then, as I was turning out the light, he pointed to the clock and said, "Eight!" I asked if he wanted to count one more time before bed, and he said, "One, two, three, four, five, six, W, X, Y!" Hmmm. So close. I don't know how to get him to say "Seven" and not "Sevel-you" or "W." I just laughed and hugged him and told him how great he is. What a sweet way to end the night.
Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I DID NOT put my sweet angel down to bed super early last night so I would have some extra time to myself. If I did, I would not first read a chapter of my book while he played in the bubble bath by himself (I was sitting right there, so don't call DSS!).

I did not stay up until almost midnight last night trying to finish an edit because I DID NOT create a schedule for the whole week to keep me on track with all three of my jobs this week. That would be incredibly anal and Type A, which is my sister and maybe my husband, Not Me!

My husband and I do not (truthfully) tell people that Quinn learned all his letters from "Wheel of Fortune." Good parents don't let their kids watch "Wheel of Fortune" every night since they were babies.

I did not drive 15 minutes away to go to the "good" playground ("good" because it has big swings for parents and I'm NOT lazy) only to pack it up and leave after it started raining 10 minutes later.

I did not reward myself for half an hour on the exercise bike by eating a third of a pint of B&J pumpkin cheesecake ice cream--out of the container!

I did not subject the whole Mauldin Public Library, including 40 innocent children, to me in shorts today--just to get some "use" out of my shaved legs! Not me!

Love, Us.

Sunday, No Stories

Yeah, I don't really have the energy for a long post tonight. I tried to post a video but for some reason it always fails. Does anyone know how to post a video on a blog? Anyway, this is a busy busy week for me, so I may be out of commission for a bit. I hope that's okay.
Love, Us.

The Most Pitiful Boy in the World

Currently, the owner of that title is lying on the floor in front of me, crying over and over, "Pretzels? Please?" I've told him he can have pretzels if he sits in his highchair (they were already part of his lunch, so I'm not giving in). You'd think I was the worst mother in the world. He woke up asking for milk, and I brought him some when I went to get him. See? I'm nice!

On a more pleasant note, Quinn is starting to speak in more complete "sentences," like "Mama car," "Daddy car," and today, "all gone milk." Jalal's been working on him saying "my," like "my shoes." He's had a hard time with that, but when I got him up from his nap just now, he screwed up his face (he looks like he's concentrating so hard) and said, "My diedit (diaper)." I was so proud of him!

Maureen and her family (mom, dad, and little brother) all watched Quinn last night so Jalal and I could go on a date. It was great. We saw "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and ate at Saskatoon, a wild game restaurant. (In case you were curious, I had a sampler of lamb, duck, and beef, not crazy wild. Jalal finally decided on buffalo ribeye over the kangaroo, since they get kangaroo in more often than the buffalo ribeye.) Their wine list was good, too. We had to decide between two of our faves: Erath pinot noir and J. Lohr Twelve Oaks cabernet (J. Lohr won). All was delicious, and the movie was very funny. Matt McConoughey (sp?) lives up to his reputation again, though he looked a bit over-tan and rugged this film. We drove through a crazy fast storm on our way to the movie. I expected the cow from Twister to fly by any minute. Seriously, we saw a trash can, a baby carriage (empty, in front of a Goodwill), and a billboard (just the paper part) fly past us. A giant American flag was ripped halfway off the pole, and most of Haywood Road was without power after a power pole broke in half! I couldn't get close enough for a picture of that, but it was crazy! Our date must have been meant to be because the restaurant was just one building away from where the pole snapped and therefore kept electricity. When we went to pick up Quinn, he was not at all interested in leaving with us, saying "NO!" and clinging to Maureen when I tried to take him. Sheez kid! He did eventually come with us, obviously, but I guess that means he had a good time. Except randomly on the way home, he started to say "cheeseburger and fries." Hmmm.

Well, I have to have to have to finish my edit before end of day today. Tomorrow we go to Athens for our friends' daughter's 2nd birthday. And next week, I make my catering debut with cake balls at Maureen's sister's rehearsal dinner. Wish me luck!
Love, Us.

How Does Your Mind Work?

I often think of this question in relation to Quinn. For instance, he woke up this afternoon from his nap, and I didn't get him up right away. I usually let him wake up fully to minimize the drama when I go in there. I listened to him on the monitor for a while. The first thing he does is start singing, "Elmo's World." After that, he moves on to saying "shower" over and over. He's lately obsessed with showers and wants to take one all the time. Instead I took him to the pool. Next best thing, right? It was the perfect day for it, pretty warm but not blazing hot. The pool was cold but not frigid. Quinn would have gladly stayed a couple more hours, but when the sun hid behind the clouds, I was ready to head home. But we did meet a nice family there. Maybe we'll run into them again. The mother was really sweet and gave me some pointers about teaching Quinn to swim. Their 3-year-old girl loved Quinn and dragged him around with her.

I have to admit, I've been really lazy unmotivated about work the past two days. I just want to sit around and read for pleasure, or watch Quinn kick a soccer ball. Unfortunately, that doesn't pay the rent! I guess I better get my butt in gear, huh? I'm halfway through my Praxis project, so I'm right on schedule for that, but after Quinn's medical "issue" Friday and my being less than diligent the past two days, I'm kind of behind with my other work. I guess I better step it up. Thursday Jalal is off, and we are having a date night, going to an early movie and then dinner at Saskatoon, a wild game restaurant we've been wanting to try since we moved here. Quinn is going to spend the evening with Maureen and Sarah. Well, this certainly isn't helping me get my work done, so toodle-oo! Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I DID NOT drop and then pick up a piece of bacon from the floor and shrug, thinking it was dry so it probably didn’t pick up anything much. That would be disgusting.

I have not gone to McDonald’s so often that Quinn yells out “fries” when he sees those golden arches. However, even if I did go that often, I would be proud to admit that he still wants apples (“appits”) and doesn’t even ask for one of my fries, which is good, I mean, if I had any. And, again, if I did go, I would at least pride myself on the fact that he has never repeated a Happy Meal toy. That’s a good sign, right?

I do not regularly let Quinn forgo pants sometime after around 3:00 on most days, when I’m too lazy to put his pants back on after a diaper change. He’s not a baby anymore, so I always make sure he’s impeccably dressed.

I did not taunt my child with a cup of milk to get him to go upstairs, holding it a couple steps ahead of him like he was a horse and it was a carrot. That’s just manipulative.

I did not help dislocate my child’s elbow on Friday trying to hold onto his hand while he swung around me like a deranged monkey. Just about an hour before that, I did not accidentally knuckle punch him in the temple, swinging my arm around to catch an endcap of toothpaste containers before he swept them onto the floor and catching his head in the process. My poor baby!

I did not have to edit my post from yesterday because I said Quinn's new puppy had a peace T-shirt when he really has "guitars rock" pajamas. I pay way more attention to the things I purchase than that.

Here's hoping that next week I have nothing to deny! Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories

So I really intended to blog more often this week than just Sunday and Monday, but other things just always seem to take precedence. We've had some interesting things this week. First and foremost, I had to take Quinn to the doctor's office Friday because he dislocated his elbow. I ran some errands that morning and had plans to meet Maureen and Sarah at Stevi B's for a cheap lunch. Quinn was doing pretty well all morning until we had to wait an extra 20 minutes for Maureen because one of her work supervisors went postal on her. I walked him around the dollar store to kill time and he started to tantrum as we were leaving. He dropped to the floor and started pitching a little fit. I swooped him up and carried him next door to take him to the bathroom. We went up to the front of the restaurant to wait. I held onto his hand to keep him from running crazy since he had gone from tantrum mode to silly mode. He swung around and dropped to the floor, still holding my hand. The next thing I know, he's crying and saying "hurt, hurt" while hilding his right arm. I thought he had just strained his shoulder or something, but he wouldn't stop saying that his arm hurt. Even more telling than that was that he ate lunch entirely with his left arm and wouldn't lift his right arm even to hold his drink. I called the doctor's office as soon as I got to the car, but they couldn't see him until 2:30, almost 2 hours later. I just started home, hoping he would be able to take a nap first at least. Well, he fell asleep in the car just before I got home, so I turned around and drove to the doctor's office. I didn't want to hurt him worse by trying to carry him inside and then taking him back out, so I just parked in the shade, rolled down the windows, and read a book (thank God I hit the library that morning!) until it was time for the appointment. Poor thing woke up once and immediately said, "Hurt" in the most pitiful voice before falling back asleep. When I took him inside, he was sopping wet from sweat and miserable every time he moved his arm. The doctor said his injury is called "nursemaid's elbow" and very common. He manipulated his elbow and said he felt it pop back in. He said it would probably be good as new in 2 minutes. I held Quinn while he cried and refused the doctor's offer of a lollipop. But, sure enough, two minutes later, he reached out with his right arm and popped that lollipop in his mouth. For the first time in an hour and a half, he said something other than "hurt." He looks up at me and says, "Hi Mama!" From then on, I couldn't tell there was anything ever wrong with him. Crazy! I've been assured by numerous other moms who've done this that I'm not in the running for worst mom of the year award. It's still hard not to feel crummy about it.

I wouldn't say this was to make up for that situation, but today Quinn got his first Build-A-Bear, a puppy he named "Bryce." Well, he just wanted to call him "Puppy," but I let him type some of his favorite letters on the computer to fill out the Birth Certificate. He came up with "BBRYDWE" or something like that. We "adjusted" it to the next closest name we could figure. As great as Quinn is at his letters, "BBRYDWE" is pretty hard to pronounce. He loves his puppy Bryce and got him a pair of electric guitar pajamas. It's a rite of passage now it seems for a kid to go to Build-A-Bear. So, now without further ado, here are a couple of silly stories.

Quinn has started to add “O’s” to his words unnecessarily. Hungry becomes hungry-o, cookie becomes cookie-o, happy becomes happio, yogurt (yogi) becomes yogi-o, etc. It is very funny to me. I knew I shouldn't have given him Cheerios the other day. Now I'll stick with the Kix. We've done more cereal than anything lately since our toaster broke. We got it for our wedding, and if I'm not mistaken, toasters have gotten a lot more expensive in the past four years. Geez! Looks like we might downsize to a two-slice toaster. Then we'll get back to toast, bagels, and frozen waffles. Speaking of which, I made breakfast for dinner the other night, which I loved when I was a kid. I swear I made the best pancakes I remember ever having. I wanted to make "MckPancakes," a super healthy recipe posted by MckMama, but I didn't have bananas. I had all the other crunchy granola ingredients, like flaxseed oil, flax meal, almond butter, etc. but no bananas. So I just dropped in a spoonful of flax meal in the pancake batter. I loved them, and I'm trying to sneak some healthy ingredients in foods as often as I can. Anyone with ideas (not drastic, I don't want to freak out Jalal), please let me know! (Boy that was quite a tangent, wasn't it?)

I get the hiccups really bad sometimes, so bad that it hurts a lot. Unfortunately, it sounds really loud, almost like I’m burping. Well, the last couple of times I’ve had them, Quinn has been around and thinks it’s funny. Now he’s started making fun of me. He thinks it’s hysterical; I don’t think it’s quite so funny. Even days after I get a bout of hiccups, he still walks around making fun of me.

OK, well, gotta go. Hope y'all are enjoying the Tonys, too! See you tomorrow for Not Me! Monday. Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. I myself have been a perfectly perfect mom in every way.

There were a lot of things I didn't do this week! For one thing, I did not put my silver hoop earrings on Quinn just to see how pretty he looked. But if I had to NOT do it again, I wouldn't tell Jalal about it and then never hear the end of it. Good grief!

I did not take video of Quinn going to the bathroom while standing in the living room (in his diaper of course) just because it was so funny how he says "Squeeeze!" while doing it.

I did not try to get Quinn to go barge in on my sister and brother-in-law in their room so I could go back to sleep for a little while.

I did not pout just a little when I lost (by a lot) EVERY SINGLE game of cards we played this weekend. I did not make a bunch of jokes about my lameness to cover up my poor sportsmanship.

I did not stay up so late every single night for a week that my eyes constantly feel like they are covered in Elmer's glue!

I did not share snarky comments with my sister about how going to a water park makes us feel so much better about our bodies because there are so many HUGE people wearing tiny and/or inappropriate bathing suits.

I did not abandon my family to prepare dinner alone while Trish and I stopped by the pool on the way home from the water park, just to enjoy water deeper than 3 feet, 6 inches. I did not feel mad when said dinner was still waiting for me to help prepare when we got home. And then I did not send my husband out to get basil for my tomato pie because I had forgotten to pick it up earlier in the week.

I did not allow Quinn to eat ice cream in his stroller without a bib at the hot air balloon festival last week, resulting in the image below. If I had, I would certainly have washed and spot-treated the shirt immediately upon our arrival at home. It would not still be sitting on the washer waiting for a load of Quinn's clothes. Not Me!


So what have you not done this week? Love, Us.