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in like a beaver

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Yes, the phrase is that March is coming in like a lamb…usually.  Not today!

The Olympics are over.  And they ended on an amazing high note!  Canada Men’s hockey team won in overtime with an amazing goal by Sidney Crosby.

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That was followed by a very interesting closing ceremonies…

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(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

When I was hunting around for the picture of the giant beavers, I found this nice article. What makes it particularly nice is that it’s the “outsiders” point of view. It’s written by Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times:

Vancouver’s closing ceremony is nice . . . and quirky

The 2010 Winter Games say farewell with self-effacing humor, kitsch and honest-to-goodness niceness that reflect a genuine success for Canada.  (read more…)

It’s sad that it’s over. And now I might actually start going to bed on time again.  With a 3 hour time difference, it was easy to stay up late to watch all the activity going on.

Waking up this morning was hard.  It’s Monday.  My day instantly got better when watch the guy infront of me at the drive-thru get handed a Roll Up The Rim cup!  It’s March!  Woohoo!  I happily drank my XL 2 milk 2 sugar.

Got to work, tweeted about #RUTR and finished my coffee.   Drum roll please…. I won a coffee!!

Winning is a big thing.  Winning on the very first cup purchased on the very first day… miraculous!

I love being CANADIAN!!

forget webster…we’ve got muchkin (2)

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I have a rental car for a couple days as my van is in for service.  The kids are excited about the “new” car so are in the little PT Cruiser with me while I install the car seats.

Peanut’s forward-facing car seat takes more time to install so I do hers first.  I get the kids to move over to the other side.

Munchkin says, “Yes, Peanut move over.  Mommy is a car seat technician.”

Yep, that’s my girl! I congratulate her for remembering the big words.

M: “and she’s also a mapsgirl.”

I laughed. “The real word for that is cartographer.”

M: “You draw carts?”

Chuckling some more, I say, “No. Carto is Greek for map”

M:  “And ‘ograhper’ is Greek for girl.”

Gosh, I love this kid!!!

(See my first installment here when she was almost 2)

cleaning frenzy!

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At 7pm last night, I tweeted:

@mapsgirl: All floors vacuumed. 4 bathrooms cleaned. recycling and garbage organized. kitchen tidied. girls cleaned their rooms. 4 loads laundry.

 But by 11pm when I finally colapsed, I added:

  • 2 more loads of laundry
  • 2 lunches made
  • 1 load of laundry actually folded
  • more recycling to the garage
  • 1 nice hot shower

It was a busy busy day but it was so worth it.  After having our family over for Christmas and the house being organized and tidy for a whole week, we said that we wanted to keep it that way.  But each day with one little thing being left here and another there, it’s all out of control again.  I’m very much to blame for this.  My “I’ll do it tomorrow” attitude was catching up with me.

BigDaddy and I recently moved a few things around in our bedroom and made room for a book shelf under the window.  And it’s so nice to see all my books again.  This created a domino effect because this bookshelf got moved out of the front hallway. The kids shoes that used to be on the shelves are now nicely hidden on a shoe rack in the closet. 

We now just have to come up with a plan to keep it this way. 

A friend of mine posted her cleaning schedule…and it makes a lot of sense.

Laundry – Do all the clothes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Sheets and towels on Wednesdays. This also includes folding and putting away.

Clean the microwave every Wednesday.

Fridays I pay all the bills and file away whatever I need to keep and shred the rest.

I have a dog so I use a microfiber dust mop every day, usually after my son goes to bed. I also do a house tidy up every night after my son goes to bed.

Dishes – I run the dishwasher every other night and do all the hand washing every night. I let it air dry and put it up every morning.

Beds – If I am working from home, I wait for everyone to leave. If I am going in to the office, I wake up before everyone else and get myself ready for the day. As everyone gets out of bed, we make the bed.

Monthly Schedule

1st Saturday – Clean all the ceiling fans, light bulb check throughout the house and replace the furnace filter
2nd Saturday – Wipe down all the walls and garbage cans
3rd Saturday – Closet, cabinets, drawers, and pantry tidy up
4th Saturday – Clean refrigerator, oven, washing machine and dryer

If there is a 5th Saturday – Party like there is no tomorrow!

This puts a few cleaning activities on each day and would keep things organized. Tho I’m not sure I’ll do laundry on those specific days.  I try to do the laundry on Sundays and folding on Monday nights.  I’m gonna try it. 

Do have a cleaning tip or trick that helps your house stay clean and tidy?

being a parent during a pandemic is bad for your blood pressure

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For the last week Peanut has had a cough and a runny nose but so did Munchkin and BigDaddy. Not too worried about anything because no one had a fever.Sunday night Peanut was a little warm, but not a fever. In the middle of the night she came into our room saying that her ear hurt. I gave her some Motrin and she went back to sleep.

Monday morning she was a little groggy, gave her some more Motrin and left her with the in-laws as usual. Monday afternoon, around 2pm, MIL called saying that Peanut hadn’t eaten or had much to drink, she was feeling warm and was very tired. I left work.

By 3pm we were home and her fever was reading 99.6. Eek. No appointments left with our doctor so we headed to the the walk-in clinic for 5pm. There were people everywhere and half were wearing masks. Great. We ended up waiting 2 hours before we saw the doctor. I’ll have to figure out how to get he pictures off my phone because she looked so cute in her mask.

Got into the exam room, laid Peanut on the table, and she fell asleep. Doc checked her temperature again… it went up to 102. Not good. Her lungs were clear (which is good) but her ears were definitely infected.

She was unsure if it was H1N1 tho because of how the symptoms presented. She said that if it is H1N1 Peanut’s lungs would become congested and her cough would worsen over the next 24 hours.

The doc gave us a script for ammoxicillin and Tamilflu. With directions to follow up with our doctor today to have her lungs checked.

When we got home without having eaten dinner, I got the Mom of the Year award when I let the girls have ice cream for dinner.

I was able to give Peanut a dose of each in before she was finally in bed at 9 pm.

She slept all night long (and in her own bed…but that’s another story). Woke her up to take Munchkin to the bus. Called the doc at 8:15 and got an appointment for 10am.

Yes, ears are infected. Lungs are clear. IT’S NOT H1N1!!! Woohoo!!!

I feel so relieved. So now I just need to check how long she needs to be fever-free before we head out to get their H1N1 vaccines.

something a bit more fun

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After yesterday’s deep, sad post, I have something a lot more fun today!

After many years of this:

I decided it was time for a fun change.  And now I look like this:

 
(I got new glasses too, but that is hard to tell since I’m not wearing my glasses in the first picture.)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!