Running Out Of Hands

I think I got this recipe from the Ontario Early Years Centre when I went there with just A. I just made a batch for A’s class – I made some red and green batches near Christmas and sent in. Her teacher had sent a note home to parents, seeing if any want to help out from home.

The original calls for 2 tbsp of oil, but I found that to be too much. I now use 1 tbsp instead.

1 cup flour
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cram of tarter
food colouring

1) Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
2) Cook over medium heat.
3) Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball (and all sticks together).
4) Knead until smooth.
5) Store in avtight container.

I send it in to her school in a big Ziplok bag. Okay, a no name zip bag

Okay, that might be a bit extreme, bit you saw what my craft cupboard looks like you’d understand. I don’t have a picture right now, but the cupboard is in our kitchen. It happens to be under our kitchen sink, and Therin lies the problem.

Not only are the shelves odd (they’re divided strange) but the pipelines for the sink are in the way. And the hose for the sprayer. And the garbage cans attached to the doors. And …

The kitchen part of the shared cupboard is on one side, and the craft side is opposite, on the table side of the counter. With all sets of doors open, you can see through the space.

I’ve put most stuff in stackable containers, but it’s still very hard to keep tidy. Maybe I’ll add pics later to show. We also have craft stuff in the basement. We have a lot of craft stuff. A lot.

So … I think my next “project” should be doing something about that cupboard. I’ll need to get some baskets from the dollar store to helpbout, I think.

(I don’t drink coffee or tea, so imagine me with a hot chocolate!)

We’ve been sick.  Again.  Well, just A and R, but that’s enough, don’t you think?  At least they’re getting better.  We want all of us healthy for next weekend when we go to Niagara Falls.  The Monday is Family Day and DH has Friday off to make it an extra long weekend!  This will be our third year going, and we also go with some friends of ours (also a family of five – three kids, two adults).

I’m glad I was able to get my iTouch before then   I’ll have some games and some reading (only the free stuff for now) to take with me.

Oh – and I found a neat Errands app that I’m enjoying.  I can plug in the stuff I want to do (ie. update the Carnival website with winners, or clean all the bathrooms) and assign a due date if I want.  Or not, if I don’t want to.  I can also make stuff repeating daily, weekly, monthly, etc.  Do you smell what I’m cooking?  Yup, I can remind myself to do certain stuff around the house … so I can be reminded to change the bedsheets once every two weeks (instead of a few months … eek).  And I know it’s me reminding myself and not somebody else.  I’m the type of person that likes seeing things checked off a list.

Nothing much new here.  I’m a single mom this weekend since DH is doing the sound & stage stuff at the Carnival.  He’s there the whole time, but home later in the evenings (ie. after kids bedtime).  It’s cold, but there’s no wind, so that’s good.

Short week this week since DH is home Monday (returning sound equipment and the like), and we leave Friday morning for Niagara Falls.  But a busy week since I have to pack for myself, A, R, K and our food that we take with us.

We’re chasing Blacbeard here. And his First Mate. They, of course, are hand drawn by me on pieces of an oatmeal box It’s keeping my little sicko’s happy and not asking to watch television. And it’s fun!

DH is at the Carnival, doing all the stuff for the stage. Sound, music, announcements, etc.

I’m doing this post from my new iTouch! Yay – I bought one!

1. I hope K sleeps better tonight, and that I can get away with the one nurse and he goes back to sleep.  I’m tired!  (and yes, I’m going to bed right after this).

2. R has a cough.  I hope he doesn’t get stuck awake with it.  It started about ten minutes ago and I gave him a sip of water five minutes ago.  He’s still coughing …

3. It’s Carnival weekend this weekend.  I get to be a single mom of three for three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).  Yay me!

4. Sarcasm people, sarcasm.

5. Okay, it won’t be that bad.  With DH absent for dinner, I can cheap out and just have veggie sticks instead of salad, hot dogs one dinner, maybe french toast another time, etc.

6. The weekend after that, we’re going to Niagara Falls, baby!  Skyline Inn and going to the Fallsview Waterpark as much as we can.  We’re going with friends, like the other years we did this, and we’re making it an extra long weekend.  The Canadian Family Day holiday makes it a long weekend, and DH has taken a vacation day to make it a four-day weekend.  Nice!

7. Close to getting an iTouch   We have a giga byte server listed on Craigslist for $450, and a guy is buying it tomorrow night.  I’ve made about $142 so far (between selling and some Christmas $$$ from my MIL).  I’m planning on getting the 32G iTouch, and the leftover money will go towards my DH getting the bigger iTouch.  His iPod Classic is having issues.  Hopefully we can sell more stuff so that we don’t have to dip into our individual savings to get him one.  He deserves it – he got the server ready for selling (wiping data off it), etc.

8. I should be in bed.

9. A friend sent me a link to these, Fusable Plastic Sandwich Wraps.  Now, I wouldn’t actually do it the way they did (plastic bags?!), but I have leftover nylon material from making my own cloth diaper liners for gDiapers.  It would be perfect for the wraps.  Or for making some Ziploc type bags for the cut peppers, cauliflower heads, carrots, etc. that I currently have in (go figure) Ziploc bags.  Make some cool looking ones with fabric outside and Velcro closure.

10.  I’m going to bed.  I was supposed to be sleeping already, but had a case of Lazy-Buttitis while watching Laura Croft Tomb Raider on the boob tube.  Now, Lazy-Buttitis is a serious condition.  Honest!  You are too lazy to get your butt off the sofa, even though you know you should, and even though you know that what you’re watching is crap.  Your butt is just too lazy to move itself off the sofa.  Lazy-Buttitis.  It’s real, and it’s out there.

That said by my girl, A.  About her youngest brother, K.  He seems to want to cry and screech a lot.

A lot.

A whole lot.

The entire time he was up this morning, well since we took A to the bus stop, he cried.  Or screamed.  The only time he stopped was when I was carrying him and he had his blanket.  It’s tuckering me out, man!  Oh, and his sleep habits at night are not impressing us.  In the game of “let’s-wean-K-from-nursing-at-night”, he’s winning.  I give up – seriously!  I’d rather be woken once than constantly every half hour after 3 am.  I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in over four nights.

It was nice during the day today though.  But he was sleeping from 10:am until 1:30 pm :)

Now that he’s up, he’s doing the same thing.  R and I were playing the board game Don’t Wake Daddy (perfect for R’s abilities), and my DH came and rescued me.  By taking K away to the basement.  DH stayed home from work today, choosing to work from home so he can sort of relax and work on getting better before this weekend.  It’s Carnival weekend, and he does the sound and lighting and, well, everything, for the stage.

DH’s comment about K?  “Wow, he’s loud!”

Yup, and A is right, K does sound like a sirent.  “WaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaa!”

Yup, that’s a sigh.  I was doing great, but for some reason I started noshing again when my kids were snacking.  A big no-no for me since I’m not exactly exercising right now.

I do well in the morning, but the afternoon is harder.  I don’t like being the weight I am, which is almost 20 lbs more than I was before being pregnant each time (I somehow managed to get back to the same weight after my first two pregnancy’s, or thereabouts).

Must … have … iron … fist!  And an empty one at that …

(I don’t drink coffee or tea, so imagine me with a hot chocolate!)

I got highlights last night.  In my hair.  Expensive, yes.  Worth it, yes.  The girl was great   I used to be quite blonde, with almost white hair as a kid, but now my hair is an incredibly dark-not-even-blonde colour in the back.  I have only a very few of my natural highlights at my temples.

So.  I got some chemically added.  Which is a big thing for me because I don’t dye my hair.  I’ve had highlights put in once before, and that was about eight months ago.  It might have been in May, I’m not sure.

And I’m happy.  Which is a good thing

Today R and I are making (have made but they’re in the oven) cupcakes.  One of our neighbours daughters turns 11 years old today, so we’re going to hopefully bring some over after dinner tonight.  Hopefully because I don’t know if they’re home or if they’re doing their own cake thing.  Hmmm … maybe we should do it tomorrow.  I’ll have to think about it.  It’s white cake and I plan on mixing sprinkles in the icing, before doing the actual icing, and hope it looks neat.  I have some nice red sugar-crystal ones.

Cupcakes!

Not much new here, otherwise.  A’s in SK today and K is napping.  R is doing a Caillou game on the laptop where you “sweep” sand of dinosaur bones with your mouse and put them in the right crate.  He loves puzzles right now.

DH is playing poker at a friends house in Barrie tomorrow night, so I’m going to host D&D instead of going to a friends.  I hope it works out since the guys will be arriving at 7:30 pm, which is after K’s in bed but just at A and R’s bedtime.  The excitement might make them a little silly … my kids, that is.  Well, perhaps ML and CC too.  Another guy usually plays with us, JW, who usually hosts but he can’t this week.

Yes, I play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), a roleplaying game (RPG).  It’s fun, we eat some great munchies, and we also gab a fair bit.  That’s right, me and the guys gab   It’s a lot of fun and is, somewhat sadly, my main adult interaction without kids.

Ah, but on Sunday I’m going with a neighbour to see Avatar.  I’m waiting for him to get back to me about the time, if he’s okay with 11:30 am, so I can buy the tickets.  Why not go with my DH?  Well … he prefers chick flicks.  Especially if they have Meg Ryan in ‘em   I like those too, but I also like action and science fiction movies.  He’s not big into the sci-fi ones.  I just hope I don’t get a headache wearing those 3D glasses for the 2+ hours.

That’s it for now.  I look forward to swimming tomorrow with K, since he’s such a water-monkey now.  He DIVES out of my arms to get to the slide, and actually JUMPS into the water (holding my hands).  He’s only 18 months old, but he’s awesome physically.

Have a great weekend …

Ten thoughts.  Hmmm …

1) I’m watching my middle child, R, go pink in the face while he tries to blow up one of those balloons for a baloon-powered boat.  He’s even shaking with the effort!  Funny to watch, trust me.

2) Daughter A has been bugging me to make one of these cats from Lion Brand Yarn:

I can make it, but finding the time (and the yarn!) will be a challenge.  And, of course, once R found out, he said he wants one too.

3) We’re not pregnant.  That was our sixth month trying.  It took two or three months trying for A, two months trying for R and one month trying for K.  I know that we’re blessed with three kids already, but that doesn’t make it easier when we’re trying for our fourth and it takes a while.  Getting grumpy twice a month doesn’t help either (ovulation and “that time”).

4) I’m looking forward to K’s swim “class” on Saturday.  It’s nice to be in the toddler pool, and nice to see him enjoying it so much!  Months ago he was clinging to me for dear life, and now he’s trying to push off me.  Last week he managed to escape and make a dash for the plastic slide.  He made it, too

5) I’m getting tired of people showing their interest in the stuff I’m selling on Craigslist and Kijiji, but not responding to my response.  It makes me wonder if there’s something wrong with my email.  I want the stuff to sell!  I’ll be pulling it all off those sites, waiting a day or two, and then reposting.

6) A’s in SK today and tomorrow.  We’ll likely send a note to her teacher asking if she’s behaving differently in class.  Ever since Christmas break she’s been getting more tired during the week.  And quite grumbly and hard to deal with.  Trying to do crafts with her and R yesterday while K was napping was like pulling teeth.  All they wanted to do was watch television!  My rule is that we don’t watch any in the morning.  I try to delay until I “need” it on close to dinnertime.

7) I’m kneeling right now.  My desk chair is in the closet and has been there for some time now.  I got tired of the chair wars between me, R and K.  Especially between K and anyone that happens to be on the chair.  Plus, moving it off the plastic floor mat and onto the carpet doesn’t stop K from moving the chair around like it did with R when he was that age.  K is so strong, he just drags the chair around!  He also knows he can go get the folding stool from the bathroom and carry it to where he wants up, open it, and use it.  If only he’d put it back …

8)  I’d like to make placemats kind of like these from sew4home.com:

9) It’s bath time for my boys, and time for me to get off the computer