Noseblind

Noseblind. Have you heard this term? Brought to us by Febreze (at least, this is where I first heard it), this phenomenon occurs when you are around something so often that you no longer notice its smell.

This is a nightmare for me.

I inherited my dad's weirdly strong sense of smell; I swear, we were a bunch of blood hounds in our previous lives. I can smell things from quite a distance; as you can imagine, strongly smelling places (the seafood department at grocery stores, Crabtree & Evelyn stores, public restrooms) hit me like a ton of bricks.

I'm sure that my house, full of kids and a stinky dog, gets smelly. I am pretty much always overwhelmed with the kids and their stuff (homework, activities, behavior...), so the housework often takes a backseat. Yes, gross, but what can you do? I am a huge fan of Scentsy and Febreze, baking soda to deodorize the couch, and vinegar. One of my goals in life is to stay ahead of the stink. I've been known to ask people if my house "smells like dog" when they come to visit. I'm hoping they tell the truth, because I know that noseblindness is a real thing.

So, do me a favor: if you're ever at my house and smell dogs (or kids), please tell me. I'll conquer it quickly with my arsenal of air fresheners.

Monnnnnnnnnnnnnnday

Longest. Day. Ever.

Actually, just from 4:30pm to now has been awful. The rest of today, not so much. But good gravy has this evening sucked.

Alex got all smiley faces at school today, which lends a perfect explanation as to why he is so difficult tonight. From battling over homework, dinner, more homework, and the reasons why we can't eat Oreos after we brush our teeth, I have completely had it with this day.

Mark bowls on Monday nights, and I texted him earlier asking for peanut butter pie and some Valium. I didn't get a response (his phone either died or he turned it off so as to not feel obligated to read my pathetic play by plays of life at home), so Plan B is to dive into that bag of mini Reece's that I bought yesterday while watching what's left of Dancing with the Stars.

Seriously, is it Friday yet?

Stinking Phone

I am due for a new phone.

I just tried to update my little iPhone 4S to the new iOS, only to have wasted an hour of time deleting apps and trying to find the space needed for the download. Such a pain! After pretty much wiping the stinking thing clean, I still needed space, so I started deleting old texts. But, this somehow wiped out a bunch of my contacts and disabled texting all together. Fun!

I spent some more time reentering contact information into my phone, only to find that even after deleting all those old messages, I still somehow don't have enough room. I don't understand. With nothing left on the phone (I even took my email accounts off to do the upload!), how can there not be enough room?

I lost my patience and started reinstalling apps. iOS8 can suck it right now. Except now my phone isn't downloading the "must have" apps that I am attempting to restore.

Technology can be a real bitch sometimes. Now I get to decide whether to wait until Friday morning, when I have a whopping two hours to myself, to get a new phone, or to bravely march into the Sprint store after school, with all three kids. Torture, either way.

Author's note: Yes, I know there are greater things in life with which I could be struggling. But, it's been a rough day and I'm tired and hungry (why would I eat dinner before 10pm? Ugh.) and just feel like whining about my stinking phone.

End rant. Good night.

#3

Ugh. I really hate missing blog posts. I guess that since this was the only third miss so far this year, it's not so bad.

It was a long, challenging week. Our schedules are busy, the kids have homework, the house is a mess, and I'm working outside of the house for the first time since all three kids have been in school. It's rough. I'm hoping we're still getting used to the transition, rather than just failing miserably. We'll see.

Anyway, I am completely worn down, and although I meant to write a blog last night, I just forgot. It happens.

Here's to a better week.

Lessons from Andrew

This just happened:

Andrew came skipping into the kitchen. "Mommy, can I have a grape juice?"

"You already had one," I answered as I sorted through all the papers that came home from school.

"What?!? That does not answer my question, Mommy."

"NO, Andrew, you may not have a juice because you already had one," I replied, with perhaps just a smidge of exasperation.

"There you go, Mommy. Now that's an answer. You just had to be more pacific."

"Well, ok then, buddy. Go play."

Then he went skipping back out of the kitchen, en route to the next bout of mischief.

Happy weekend!

Meltdowns

We dealt with too many meltdowns tonight for me to write anything interesting. 

Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday. 

It Really Does Rock

We've been listening to Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks! a lot lately. I loved this cd when it was released, and now my kids love it too. So, we rock out in the car to the likes of I'm Just a Bill and My Hero, Zero.

Perhaps my favorite on this cd, though, is Better Than Ezra's presentation of Conjunction Junction. It makes me quite happy.

Find the cd. Rock out in the car. You won't be disappointed.

As Seen at the Columbus Buddy Walk

I also write for the blog over at ds-connex, as some of you may already know. So for today's post, I'm going to share the piece that was just posted over there. Enjoy!

Torture - Otherwise Known as Homework

Here we are, trying to get through another night of homework. 

Part of tonight's assignments: a subtraction worksheet. We've been arguing over the first problem for the last ten minutes. 

"Al, what's 15 - 11?"

"Six."

"No, Buddy. MINUS."

"Six. Five plus one is SIX!"

"Well, yes, but this is subtraction, dude."

"But it is six."

Ugh. We've got eight more problems to argue over before we move on to spelling words.  

2014 Columbus Buddy Walk

The big day finally arrived, and Team Alex celebrated our 11th Columbus Buddy Walk with beautiful weather, great food, and tons of fantastic supporters.

We ended up with over 100 people registered for our team, and raised more than $10,400! Amazing. If you walked with Team Alex, or another team, thank you. If you donated money, thank you. If you donated your time, thank you. If you sent positive thoughts and prayers (especially about today's forecast!), thank you. I know I can say that the entire DSACO community is grateful for your support.

I'll have more to say about the Buddy Walk later this week. Right now, I'm in "recovery mode", and planning to enjoy the "time off" between the Buddy Walk and Girl Scout Cookie time. ;)

Have a great week!

A Poem

'Twas the night before the Columbus Buddy Walk,
And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Except for the mama/team captain who is too busy worrying about packing up the car, remembering every last little detail for the tailgate, and hoping that it won't rain in the morning...

Yep. Time for bed. Tomorrow is Buddy Walk day!!

Two days...

In less than 48 hours, the Buddy Walk will have come and gone. Team Alex officially broke the $10,000 mark today, and I couldn't be happier. Or more tired. ;)

There is still a lot to do to prepare for the walk, and we are very excited to see everyone on Sunday morning.

With an early morning tomorrow (and inevitably, a late night!), I'm off to bed. Happy weekend!

Best Shirt Ever

If you're a regular follower of this blog, you've read about our #InclusionMatters campaign, which included two rounds of fabulous t-shirts from I Heart Garments. Our shirts started arriving this week, and I am completely in love with my hoody. Seriously, I may never take it off.

I will proudly wear this hoody (and the t-shirt, because I couldn't resist and needed to have both!) because of the beautiful message it promotes. #InclusionMatters. Everywhere, for everyone.

I will also continue to watch for upcoming campaigns from I Heart Garments. When you can score comfortable shirts that support important causes, it is most definitely a win win.

Check out their site. Think about how #InclusionMatters to you.

How Is It Not Friday Yet?!?

I now have even greater respect for the families in which one (or both!) parents frequently travel for work. I've always admired these brave partners for taking on single parenting duties while the other is away, but wow, I have a whole new outlook on it.

It sucks.

Fortunately, Mark rarely travels. Thank goodness. He was only gone for the last three days and the house is completely blown up, the kids are way out of whack, and I am even more ragged than usual.

But, he was sweet enough to bring back a cool coffee mug for me...which didn't fare the trip very well.

Poor mug. She's had a rough day, too. I guess she and I are both a little rattled after this week, but at least we're still standing. Right? Yes, of course. ;)

Update

Whoa...I'm almost 3/4 of the way through my "blog every day" resolution for 2014. I've written 259 posts (or at least posted once per every day of the year; some "posts" can't really be considered full entries because, well, it's difficult to write every day!). My blog has now had over 15,000 page views. Crazy.

Hopefully, I'll have enough steam to finish out the year! Wish me luck!!

Go Team Alex!

As I have a monster headache and am so far over this day I.Can't.Even, I decided to share some information I sent out to Team Alex, many hours ago when I was in a happier mood. ;)

Here are some fun stats about our team this year:

* 92 team members (and counting...online registration is still open, but t-shirts are not guaranteed. Invite your family and friends to join us!!)

* $9157 raised, according to the current leaderboard...BUT, I am expecting $624.73 to be added in this week (from fundraising checks that have arrived/will arrive this week). That puts us just $218.27 from the $10,000 mark. Incredible!! 

* Team Alex is leading "that Buddy Walk team up north" in our #AlexVsNick2014 challenge! Not sure what that is? Check out this blog post for more info!

* Many more fundraising efforts under our belts, including international recognition for Addie, our Jr Captain, for helping to bring our #InclusionMatters campaign to life!  And don't forget about the #TeamAlexPieChallenge!! 

If you feel compelled to help push us over the $10,000 mark, please visit (and share!) our fundraising page. 

Buddy Walk Countdown

Seven more days!

I've been fundraising since 3/21. I'm tired...but probably not nearly as tired as those who have listened to/read my pleas for donations for the last (almost) six months.

A week from right now, I will be relaxing, much like I imagine Santa Claus relaxes on 12/26.

I have a lot of work to do to prep for the Team Alex Tailgate, but that's the fun part. Let's just hope this cold I feel coming on takes a hike, because I don't have time to slow down!

Should you feel inspired to donate, and help us reach $10,000 by Friday, 9/19, please visit our team page here.

#AlexVsNick2014

Seeing as it's a Game Day, I thought I would remind everyone about the friendly #AlexVsNick2014 challenge that is going on now. Check out this blog post to learn more!

After you read it, head over to the Team Alex fundraising page to show your support!

Strike 2

Ugh. Forgot to post anything last night. Second time this year that I've done that. Not bad, eh? ;)

Guest Blogger

yjy,..m,h,;.k.y

nmmgm

Ok, so my brilliant idea to have Alex play the role of guest blogger tonight kind of backfired. He did type those two lines; he tells me it says "blah, blah, blah".

That's probably about how people are reading most of my blog posts, having read so many of my lovely ramblings since I started blogging every day on January 1.

So much for a creative blog post idea. Back to the drawing board.

Random thoughts

Wednesdays are long days when you think that Tuesdays are Thursdays.

Yep. That's all I've got for today. Have a great night!

Andrew and the Biebs

Andrew has been struggling with writing letters; it's not that he isn't able to correctly write them, he just chooses not to do it. He would rather write his name like this: ANdReW. It's been fun, working with him to do his homework the last couple of weeks. <insert eye roll here>

So this morning, before we left for school, he asked me why he has to learn about letters in Kindergarten.

"Well, Andrew," I patiently started, hoping to not spark yet another letter-related argument, "you have to know how to write the way your teacher has asked you to do it."

"Who decided how you're supposed to make the letters?" Andrew is very inquisitive.

"Um, not sure, dude. Someone thought about all of that a long time ago," I answered, hoping my vague answer would prompt him to change the subject.

"A long time ago? Did Justin Bieber make up the alphabet?!?" 

Facepalm. And then laughter and a near fall down the stairs. 

I don't know why he thought the Biebs developed the alphabet. I don't think I want to know. I'll just keep making sure he completes his assignments.

Monday, Monday

Hey! It's a rare morning post!

That's how bad our morning was. I felt it important to sit down and blog it right away. Actually, it wasn't the worst morning we've had around here, but I doubt I'll have time tonight to sit down and write, so here we are.

I committed a horrible act against Alex: I allowed us to run completely out of chocolate milk. That is bad news, you guys, as chocolate milk is to him as coffee is to me. I naively offered him juice or water, and that's when the morning took an ugly turn. Tears and snot were flying, and Alex was pretty upset too (just joking...only Al was crying...but that is a funny visual, no?).

Seriously, though, Alex was a mess and then he and Andrew started battling and Andrew ended up wearing his cereal. Good times.

And of course, the bus was actually on time today, when I could have used the extra ten minutes that we've had since school started. Figures. Alex did perk up a bit, though, when he saw his violin waiting for him with his backpack, and he waved at me from the bus, so maybe he'll shake his Monday blues by the time the bus arrives. I'll spend the day in a cloud of anxiety, mentally calculating how many gallons of chocolate milk I can fit in the fridge.

So, if you wouldn't mind crossing your fingers that the kiddos have a good day at school, that would be appreciated.

Happy (freaking) Monday.

So long, weekend...

Hectic weekend = tired mama. Good thing everything starts all over again tomorrow.

*snort*

Go Bucks!

When you live in Columbus, OH, it quickly becomes clear that Saturdays in the fall are all about Ohio State football. 

When you are also a graduate of THE Ohio State University, there is absolutely no doubt that Saturday = football. 

Tonight is the first of several home night games for the Buckeyes. I should have blogged earlier; no time to write, must watch the game. 

Happy Football Saturday!!

Puzzling

Why do shorter weeks always seem longer then normal weeks? 

Discuss. 

(Yeah, I'm exhausted. This is as good as it gets today.)

Amazing

We did it.

Nearly six months ago, Team Alex set out to raise $7500 by September 5th. It seemed like a huge goal, but we went for it with our typical determination and gusto.

We did countless $10 Tuesdays. We played kickball. We smashed pies in friends' faces. Little by little, with a ton of help from amazing family and friends, we added to our fundraising total.

And we did it.

With about 24 hours left until the fundraising deadline, we have exceeded our $7500 goal. I can't believe it.

I will be happy dancing all along the walk route. Thank you, so much, to everyone for your support...and for tolerating my endless posts on Facebook. ;)

You still have time to register and/or donate, though! Please check out our fundraising page here to join the fun.

Gratitude Challenge: Day 5

Today I am grateful for:

1. My church 

2. My kids' determination, silliness, and charitable hearts

3. My husband and his willingness to journey on this wild roller coaster of a life we share

Gratitude Challenge: Day 4

Today, I am grateful for...

1. My kids' teachers: They watch over my children, taking care to share stories with me and check in with concerns; they teach my kids invaluable lessons yet learn from them as well. Even after we've moved on to new school years, they still welcome them with hugs and smiles. It's not always easy for them, I know (as I'm that mom, especially when it comes to Alex!), but they should know that we value their impact on our kids' lives.

2. Our dog, Maisey: A self-admitted cat person, this sweet beagle rescue pup has nestled her way into my heart as I thought no dog ever could. She tolerates the boys' loud  nonsense, lets Addie snuggle her when she's frustrated with her brothers, and sits at my feet as I write. She's a good dog, even though she pees on the floor (usually after the boys irritate her, but still), and she brings joy to our house like a family dog should.

3. Our generous family and friends: Team Alex has unofficially exceeded our fundraising goal of $7500 (I'm still waiting to receive some checks), which is just astounding. Even more amazing is that I haven't been blocked by every one of my Facebook friends for posting about the Buddy Walk every day since March 21st. We appreciate your support!

Gratitude Challenge: Day 3

It has been a long, challenging evening with Alex, so I am digging deep to identify three things for which I am grateful today:

1. Febreze Sleep Serenity spray: fingers crossed it helps me relax enough to get to sleep tonight. If nothing else, it smells nice.

2. Old photos: while looking through a bunch of stuff to find something (it is around here somewhere, but I just can't find it, and that is infuriating), I came across a bunch of old photos which gave me pause to stop, smile, and remember days gone by. (Throwback Thursday will be fun this week!)

3. Hostess Cupcakes: don't judge me.