More Conversation with a 4 year old at 10 PM at night...

Me: "Goodnight sweethear.....wait. (gasp)What did you do Princess? Did you cut your hair?"

Princess Happy: "Yes. (Starts crying)"

Me: "Where did you cut your hair?"

Princess: "Downstairs. In your scrappin room"

Me: "Please show me."

Princess: "Are you mad, please mommy, are you mad? Ohhhhhhhhh - your mad. I can't stand it, your mad.....whaaaaaaaaaaaa"

(This litany was wailed thruout the house as we walked to the basement to my scrapbooking room)



We arrived in the scrapping room to find several LARGE chunks of hair laying on the floor by her art desk. The biggest chunk missing is right in her bang area and will take several months to grow out (Hopefully, in time for school pictures) Needless to say, I'm not happy at this point. We cleaned up the hair, confiscated her scissors and took her back to bed. Our conversation continued.



Me: "What made you think you should cut your own hair?"

Princess: "Well, (sob) I didn't want you to take me to the evil hair shop again where they would do mean things to me like they did when I was a baby and make me cry....(sob)"

Me: "Princess, Mrs. Michelle is not mean and she doesn't work at an evil hair shop. If you wanted your hair cut, we could take you to see her."

Princess: "Oh No! Now I'm gonna be bald like daddy....whaaaaaa"

Me: "No, you won't. But now you can't complain if I have to pull your hair into a pony tail. I think we've had enough talk for one night. Goodnight princess. Sweet Dreams!"

Princess: "Good night mommy!"



I hope she didn't dream about the evil hair shop or being buzzed! I'll try to post a picture today before I do her hair. She really did a job on those bangs (that we've been growing out for about 7 months now)

Edited to include picture!

A Conversation with a 4 year old at 10:00 pm at night...

Princess Happy: "I'm wearing underpants"
Me: "Yes Princess, I see you are wearing panties"
Princess Happy: "I call them underpants not panties"
Me: "I know you call them underpants. I call them panties when they are girls and underwear when they are boys"
Princess Happy: I have fairies on my underpants. How come you don't have anything on your underpants?"
Me: "Because they are Ladies panties and not kid's panties. Why? What should I have on my underpants?"
Princess Happy: "I think you should have pictures of vacuums and grocery lists on your underpants. Oh! and car keys because you drive a lot. Maybe some dishes because you wash them and some cooker pans because you are the cooker in our house."
Me: "Giggle, maybe I should suggest those to the companies that make "mommy panties".
Princess Happy: "Okay - but I still want fairies and princesses on mine. Even when I grow up"

It's Been A While....

It's been a while since I've written. I've never been a consistent writer to begin with. (I guess the date of my last entry just reaffirms it.) So here I am - trying again to narrate my life. I'd like to say not much is going on, but I have a bazillion pictures I need to upload that say differently. Let me see if I can run down the list:

Since April 7th, we have:

Had my brother & his family out for Easter.

Went on a field trip with the Princess's preschool to the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center.
(I loved the planetarium!)

Fought with landscapers who were supposed to come and repair my lawn after the Electric Co. tore it up last fall. (I also discovered the city isn't interested in helping with this.) I ended up paying to have it fixed myself.

Went to Happygirl's Spring concert and watched her perform a solo. (Mr. Ferrante, the high school music teacher, mentioned that he can't wait till she gets to the high school so he can be her teacher)

Was drafted into a board position to the Princess's preschool only to discover that it is unlike any board position I've ever had and that they really only want people for the "free" labor that the school needs/wants. (Haven't decided which it is so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt) I have since resigned and enrolled the Princess into another preschool that offers a Pre-K class that would better suit her.

I've attended the Princess's Dance Recital - which was WAY better than the chaos that was promoted as the "Winter recital". There were a few snafu's (Mostly including "fake" hair and guests that don't place importance on being on time but prefer to sit and bs while my family is waiting for them to leave) but overall it was good.

The girls have started playing Softball & T-ball. So far, so good. Happygirl's team is really exciting to watch and she has pitched a few games. Princess Happy has decided that all her cool dance moves are totally adaptable to t-ball. They are a cute bunch and one boy was heard to describe the infield as a "desert" during one hot and sunny practice. The hilight of all the games are when they get to run the bases as a team and the snack.

Princess Happy has been to "Princess Camp" at ATB. It was a neat program that lasted a week. She learned a few princess specific dances, made a few crafts that had plenty of glitter, had a few healthy snacks, and practiced her good manners ("no thank you, I don't want any a-scusting vegetables") I - during that time - got to finish a few crochet projects since I wouldn't leave. (Just in case her highness needed someone to "wipe her butt" I just feel that Princess Miss Mo doesn't get paid enough to wipe 24 girls' behinds daily)

Happygirl has volunteered two weeks out of her summer to help instruct Kindergardeners on safety. Safetytown has been good for her. I'm very proud of her for giving of her time - especially when I know that she would rather have slept in instead of waking at 8:00 am each day. Today is the "graduation ceremony".

I've also gotten in touch with my "inner farmer". It all started with Farm Town on Facebook. I had so much fun that I decided to take a patch of weeds and plant a vegetable garden. After Squire's Four Season's came out and prepped the area, I planted (9) tomato plants, (6) pepper Plants, (4) english cukes, (18) Sugar snap pea plants, (6) squash plants - 3 zuccini, 3 summer, (2) White eggplants, a basil plant, a rosemary plant, and a cilantro plant. I've surrounded this with a flat of yellow marigolds and a short bunny fence. So far, most of the vegetables are doing well except for the snap peas, one cuke plant, and the rosemary. I think the peas are still deciding if they want to grow. Everything else has either blossoms, small fruit, or a combo of both. I have also made the mistake of killing all the plants around my pond and deck while trying to kill the grass that has invaded the beds. (Note - only the plants have died. The grass is thriving!) So now I am replanting those areas - slowly.

The Princess and I have also been strawberry picking with Lazymama & family. We've made freezer jam with the results. I haven't actually tasted mine yet because we are still enjoying the pint that Gretchen gave us. I hope it's as good. Especially since I made a lot more than what we'll use and I want to give some away. (I'm holding off until I can taste it)

The girls and I have also started trying new cuisine. So far we have tasted Thai & Middle Eastern. I like it, Happy Girl likes some of it, and the princess just stuck her nose in the air at the Thai restaurant . (Same with "MrHappy's Momma" when presented with Loobi & Pilaf from Aladin's)

We've ALL had a few playdates with friends (Scrapping, swimming, car shows, dinners, book clubs - to name a few) and we've also started catching up with a few things that have been put off (waited for more time to do them - housekeeping, dr/dentist appoitments) So far it's been busy, but it's been fun.

Just a thought...

While we were at Disney World - one of the biggest hilights for my princess was looking out for Disney Characters and getting their autograph and a Picture. We saw Belle (3 times), Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty (twice), Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Chip N Dale, Lady Tremaine & her two daughters, Marie the Cat, Capt. Jack Sparrow (although he wasn't signing any autographs - bastard, that would've been a good one.), Jasmine, the Genie, and Aladdin (we waited but they had to leave before we got a signature) and a few others that I can't name right now because my brain is fried from driving for the last two days. (note - I don't think returning to "3 inches of snow" is helping any either.)

I guess this has made in impact on the Princess - she has been walking thru the house today with a little pink notepad and a pencil - asking for autographs. from our family. she is even introducing herself so that we know what name to write.

I wish they never outgrew this cuteness!

(Poor Grandma is having a stroke every time the princess asks for her autograph. It's hard for her to see the paper in this little pink notebook.)

Ahh Vacation....Points of interest

Vacation was a little rough getting going but I'll highlight a few of the more interesting parts that have happened (so far)

1. We had decent weather driving from Cleveland to South Carolina. It didn't get too rainy and it was only foggy in North Carolina. Fortunately it wasn't foggy in West Virginia's hilly parts. We had that back in 2003. It wasn't fun.


2. Our hotel in South Carolina was a dive - but we arrived at 1:00 am and left again at 8:30 am. So I told the girls to consider it "Roughing it" and promised that our Orlando hotel wouldn't be as bad as this.


3. Our hotel in South Carolina had a stray cat in the parking lot that became quickly attached to us - even so far as trying to get into our hotel room. We consider her the welcoming committee. (It for sure was a she since she looked a little pregnant. My kids didn't realize it and I didn't tell them. They already feel bad about leaving it there in SC - alone.)


4. I was able to keep my promise about the Orlando hotel. Our resort suite is awesome! I can't believe how nice this is for how little we paid. My kids want to live here. Forever. They don't even care that they have to share a room. They have their own bathroom...... I want to live here forever too. My personal bathroom is nicer. It has a huge bath tub with a separate shower. Go Me!!!!!


5. I went to buy groceries for the week with my Master Card - it was declined and told us to call the card company. I was buying groceries at 10:51 pm and the store closed at 11:00 pm on Sunday night. I was still able to pay for the food - but I was upset because we specifically called the company to let them know that we would be traveling out of town and that the charges would be from us. (We had an incident when we started paying for our room and tickets that they declined because they were big ticket items purchased from another area. We cleared it up and were advised to call before we went......bastards) Mr Happy called them and confirmed that we were out of town and want to use our card. When I went to pay for souvenirs at the Magic Kingdom today - they declined the card again. Rat Bastards!!!! I hate them! It was so embarrassing to have to use "another form of payment" because MC can't get their act together. Hopefully Mr. Happy wasn't as nice when he called them tonight......if not I might have to tell them to take their 10,000.00 limit and shove it up their a@@! Obviously they want to give it to me - but they don't want me to use any of it. They have totally messed me out of 1300+ dollars in rewards points.


6. Monday was a slow start but we made it to Magic Kingdom. Since there were so many people today - they decided to extend park hours. It was beautiful - weather wise and we enjoyed walking around visiting shows. Princess Happy was in awe to see Cinderella's castle for the 1st time. Happy Girl did a lot of texting.


7. My Dear Hubby got picked to be "the Beast/Prince" during Belle's Story Hour at MK. Princess Happy was a little anxious that some "man" was going to put on the Beast costume during the show. Little did she know that "some man" would end up being her dad. She wasn't too sure at first but Happy girl and I just laughed our butts off. She got better as the show progressed. I always knew my husband was a prince - but this proves it. He was such good sport.......What a guy! Of course we got lots of pictures.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll write more as time allows!

3 Days & Counting....Destination: Insanity

3 more days. I can't believe it. I'm not ready. I think by the time this vacation begins I will be in desperate need of it. (Oh, wait....I think that was last week when I got there. Damn. Now I'm starting to forget stuff.)

I love going on vacation but I hate the chaos that I experience before I go. Some things on my to do list:

• Pack Clothing by Wednesday. (Yeah right. Like that's going to happen and I'll explain more below)
• Clean House so that relatives won't be completely grossed out when the come to stay with my MIL. (Okay - derailed again. See below)
• Finish Shopping for trip and go grocery shopping so that MIL can eat next week. (I got 1/2 done before last night)
• Call Roto Rooter and have them snake out basement toilet. (AHHHHH the problem within my carefully laid out schedule. They came last night and didn't snake the toilet. They used a truck/machine to "power clean" the pipes all the way to the street. It was twice as much as snaking AND they told us that in the future we are going to either do the whole power wash thing as part of our yearly maintenance OR we are going to have to dig up - possibly the driveway - to Straighten the pipe that leads to the street. Apparently we have a "dippy" line and refuse collects in the bottom of the dips and within a year it will block up again since the flow of water can't push past it. They blew the line clean but some of it did back up into my downstairs bathroom and laundry room. Of course the water is disgusting so my DH spent most of the night bleaching and tossing. I stayed upstairs so that I wouldn't get a perpetual "stink" in my nose. (Once that happens - forget it. It never leaves. No really - it's true.) He didn't get done until 1:00 am.
• Middle School: Write note for Happy Girl so that I don't have to remember to call her off on April 6th and maybe they will give her the homework/classwork ahead of time to do before we go.
• Preschool: Fill out all field trip forms and fill 12 eggs for Easter hunt when we get back. Do this by Thursday
• Plan Easter: My brother and his family will be out to visit us on April 9th to stay for Easter. We will have professional pictures done and go to some activity (like a museum, zoo - something weather appropriate) I've already ordered the "Easter food" that I won't be making this year. The rest I can pick up and freeze this week or the fresh stuff won't be picked up until Tues the 7th.
• Lastly - Pay all bills that will be due up to April 13th. I definitely don't want to come back to phone messages from anyone regarding a bill. Or worse - find out I can't get gas to come home because my card won't work. That would really suck.

We have a few fun things to look forward to this week. Mr. Happy will be going to the princess's preschool for a father's evening. Friday is observation week at dance and my MIL has said she will go. Later that evening we are going to an "80's" party. And then lastly - Saturday morning we will be going to a friend's 4th birthday party and then leaving for our vacation.

It will be a busy, crazy, (hopefully) stink-less, rest of the week.

The Countdown begins....

Well. Next week at this time I will be in the car driving to Florida. We will have "almost" arrived to the happiest place on earth. I'm sure it will be a lot warmer than here in Cleveland. At least I'm hoping it will be A LOT warmer than here in Cleveland. That would suck if wasn't. (Especially since I'm planning to pack mostly "warm weather wear")

We've shopped for new clothing (for all of us but especially for the kids.) They've grown so much. The princess has grown about 3-4 inches since last summer and another kid's size. Happy girl has grown expensive taste in clothing since last summer so her "target" duds aren't cool enough to wear anymore. Especially if I want to take any family photo's on this trip.

Today is when the packing will begin. Today I will begin packing and repacking the same 5 articles of clothing. Why? Because the family will want to help (especially my princess). I've already found several items I've put into a pile to be packed in the suitcases suspiciously moved into the toy washer & dryer in the laundry room. I've also seen every purse and backpack pulled out and strewn thru the house.

Also on my list to do: Clean House so that it looks the ABSOLUTE best it ever could. My in-laws are coming to take care of my MIL for the time we are away and I always worry that my house is a disaster and they are forced to stay in a mess.

Also on the list: 2 birthday parties, a Dad's night at preschool, an ortho appointment, a trip to both the hairdresser and nail shop.

I can see - it will be a very, VERY, busy week.