I am the biggest loser of a mom.

I can't believe it - I am so mad at myself. What started out as a pretty good day has turned sour.

I signed Brooke up for swimming lessons. We're going to Hawaii in December, and she's only had one round of toddler lessons at about 18 months of age, so I want her to learn some more and get some skills under her belt. I feel really strongly about this. So I stayed up until midnight to sign her up for the particular class I wanted, paid a lot of money, and then got really angry at the city recreation people who wouldn't let me sign up for Level 1 and then Level 2 consecutively. They told me she has to pass level 1 before I can sign her up for Level 2, even though that means about 3-4 months lag in between classes which I think is downright idiotic. I said I didn't care if they charged me for Level 2 even if she didn't pass Level 1, with a smug confidence that she will of course pass Level 1. I hung up in a huff because they said no exceptions.

Well fast forward to last week, the first lesson is on Tusday. Guess who screws up and forgets completely? Yep. I recently switched from a hand-written date book calendar to using my Blackberry calendar, and apparently I am having some "transition trouble" to say the least. I was so furious with myself for missing the first class.

Second class: last Thursday. The only appointment I could get for Jack's 15 month checkup was one hour before swimming. So I planned ahead, took Brooke in her swimsuit with clothes over it, got to the dr. office 15 minutes early so we could be out of there on time, etc. After all that planning, we were STILL 10 minutes late to her 30 minute swimming lesson. I was all sweaty and out of breath when we rolled into the pool, dragging heavy Jack and trying to find which group of kids was her class. She got in the pool and barely paid attention - distracted by water toys in a basket next to the pool, kept jumping out, walking away from the group in the water, etc. Very embarrassing. The whole time I was wrestling Jack (literally) because he wanted to get down and run, which I obviously couldn't let him do in the pool area. The whole experience was awful and stressful. I had to have a "chat" with Brooke afterward about paying attention, etc.

So that was Thursday. Today, another lesson. And guess when I remembered it? At 3:55 (our house is 20 minutes from the pool.) So we missed it AGAIN! I cannot believe it. I am so not THAT person, the one who shows up late, misses commitments, etc. It's killing me. And even if she has perfect attendance from here on out, we're going to be out of town next Thursday, so she will miss at least 3/8 lessons which is TOTALLY unacceptable! At this rate, she probably will NOT pass the test at the end.

I know that in the grander scheme of things this is not a big deal, but I am really beating myself up. We were sitting here in the family room doing nothing of consequence at 3:30 today when we should have been getting in the car. I could just scream I am so frustrated with myself. After her distracted performance on Thursday last week, I am not looking forward to her lesson on Thursday - she'll be miserably behind, probably just as wacky and paying no attention, and the Jack Wrestling Show will go on as scheduled for 1/2 hour. Why do I do this to myself?! And poor Brooke is mising out on the chance to learn to swim because I can't get my act together.

Uggghhhhhhhh.

Painting project

Well, I am exhausted but proud to say that this weekend, we got started with the goal of repainting the interior of our house. Almost the whole house needs it (the outside needs paint too but that's a different post for a different time.) Since we've owned this house (almost 5 years) we've only painted the kids' rooms, master bedroom and kids' bathroom. The rest has been this awful, drab, dreary gray color that we've hated. It's such a bad color for our house, because we back up to a forested greenbelt with very tall evergreens and it's DARK. So the gray paint was NOT helping the situation. Of course, over the years we've accumulated dings and dinge that need patching and covering up, but we've had no touch-up paint that matches so eventually we had to do it. We were already planning to paint - had 4 color samples painted on the walls to choose our pleasure, when Friday our dingbat dog decided to tear a small hole in the entry hall wall. Needless to say, the painting project became an A priority overnight.

We decided to get the family room, kitchen, and hall done this weekend and we were successful. It entailed staying up until 3 am last night (and kids got me up at 7:00 this morning! Nice!) and finishing up all afternoon today, but we are SO GLAD we did it. It looks awesome - it's a nice cream that is clean, bright, and warm all at the same time. Next up: the living & dining rooms (which have vaulted ceiling so we'll have to rent an extension ladder) and the ceiling of the whole downstairs. And there's more after that, but for now, we're just happy to be out of the gates.

A side note: when did paint get so expensive? I was planning on ~$25-30/gallon. We bought Benjamin Moore paint, which we've had great results with in the past, and it was $45.99/gallon! Gulp! Fortunately our latest project only took two gallons. I think for the rest, we will investigate the 5 gallon buckets...

For the love of PB&J!

This is a typical lunch at our house. Thought you might like to play along.

Mmm... peanut butter and jelly...

What? I can't have an Oreo yet?! The injustice of it all!

Ah, much better.

I think this sludge would make a great hair tonic.

Satisfaction. Now that was a good lunch!

Shout-out

I have to give a shout-out to the Fail Blog. This website makes me laugh so hard. If you haven't checked it out yet, please do! It's full of bizarre, irreverent funnies that will make you giggle. And there is new content on there daily!

Thankful Thursday

Ah, the fact that I am struggling to come up with anything good today tells me this is probably a good exercise for me. So, in no particular order of importance... here is what I'm thankful for today:

• TiVo. I know, it's shallow, but I love my TiVo. With the new seasons starting up (Grey's and The Office tonight!!) it's nice to know that I can watch my shows when it's convenient for me, which is usually NOT when they are on. TiVo just takes good care of me and makes it possible for me to sleep when I want to sleep, and be with my kids when they are awake, and still not miss the shows that I love. And let's not start in on the long list of real estate shows that TiVo helps me indulge myself in... My parents have recently joined the "TiVolution" and I hope they love it as much as I do!
  
• Brooke's pre-school. She is SO HAPPY with school, it is going so well for her and it's also been good for Jack and me. It gets all of us on a schedule at least 3 days a week and while Brooke is learning and playing her heart out every M-W-F, Jack and I get some time together which is precious.
• Our babysitter, Angela. She has been a God-send for our family! She's been with us for a year now, and every Tuesday and Friday, she steps in and takes excellent care of the kids and the dog for me and even does the kids' laundry for me every Friday. It's wonderful to have her in our lives and I love that when she arrives, she blends seamlessly into our routine. If I haven't gotten the breakfast dishes done, she does them. If the kids want to walk down to the park, she takes them. If the floor needs sweeping, she does it without being asked. She is a great person and I am so lucky to have had her this past year. I know she will go back to a "real job" sometime in the next 6 months or so, and meanwhile I am just really thankful to have her to help me out.

This is our babysitter, Angela, with Jack and Leo, back in May.

So NOT awesome

Here's a new recipe I don't recommend: it's for chocolate chip cement. Make one batch of toll house cookies, only accidentally omit one of the 2.25 cups of flour called for. Proceed to scrape, scrub, and chip off baked on cookie cement from two pans for 1/2 hour. End with zero cookies. Bah Humbug!

Grey's Anatomy is almost back!

Clips from this coming season have been posted and it's going to be a good one. Get your DVR's ready - the season starts next week!