Mom's Rules

For some time I have felt overwhelmed by the condition of my house. The amount of kids stuff has multiplied to excessive. And, it never finds it's way to an appropriate place. My kids used to understand that we kept toys upstairs. Now, I find dolls and their accessories, air soft guns and those darn BBs, plastic food, and many stickers, pens and notebooks everywhere I look. They're in the living room; they're in the dining room; they're in the kitchen; they're even in the bathroom! I was driving myself crazy picking it all up only to find them strewn about again in a matter of minutes. Yesterday, I decided I'd had enough. I made a contract for each of the kids to sign. It's very simple, there are only 5 rules.

RULE 1: All dirty clothes must be put inside the dirty clothes hamper, not beside, on top or behind. Clothes not inside the hamper will not be washed. If you don't have clean clothes, you will wear them dirty. I must admit, I got this one from a friend. When she first told me about it, I was shocked! Basically that she would do something so harsh. I think she's a great mom and this seemed contradictory to the Mom Pledge we take... the part about providing clean clothes for our kids. However, a quick clean-up in the boys' room yesterday changed my mind. There were more dirty clothes on the floor, dresser top and closet floor than in the hamper. And there's no excuse. The boys are 8 and 12. The hamper is right next to the bed. It even has a swing top so they don't have to work hard to get the clothes in there. So the rule is set.
RULE 2: No toys are allowed downstairs. This is our living area, not our play area. We have a playroom upstairs and there is tons of space to play outside. Any toy that is found downstairs without its owner will be confiscated for 1 week. I know this one seems harsh to most people. After all, parents should expect toys to be around. But, like I said, we have a playroom for that. Not to mention, I'm 40 years old and I feel it's OK for me to have a grownup house with the appearance of calm and tidy. It makes me feel more clam myself when I don't have to fight Baby Chou Chou for a seat on the couch.
RULE 3: The basket in the kitchen must be emptied each night. Any item left in it overnight will be confiscated for 1 week. This includes toys, extra shoes, clothing, socks, etc. (Remember Mom puts stuff in there during the day that you may not know is there. You must check the basket each night to make sure your stuff is out!) First, let me explain the basket. I have a box-style basket next to the stairs in our kitchen. The kids can put their shoes in it when they come home. There should only be one pair of shoes per child in the basket at any time as they also have shoe cubbies in their closets. During the day, if I find random items downstairs belonging to the kids, I put them in the basket for them to take to the appropriate place themselves. Problems I've had with this system have been too many shoes end up in the basket, socks congregate in here and never leave...until Maisy the Weimaraner eats them, and the kids just don't check the basket for their things so it get crammed full of all sorts of stuff. I'm hoping my new rule will make the system more efficient.
RULE 4: All toilets are to be flushed after use. Not doing so makes the house stink. We don't want a stinky house. If you don't flush, you will clean the bathroom and spray the house with air freshener. (If someone is showering when you need to flush, you may wait but don't forget, go back and flush!) I know this sounds like a no brainer but alas, it is not. I've even had to put a sign on the toilet lid that reads "Flush Me Please." I think the worst offender is Jonathan. You'd think a 12 year old would be experienced enough in bathroom etiquette that he'd know to flush. But morning after morning I enter the kids' bathroom to find the toilet full of yellow water. And, don't worry. I know he's the culprit as he is the only one to use that bathroom in the mornings. Hopefully having to clean the bathroom (my least favorite chore) will teach him.
RULE 5: Declining to help when asked is not an option. You stop what you're doing and do as you are asked. If you choose to complain or not do as asked when you are asked, you will receive a demerit. 5 demerits in one week = no allowance! So far we have one child with one demerit and this has only been in play since yesterday afternoon! Obviously this is a problem for our family. The other day, I had one of them decide not to play with the dog because the money he'd have deducted from his allowance by not doing this chore would not be as much as the extra money he'd just made babysitting his sister. Logical? Yes, in a sinister sort of way. An option? No. Although this happened prior to the rule's inception, this infraction is the reason for the rule. Now, to find a good tally system for all those demerits.

So these are our new rules. Nothing too difficult. It should be noted that this contract has nothing to do with their regular weekly chores. Each child signed the contract and so far has entered into it enthusiastically. Lets see how long that lasts.

Found It!

Well, when I put my mind to something, I deliver! I promised to find a new drink and boy did I. Last weekend I purchased a bottle of Firefly vodka. I was out of vodka and had wanted to try this brand. It's made by some locals who I've become acquainted with recently. The vodka is a muscadine wine vodka which is different but good. Not knowing what the muscadine flavor would do to my typical vodka cocktails, I visited their website last night to check out some of their recipes. It took some time to find one that I actually had all the ingredients for. I settled on the Honeysuckle. Yummy! Here's the recipe...

Honeysuckle

1 ½ oz Firefly
1 TBS honey
¼ oz fresh lemon juice
3 oz Sprite or 7up
Stir Firefly, honey and lemon juice together in a tin shaker until honey is dissolved. Pour mixture into a rocks glass of ice and top with Sprite or 7up.


And now that you've got a cocktail to sip, here's the delicious dinner we had last night which I found in the March issue of my favorite magazine Everyday Food...

Shrimp and Cabbage Lo Mein

8 oz. linguini
1T vegetable oil
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 c soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
1 head green cabbage halved, cored and thinly sliced
2t grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4c fresh cilantro (optional)
1/2t sugar
1/2t red-pepper flakes

1. Cook linguini in large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, return to pot, and set aside. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, sugar and red-pepper flakes; set mixture aside.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in large skillet over medium. Add shrimp and half of garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until shrimp are opaque throughout, 2-3 min. Transfer to a plate. (Reserve skillet)
3. Place cabbage, remaining garlic, and 1/2 cup of water in skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage in crisp-tender, 6-7 min. To pot with linguini, add cabbage, soy-sauce mixture, and shrimp; toss to combine. Serve garnished with cilantro, if desired.

I served this with some egg rolls. My family loved it! The above serves 4 although 3 of my family of 5 went back for seconds and two of us ate it for lunch today.

My New Passtime(s)

I had no idea it had been so long since I last posted! Yikes! Wish I had some new drinks to add but I've been enjoying my old standbys. I'll get to work on investigating new ones the remainder of this week and fill you in.

So, no posting and no new drinks. How have I been spending my time? I've been becoming frugal. I've been reading lots of blogs on stretching my dollars and getting stuff for free. I've been so surprised by what I've read. Did you know it's possible to feed your family for $45 a week?! Haven't tried this yet. But you can read about it as well as other money saving ideas here, here, and here. Everyone who knows me knows I love to get a bargain; I rarely pay full price for anything; and, I can tell you just what I spent and where for any item you ask about. Although, with my mind succumbing to it's 40th year, that last ones a bit in question. Another thing that's got me floored is the amount of stuff you can get for free on the internet. I have filled out more free requests in the past week than I can remember (it's the 40 year old brain again). Although I haven't received anything yet, I'm awaiting hair products, books for the kids, a calculator, a magazine subscription, coffee, different food products, pet treats, cleaners and much more! I cannot wait for it to start rolling in. Oh put your hands down! Here's some links for you to get your own stuff...Brioni's Coffee, and Crypton Cleaning Kit.

Finally, to help me with my 40 year old brain, I've discovered Lumosity. Here, you can test your brain and awaken it, bringing it back to how it used to be. The good news is the games are quick so it only takes a moment.

Proud Mama

Yesterday was a day full of awards for my boys. Yesterday morning I was able to attend the 7th Grade Awards Ceremony at Jonathan's school. He'd tried to tell me I didn't need to go. Glad I went, though, since he received two awards. The first was for the President's Award. This is for kids who had all A's. The second award was for the top 4 students in his Pod. He was one of the 4 and the things his teacher said about him made me cry. He said Jonathan was a student who no matter what always seemed to do the right thing. Then, as I'm sitting there fighting back tears, he gets up to collect his award and the kids all go crazy hooping and hollering their congratulations and approval of his being selected. I'm not sure if it was his receiving the recognition from his teachers or the approval of his peers that touched me more. I was and am very proud.
Then, last night, Porter had an awards ceremony with his Scout troupe. He received his Wolf badge. This was really an accomplishment. You just don't know how hard it has been to get him to put on his uniform and go to his meetings. So hard! I know scouting is not something he will continue with so you better believe we took the whole family to see him get this badge!
So, two boys awarded for great things. And here sits one proud mama!

Torn Between Three Lovers

Feeling like a TV junkie! My lovers? American Idol, Survivor, and the Democratic Debate. Yes, last night was hard for me. Without TiVo, I had no recourse. I became a flipper. I'd watch a bit of the debate and turn it periodically to see if Idol was anywhere near dashing someone's dreams. I never did flip to Survivor. Guess that should tell me something. Somehow in my flipping frenzie, I was able to watch Garrett Hayes get the boot. You know, Sweet little Garrett, you know him when you see him? The Leif Garrett clone? Well, actually the bi-product of combination of Leif Garrett and Peter Frampton. I cannot say I was surprised by his not making it to the top but I was shocked that he was first to go. There are several guys I would have picked to go last night. And, even though, the second to leave, Colton was not my favorite, even he was not one I thought would depart last night. Personally, I'm picking Michael Johns to make it to the final two. I think he's awesome. He's got the look, the stage presence and boy he can sing. And, I'm picking Luke to get a deal with a soap opera. He is dreamy and I think I could enjoy watching him for an hour each day. So I'm hoping the deal is with As The World Turns or The Guiding Light. (Two of my guilty pleasures!) As for the ladies, I missed the first one to go. And I don't know the name of the second one. I guess neither had made that big of an impression on me so I'm not going to miss them too much. I do like the girl with YES in her name, the Asian girl and Asia'h (who isn't Asian) is talented too. But I think there are too many of the girls on there just to fill in the weeks. They may be able to sing but they don't have that star quality.
The parts of the Debate I was able to see/hear were not what I was expecting. I thought that after the week of listening to the Clinton camp slap the hand of Obama for plagiarizing a portion of his speech, which I believe showed her desperation, we'd get more nastiness in the debate. The plagiarizing claim was strange to me since they only accused him of stealing the words of his friend and not those of Dr. King (whose words were in there, by the way). Do these politicians actually write their own speeches anyway? I've always thought they had speech writers. So what's the big deal? And what a tacky Xerox comment! Shame on you Hillary. So I guess you can tell who I support. Let me just say I'm not part of the country who believes Hillary is evil. I just don't think this is her time. She is obviously impassioned to improve our country and as a woman I think her amount of passion can be misconstrued. Now, would she make a good Vice President? Hmmm, something to ponder. Perhaps that would be too powerful of an administration.
Well, at least next Thursday promises to be a little easier for me. There won't be a debate so it's just an hour of flipping between American Idol and Survivor. That's just two lovers. Guess I'll just be feeling like a fool.

She Says She Loves Me (Even) When I'm Sick

My seasonal allergies have begun. Somethings blooming and I'm sneezing, coughing, sniffing, and post nasal dripping. Not to mention my head is pounding and my teeth are aching. But aren't those daffodils gorgeous? Unlike my daughter, who suffers from allergies and asthma, I have no idea what I'm allergic to. I just know that every year this happens to me. I get it in the fall and I get it in the spring. This must be my spring attack, although it's a bit early if you ask me.

Well, just because I don't feel good, it doesn't mean I get to take time off. I still took Millie to and from school today and went to the grocery store for dinner tonight. It's just a little over an hour before Porter gets home and it will be time to fix a snack and dive into "our" second grade homework. An hour later, Jonathan will be home and he'll need a snack before getting ready for soccer practice. Dinner will have to be ready for him to eat before we start the carpool pick-up.

The good news in all this is Millie is able to entertain herself while I "rest." She just came in from swinging with a big smile on her face. She said she had a surprise for me. Behind her back, she had a couple of weeds. To her, they are beautiful flowers. She said she was so excited because these beautiful flowers mean we were going to have green grass soon and she loves green grass. She has told me several times today that she loves me even when I'm sick. If she keeps bringing me these weeds, I'm afraid I'm going to be sick forever. At least I know she'll love me forever, too.

When Fate Steps In

Yesterday, I ran to the grocery store to pick up one item. I was rather quick and returned to my car without missing a beat. I thought I was ready to return home but I was wrong. The guy next to me had other ideas, or just wasn't thinking at all. He was putting his groceries in his car when I got in mine. I turned it on, looked around, put it in reverse and looked again. Only this time, he was standing behind my car. "OK," I thought, he just needs to take his cart to the cart return (which was not far from my car), I'll wait for him to get back to his car before I go." If I thought he was inconveniencing me before, I was dead wrong. He actually began to take his time. He never made eye contact with me. But it gets weirder. When he gets right behind my car, he drops something. AND SQUATS DOWN TO PICK IT UP! Remember, my car is running and the reverse lights are on...and this is a grown man. Lucky for him, I was aware of what was going on and I was not going to hit him. But, if my kids had been with me and we'd been talking or the lady in Harris Teeter had given them a balloon and that had been blocking my view, things may have been very different, not to mention tragic.
I couldn't help but be disturbed by this. Was it his "La Ti Da" attitude at life? Was it his apparent trust of total strangers to put his wellbeing forefront of everything else in their lives? Whatever it was, we are both seriously lucky fate put me there on a day when I was alone and paying attention.