Smelly Kids' Room

In our old house, our kid's rooms would occasionally have a stuffy, bad foot odor-like smell.  I thought it was due to a combination of poor air circulation and the afternoon sun that would bake their rooms every afternoon.  Apparently I was wrong because the smell has followed us to our new home.  I cannot pin it down.  I thought it might be dirty laundry, but I've scoured their rooms and have found no random socks or underwear hiding anywhere.  Their clothes are washed every week, so it's not like the clothes stay in there long.  It can't even be their shoes because all of their shoes are stowed in the mud room.

So where is the smell coming from???!!!  I promise my kids are bathed regularly, clothes and bedding are washed.  The diapers are taken out to the trash as soon as they are removed from the little booty who produced the messy diaper.  Our room doesn't smell and neither does any other room in the house.  Why their rooms?  I can't figure it out.

For now, I keep the windows open as much as possible and I'm investing in some Febreeze.  Something's gotta work.

Phone in the water!

Holy cow!  Fifteen years of owning cell phones and I have never permanently injured one. But in a moment of mommy brain-numbness my phone ended up in the toilet. Yes the toilet!  Thankfully a clean water toilet, but ugh all the same.  Luckily we live in a place where I can replace the phone immediately, except for the fact that I have 3 children and my husband works 60-70 hours a week when he is in town.  And I'm not about to take 3 kids to a store for 1-2 hours to get a cell phone.  

Thankfully my wonderful husband was able to get off a little early and was even kind enough to arrange for a babysitter.  We don't have a home phone and without a cell phone I was unable to communicate.  I even tried to go by her house to see if she was available.  It felt very uncomfortable to stop and visit some one without calling first.  

So I had to go 24 hours without a phone.  This totally sounds mellow dramatic, but life without my phone for 24 hours... SUCKED!

I felt disconnected, lonely, and utterly lost.  What if something happened?  What if some one tried to call?  What if I needed to look at Facebook?  What if I missed a terrific post?  What if the moon turned to blood or the Earth stopped spinning?  I was actually a little twitchy.  I had to keep reminding myself that everything would be OK.  If some one had to wait 24 hours to hear from me they would not burn up and die.  Because the truth is no one ever calls (at least no none I want to talk to - there's a telemarketing group that won't leave me alone!) and nothing ever happens.

The real problem was I couldn't get all information NOW.  I didn't have a cell phone until I was 21 and I did just fine without it.  Somehow my friends and I always found each other.  My husband talked me into it and on our second date he took me to get my first phone.  I barely used the thing until I had kids, didn't text until about 3 years ago and I held off getting a smart phone for several years.

What I was afraid would happen, has happened.  I am dependent on my phone.  Even for things that don't require the phone.  I feel naked and unequipped without it.  CRAZY!  Lord help us if there is ever a major catastrophe where all cell phones are rendered useless.  No one would know what to do with their hands, or what time it is, or how to have a conversation, or plan a meeting.  

I have my new phone now and feel much better.  Thanks to the cloud I have all my contacts and everything.  I feel whole again.  Very sad.

You know you're a SAHM if.....

1 - You know what a toilet auger is, and you can use it.

2 - You say things like, "No one is licking anyone's toes!" (that may be a mom thing).

3 - You have a pile of "good" sweats and "work" sweats.

4 - You NEVER pee alone

5 - A vacation is going to the grocery store by yourself

6 - You've ever sat doing nothing while the baby was screaming because your husband was home and can take care of it.

7 - It's not worth doing your hair in the morning.

8 - You know who Sid the Science Kid, Wild Kratts, Jake, Badou, Rollie Pollie Ollie, WareHouse Mouse, Heatwave, Blades, Boulder, Chase, Cody, and Caillou are.

9 - You laugh at the morning and afternoon traffic report.

10 - You have no time to do anything for yourself and even if you do manage to plan something it will get canceled because there's a meeting, or some one gets sick or the house gets enveloped by a black hole.

Moving craziness

It's been a whirlwind of a move.  We are in Wisconsin and are starting to settle in.  I've finally got time to get back to blogging!  And I'll finish the moving checklist blogs too.  But this blog is dedicated to the craziness that is Wisconsin weather.  It's almost July and we have been here for 2 weeks.  The hottest high has been about 84, the coolest 60!  That's right 60 in June.  My poor kids were freezing until I could find their sweaters.

So far the weather has been amazing.  The temperature fabulous, we've had storms and even a tornado warning.  The mosquitoes are starting to come out, but have been held at bay by the cool temps.  Hopefully they stick around a while.

We've jumped right into life here and I've put the kids in swim lessons.  They love it!  Tuesday the high was 67 and they still had swim lessons... outdoors!  And my kids weren't the only ones there.  There were tons of moms and dads in hoodies and pants dropping our kids off in bathing suits to swim.  It's a heated pool, but still new to this desert rat.  My oldest was finally not hot while our boy froze to death.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else Wisconsin and dish out.  Thankfully we're many months away from snow.

Ramblings of a Failure

Have you ever failed at something?  I mean, totally, epically failed?  I feel like I have failed in my life.  Everywhere I look I see failure.  I wanted to be popular; fail.  I wanted to be a great tennis player; fail.  I wanted to be pretty; fail.  I wanted to be a successful scientist, well respected and knowledgeable; fail.  I have tried many things in my life with little success.  There was one time I prayed hard to finally be the best at something, and you know what, it happened.  I was the world champion and it felt good.  But since no one seemed to think it was a big deal, other than me, the feeling faded pretty quickly.  My biggest problem is fragile self-esteem.  I put on a tough exterior, but that's only to limit the damage to the interior.

I want to be a good mom; fail.  I try, I'm just not patient enough, caring enough or playful enough.  I'm not happy being a SAHM.  I don't want to go back to work, but staying home can be SOOOOO boring!  My job is to clean and raise children.  Both are unglamorous and unappreciated and completely open to criticism by both strangers and friends.  When my kids act up in public, I think, "Great.  Now everyone knows I'm not doing a good job."  They look at me while my toddler screams.  Yes, she screams and I kind of let her.  Rushing out the door is not always possible and nothing soothes her, so sometimes she screams.

I want to be a good wife; fail.  I'm CRAZY and no one knows that better than my poor husband. One minute I can be perfectly happy moving along in life, the next I'm a snarling, venomous, creature who's curled up in a ball on the floor shaking with furry and covered in tears of regret.  Who wants to be married to that?!  I don't keep the house clean.  I don't have the kids ready all the time.  I forget to take the trash out or call the cable company.  Sometimes, I'm just a mess.  Other times, I've done the work of 10 people in a very short amount of time and it's still doesn't seem like enough.

I want to be a writer; that's a continuous process of failure.  I know it's incredibly difficult to be a published author, but when I can't even get my family and friends to read my blog, I'd say; fail.  I know I need to write more and post more..... but I'm busy being an inadequate mom, wife and friend.

Now after all that nonsense, I have to say that I have not failed at everything.  I have a husband who loves me.  Three kids whom I adore.  We have good food, fun and love.  For that I am eternally grateful and proud.  For everything I have failed in my life, I have succeeded in playing a part in creating a pretty great family.  And I wouldn't trade it for all the career accomplishments or personal acclaim I have longed for.  I need to focus more on what is truly important and less on what I or others consider 'success'.  It doesn't matter if my children have perfect manners everywhere I take them.  If they feel loved, I've done a great job.  It doesn't matter if others acknowledge my accomplishments or gifts.  If I trust in myself and God and continue to do the best I can do; I've been successful.

Finding a Realtor

Finding a realtor to help sell your house is a tricky thing.  Normally I'm a pretty optimistic person, but it's difficulty to trust some one who is going to make money on what you are trying to sell.  They want it to sell fast and not necessarily for the best price.  This can make decision making very difficult.  Of course, the more you sell it for, the bigger their commission. But the longer the house is on the market, the bigger their expenses.

So how to pick a realtor?  There's personal recommendations.  Always a nice way to go because you can get an idea of how the person works.  Drawing out of a hat.  That could work out, but can be a bit scary.  Internet searches can tell you who sells a lot of houses, but are not the best at helping gauge how well you'll work with a person.

We have gone with the personal recommendation.  I think it's worked out well.  She is a great business woman.  I can tell because whenever she "gives me suggestions" I feel like I have to do them whether I want to or not.  Thank goodness for my recent experiences in sticking up for my daughter at school and dealing with repair people.  If not for them I'd be getting trampled on.  I'm glad for my husband too.  He is really great about stepping back and making sure we have time to really consider our options.

For me that is the truly difficult part.  I am relying on an expert to guide us in selling our house.  Only I don't fully trust that guide and don't have enough of a backbone to really question anything.  This will be another great lesson learned.  Hopefully we don't get burned in the process.

Telling the kids

We are concerned about how well the kids will adapt to our move.  We don't want them to be hurt or sad and we want them to make friends quickly.  We are brainstorming ideas to make their transition easier and even planning to do some major spoiling. I feel a ton of guilt right now.  I hate moving them from the only home they've ever known and flipping their world upside down.  I don't know how they feel.  I spent 15 years in the same house.  My parents still live in that house.  They've had the same phone number for the last 30 years!  Their area code has changed more often than their phone number.

My husband moved quite a bit as a child and did not like it.  My concern is that we're hurting our children's sense of safety and comfort.  All we can do is love on them and help them make the best of the move.  I know plenty of other people who have moved their children and they adapted just fine.  Even those who have moved to other countries seemed to do really well.

Telling the kids we are going to move went about as well as we expected.  The baby didn't really care.  Our son looked at us with his mouth agape.  He wasn't exactly sure what we meant.  Once we explained that all his toys would be coming with us, he was OK with it.  Still not happy, but OK.  After I explained he would be guaranteed the opportunity to sled and build a snow man every year, he was almost excited.

Our oldest was quite upset.  She didn't cry or anything, but she is not happy.  I think part of her might be excited to be going to a new place.  She likes adventure and traveling.  But Tennessee is all she knows and I know it's scary for her to think of trying to make new friends and learn how to adapt to a new environment.  Occasionally she'll look at me and say, "Only a few more months until my life is over."  The next day she'll say, "I can't wait to move."  It's quite the roller coaster of emotions around here these days.