Meltdowns, Metric & Menstruation

Wow, last week sucked so much. It just seemed like I was hit with one crappy thing after another.

Of course, I was full-on PMS'ing and didn't know, I hadn't really been keeping track of my cycle. I just knew that life sucked and I was freaking out.

I had to deal with my nasty tick problem which was tedious and really horrible. Then my entire left side went numb (just started coming back) THEN I woke up on Thursday and my fridge/freezer was warm. I had a complete panic attack and called my landlord. I cranked the setting up as cold as it would go and by the time he got there it was cool again and it was hard to tell that all my food had been melting. I was freaked out because I had JUST bought groceries and really can't afford more. I had raw chicken and milk in the fridge.

My landlord (who, really is great) thought I was being hysterical and really, I was but--I needed him to assure me it was fine and he didn't and so I cried like a baby while his very sweet wife tried to comfort me. They finally went and bought me more milk and chicken and raced out of here, out of my den of hormones.

So I gradually pulled myself out of my funk (with the help of my amazing friends), took care of some work stuff I had let slide and then of course my period started. So today I've been super mellow and happy. Last night I stayed up late messing around online and listening to this band:

The boys have been going to bed at a decent hour lately and that has been really nice. I need to have the evenings to myself. I am, of course feeling much better now that I started my period. Damn those hormones! But I believe that you shouldn't discount the feelings that pop up during PMS. It would be so easy to be like 'oh, silly me and my awful little hormones I didn't mean what I said at all!' but I find that I mean exactly what I say I just don't feel comfortable or brave enough to let it out otherwise. But when I'm hormonal it's like RAWR! This is how I feel! And that's kind of awesome. I love being a woman.

I was told recently that I look like this local Austin lady:

And damn, I kind of do! Weird!

Fabric Butterfly Tutorial: Holocaust Museum Houston

Check out my butterfly tutorial on Craft Critique! I was so happy to donate to the Butterfly Project at the Holocaust Museum here in Texas. I will also be making butterflies with my boys to send.

Let me know if you decide to make one, I'd love to see it!

The Butterfly

The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone....

Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly ’way up high. It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I’ve lived in here, Penned up inside this ghetto. But I have found what I love here. The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut branches in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942

Born in Prague on January 7, 1921. Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942. Died in Aushchwitz on September 29, 1944.

Today was a good day...at first

This morning I awoke to LeeLee shaking me 'raining, Mama' he said. I jumped up and ran through the house and out the back door: I had laundry on the line. I grabbed it all before the rain started.

I fell back asleep to the sound of thunder and rainfall, my boys piled around me in bed playing. I slept for three more hours like that: surrounded by my guys and their imaginations. When they wanted me to finally wake up and play with them they stood next to my bed and shouted: "Cock-a doodle-do!!!!" over and over again until I dragged myself out of it.

Today they were super-lovey to each other which never fails to make me tear up. "My love you, you're my best friend..." Oh, *melt*

It warmed up by the afternoon, though and after lunch I took the boys to run some errands. By the time we got home I was cranky and beginning to feel sweat droplets forming beneath my cotton dress. My neighbor-boy calling me ma'am on my way to the front door was the icing on the cake.

LeeLee came inside but Moomies was flopped on the floor board throwing a tantrum. I grabbed him and brought him inside. He went to his room then came out, still crying covered in vomit. I had no idea he wasn't feeling well. I took him to the bathroom and let him finish then ran a cool bubble bath for him.

He fell asleep nursing right after that and me and LeeLee hung out and made dinner. Our night ended on a stressful note: my LeeLee fell outside and scraped his chin and Moomers had a fever and was cold under my quilt.

They were both in bed two hours later than last night, but even still I managed to check quite a few things off of my to-do list. If they aren't feeling well when they wake up that will spell a long day inside going stir-crazy but I am hoping we all wake up happy and cheerful and ready for pancakes.

Wordless Wednesday: My LeeLee's Poor Fat Tongue

*my poor guy keeps hurting his tongue! :(

Training Pants Update

I ended up going with the Potty Scotty (ugh what a lame name!) overnights. There wasn't a huge selection of overnights for "big kids" although they DID also have the Little Beetle Learners and oh, were they adorable. Organic cotton velour? I wanted so bad for my boys to be old-school 70's potty-training b-boys but it wasn't meant to be. The ladies at the store told me that they were strictly for daytime use unless you use a ($24) wool soaker and I just didn't want to use all that.

So, the ones I got aren't cute at all, they are just plain white cloth all-in-one pull-ups and I guess that's just how it goes.

I was, however completely transported back to my pregnancy. I was OBSESSED with diapering. I know I would cloth diaper and would wake up at like 4am and obsessively peruse the internet for diapering options. I chose a strange system and didn't use most of what I bought. It wasn't until I bought Fuzzi Bunz that I was totally satisfied with cloth diapering. I really wish Austin Baby had have been around in 2005, it would have saved me a lot of money and hassle! I'm so happy we have that resource here. (and I tried HARD not to get baby-fever being in there...)

The Search for Overnight Training Pants

My boys have been daytime pottytrained forever now, but we've always still used pull-ups for overnight use.

We used to use Fuzzi Bunz diapers and I LOVED them and loved not throwing away so many disposable diapers but once they outgrew them I wasn't able to afford to buy new ones. I figured they were close to potty training anyway and it wouldn't be so bad to use disposable pull ups for a while.

Well...I was wrong. We still do need to use something at night and not only are the pull ups expensive but I hate throwing them away every day. I do laundry often and hang everything up to dry so it wouldn't be a big deal to use cloth pull ups, even if we only had a couple for each boy. I just have no clue which brand to choose.

I assumed I would go with Fuzzi Bunz again but it seems that they have discontinued their overnights. I really liked the Little Beetle "Learners"--they are soft velour with no plastic waterproof layers but it seems that we would also need wool soaker shorts for overnight use.

I hesitate to buy something online that I will be unhappy with so I think I am going to take the boys to our local cloth diapering store, Austin Baby. Erin of AB was the one I originally bought the Fuzzi Bunz from so it makes sense that I would turn to her for our needs now. I'll let you know what the winner turns out to be.

Oh, Michael

Since MJ passed (pleeeeeeze don't call him "Jacko" I've always hated that!) we've had a bit of a YouTube-a-thon at our house. I was at dinner over the weekend with a group of friends and we noticed that they were playing nothing but Michael Jackson songs. Everyone got all head-bobb-y which would not have happened prior to his death.

Someone mentioned how surprised they were to realize how much they enjoyed his music. I commented that now that he has died, it frees you up to like his work without seemingly condoning his freakshow. (and molestation charges...ugh)

I've always loved old Jackson 5 stuff and "Beat It" was the first record single I owned as a kid. He is ingrained into the fabric of my youth and it's weird that he suddenly died.

On another note, I've always wanted to learn the entire "Thriller" dance and this is a fun tutorial:

My boys have completely gotten into the old videos. I would have never thought to play them normally but I got kind of caught up in the 'remembering Michael' frenzy.

I let them watch "Thriller," not remembering how intense it is. I almost turned it off as he was turning into a werewolf but they said they weren't scared. (but I think LeeLee secretly was, a bit)

It's 13 minutes long, he did many mini-movies instead of tv-length videos all of which are really good. But it was the scary "Thriller" that my boys really liked the most...well, at first. They watched it over and over again and ran around pretending to be zombies and werewolfs. Desperate to not have to hear Vincent Price's "spooky voice" I put on "Beat It"and Moomers literally watched it over and over and over again.

I was so sick of that video, but my boy wanted to watch it. He especially liked a character he called the "Blue Man" who came out of a manhole wearing a blue bandana. (he comes out about 30 seconds into the video) He now says that he wants to be "Blue Man" for Halloween...ok. ;)

He was so adorable running around singing "Beat It" and "Thriller" and trying to mimic dance moves:

Last night he said 'Mama, my love Michael Jackson' and I said 'yes, honey--he made lots of good music' and he said 'Mama, will you please buy me Michael Jackson underwear?' I had to explain to him that they probably don't make MJ undies for little boys but...never say never in our twisted society. But...I still wouldn't buy them for my guys.

But, that's a testament to how much he really likes "Beat It" and "Thriller"--my boys are obsessed with their underwear. They sometimes drop their pants to show off a pair that they are particularly fond of, so it's a real honor for them to think Michael was undie-worthy. Although, it does remind me of that Southpark episode...
southpark michael jackson

Ok, well that concludes my mandatory Michael Jackson tribute. I just hope I don't have to watch the "Beat It" video a million times tomorrow. The boys are going to be so bummed when they realize he has died and that it's not 1984 anymore...kind of like when I had a crush on Davey from the Monkees then I had to accept that he was already old and not at all an acceptable candidate for pre-teen makeout sessions. But yet not at all the same so never mind. ;)