Elizabeth Obsesses...

I think my daughter, Amanda is from outer space. I mean, I know " they " say, "women are from Venus," but it's got to be because there's some logic in it, right? Surely there are people where she comes from that speak her language, but I'm sad to report that I'm not one of them. I've tried...God knows I've tried, but it makes me physically weak sometimes trying to decipher what it is that she's talking about. Just trying to get her to answer a simple "yes" or "no" question can sometimes take hours! (OK, I exaggerate a little bit...) Getting a response to things that shouldn't even be difficult like, "do you want milk?" can cause me to hyperventilate. Now, I realize that if I don't end my sentence with, " pick one: yes or no ," I'm asking for trouble and it's clearly my own fault. I know I should know better, that's a rookie mistake. If I simply ask if she wants milk, I

Homemade cleaners are better for you, your family, the environment, and your pocketbook.  This particular cleaner is perfect for just about all messes, and it's antibacterial too.  The best part of all is how easy it is to make. Prior to this cleaner, I had been using a simple 1:1 mixture of vinegar and water, but I wasn't satisfied with it for a couple of reasons. The smell was awful, and it took a long time to dry - even after wiping it off with a towel. Armed with just a few common household ingredients, I created a spray cleaner that is perfect for surface cleansing. The ingredients kill bacteria, and the final product is superior to commercial cleaner (in my humble opinion).  It smells GREAT too!  Give it a try - and be sure to check back here and let me know how you made out! Antibacterial Lavender Surface Cleaner 2 Cups of warm water in a measuring cup 2 teaspoons of Dr. Bronner's liquid Lavender castile soap 1 teaspoon vinegar 2 teaspoons rubbing alc

Over the 4th of July holiday, I went to Colonial Williamsburg for 8 days with my BFF, my two children, and her two children. We spent a very exciting 8 days together, and along the way, we had a lot of fun laughing at the words our children came up with. Here is a list of some of what I heard: Gillet: That thing that comes down and chops your head off (origin - my daughter, Amanda) Tele pathetic : is the ability to mentally control any function the brain controls, hearing other people's thoughts and sending thoughts directly to other people's minds. (Origin - BFF's #1 DD, Ashley) Sur fectent : A cross between disinfectant and surfactant...maybe it's a soapy germ killer.(origin: BFF) " P "terodactyl - This was said with a non-silent "P". (Origin - my son, Ryan) Intensification of the Super Fog - (Origin Williamsburg's ABC weatherman) OK...I know that intensification is a REAL word, but at 11:00 at night, it sounds downright funny! Inten

Doesn't that title sound like the worst thing to call someone? Well, it's really not directed at anyone in particular. It's one of the things I got to play with recently. (Yup. that's my photo, too!) I went camping again this past weekend. This time with daughter and the Girl Scouts . Brought plenty of my own TP so I don't have a repeat of what happened last time, but I'm happy to say that I didn't even need it! That's the beauty part of camping with (only) girls. If we're in charge of planning it, we will make sure that life's little necessities are taken care of. As one of the comments on one of my previous posts eluded to, I went camping....but I went kicking and screaming. Although I love to camp, and love the group I went with, it just wasn't a good time for me to be gone on a personal level. (Hey anonymous....I'm really sorry I was grouchy about camping. I hope you're not too mad.) Camping with girls is a very different e

So much has happened over the last few weeks I hardly know where to begin! I guess I should start by saying, "Happy Mother's Day"! Of course, this is the (one) day that I get to sleep in, and being as it's currently 4:51 am, it looks like that's not happening for me this year. I just cannot sleep! My mind is racing and I keep thinking (obsessing) about all the things I need to do today. Last weekend, I went camping at Delmarva's Cubscout Jamboree. It was a fun time, but it fell in a busy time period for me. The day before we were to leave...this is when I am frantically collecting the necessary gear and making lists of things we need to take...and at the end of the hall, I see my son is in his room struggling with a pair of blue jeans. He looks a bit like a commercial I've seen where a woman is trying to get into her jeans and is laying on the bed, twisting and kicking her legs up in the air. This catches my attention, so I stop to wat

If you follow my blog, you know that back in March, I stayed overnight at Fort Mifflin with my son's cubscout pack. If you missed that one, you can read all about our adventure here . One of the reasons that trip was so cool to me was Fort Mifflin was widely reported to be haunted, and TV's Ghost Hunters had been there a few weeks before us to do an investigation. It was aired on television a few days after we got back. Ghost Hunters airs on the SciFi channel, Wednesday nights at 9 pm. It's a "reality based" program where the investigators go to places that are purported to be "haunted" and attempt to debunk reports of paranormal activity by finding plausible explanations for the claims. Often times they are successful in finding alternative explanations...sometimes, they cannot find plausible explanations. Other times, they encounter some pretty interesting stuff. All in all, it's a lot of fun to watch, whether you "believe" or not.

I finally got a little sleep last night. I went up a little after 7pm, and other than waking up about dozens of times throughout the night, I slept great. At least I felt like I slept last night when I had to get up this morning. It's getting harder and harder for me to get up on time. Yesterday, the children were given a few comic books. I sent them up to "clean their room" (wink, wink - go ahead and check out your books). All was quiet,  for a few uninterrupted minutes, which is a rarity. About 15 minutes later, Ryan comes downstairs and to tell me that he shouldn't be reading THAT comic book (The Hulk) because it has CUSSES all in it. Me: What? I thought this was a kid's comic book. Lemme see that.  Show me a Cuss! Him: Thumbing to a page that has been creased open (like he was really looking at it).... Here! Here it is! Look at that! There are lots of them in here, too, Mom! I looked down, and saw a bubble with the words: " &@!*#$%* ". Seriously

I wish someone had told me that it would kick in out of the blue one day with no warning whatsoever. I mean, really! Who knew? I expected this from a fifteen year old...or maybe even a thirteen year old....but not my ten year old. As I walked past my son, the other day I got a whiff of something really foul. And not the typical dirty kid kinda stinky, but more on the order of full blown man BO - but not quite. Ewwww, I said leaning into him to make sure he was the source. ME: OMG - is that YOU stinking like that? HIM: (leaning his own nose deep into his own armpit and sniffing heavily with a HUGE grin on his face) YEAH! Isn't it COOL! My son was both excited and proud of the fact that he now officially smelled...bad. If someone had told me that I stunk when I was 10, I might have been insulted. Hell, I might have even cried! But here he was standing before me giggling like the child he was, excited about the man he is becoming. Waiting for me to respond in some way, he gave me two

What's the rule of words? It's actually my grandmother's rule, and she taught it to me when I was probably around 8 years old. It goes like this: "Never write down on paper what you wouldn't want to see on the front page of the newspaper". I follow the rule still, and I write all the time. And obsess. These are my two specialties. I write as often as I can about everything I can, and obsess about everything and anything too. That's just how I roll. So is it genetic? I write...my grandmother was also a writer, and was even published!  ( yeah...she obsessed too) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * ** * * * * * * ** So I went upstairs to tuck my 8 year old daughter into bed this evening, only to find her hunched over a journal writing in the dark. She found a journal that I bought for her last year, and was busily writing it's first entry. Proudly, she handed it over, and asked me to read it. It was all about her and her life as it is now. Lookin

OK, here it is...my first posting on my shiny new blog. Come on in, have a seat. Relax and enjoy yourself. I hope to see you back here often.