Pocket Treasures & The Machine

I don't know how it manages to continue to work week after week. It's not industrial strength. It's 10 years old. Somehow, each week it manages to survive and thrive through all the abuse and filth thrown at it. This monster usually just eats things like this, but today, the Machine Monster must not have appreciated the love offerings from my children.

Yes, people, I'm talking about my beloved washing machine. I tell the kids to empty their pockets before they put their clothes in their laundry baskets, but it just isn't enough. I don't have time to go through each individual pocket (because there are about 50 of them total in each load of jeans). So, my poor washer ends up having to empty the pockets for me. Here are the spoils of war from this week:


Clockwise from the fish: A Rainbow Fish broach pin, a glass bead, some chenille pipe cleaner concoction (who knows what it looked like prior to the washing), a broken rubber bracelet, some random piece of something (plaster, maybe drywall?), a mulch wood chip from a flower bed (probably from school), and a flower charm from a bracelet (the bracelet is nowhere to be found).

Oh, and let's not forget Mr. Dryer. He ended up with a few treasures of his own. The picture below shows a rock, a piece of recycled tire mulch, and a penny from the dryer.

These made horrible noises, but I thought it was just because I had a load of jeans in there. I honestly thought all that banging around was the metal buttons from the jeans, but then I realized that my kids don't have jeans with the grown-up metal buttons; they have the snap closures on their jeans. So, I went to investigate and found all new treasures!

So, let's recap. Just how much could all those pockets secretly hold? Even I'm surprised this go-round:


Remember back to when we were kids and we thought all this stuff was treasure? And we were so shocked when our moms made us throw it away? I'm on the other side of this now and I am so shocked that they think these things are treasures--especially treasures worthy enough to put in their pockets!

I just really hope that my machine lives a few years longer. If my children want to make offerings to the washing machine monster, so be it. It would be even better if it was money next time. Like, a $20 bill--OOH! Or maybe even a $100 bill! Wouldn't that be great? No, probably not. That would just cause me to wonder what the heck my kids are doing on the school playground!

A Day of Firsts

Ryan lost his first tooth!!!!!!! I found out last week that his tooth was really, REALLY loose; he hadn't even noticed it was loose yet, typical boy. I was so excited that I took tons of photos on my phone. Of course, my phone camera is horrible, looks great only on my phone and won't print out good pictures. It doesn't really matter, though. The most important picture is the one above: The missing tooth picture!

He lost it last night after we brushed his teeth. Ryan has a tendency to lose track of what he's supposed to be doing and we were already late for bed, so I took the initiative to brush his teeth for him (I try to do that once every few days, just to be sure his teeth get a good cleaning every once in a while). Of course, I got toothpaste all around his mouth and it freaks him out when this happens. Instead of letting him wipe his mouth off on the hand towel next to the sink (gross!), I like to have him lean his head over the sink so I can rinse his face off. While I was rinsing his mouth, I heard a faint *clink*. I looked in the sink--where the water was running at full blast!!!--and saw his little bitty tooth! I acted as fast as I could and caught it just before it could go down the drain! Yay, Mommy! Ryan screamed when he saw that the gap in his mouth was bleeding and we quickly put a paper towel up to stop the blood (and the screaming).

After Aurora's Tooth Fairy Debacle, we made sure that the tooth was in a proper place for the Tooth Fairy to visit Ryan. She did her job and he woke up to a shiny Gold Dollar this morning, happy as a clam and excited, to boot!



Sassy and Ellie are starting to notice each other quite a bit more. Ellie wants to play with her, but Sassy is skeptical. She doesn't always run, but most of the time she does. This picture was one of the rare moments that Sassy took an interest in Ellie.



Ellie has been teething. I think her top teeth are coming in--at least I hope they come in soon! We haven't been sleeping well at night, she's been fussy and drooling like crazy. One of the results of the drooling has been a terrible diaper rash. At first, it was just a little bit red. Usually when this happens, I put some Desitin on it and the next day it's gone. When this didn't happen, I became concerned--not like "Oh, my gosh, she could DIE from this" concerned, but when I saw it was blistered and bleeding, it was enough to take some more drastic measures. I certainly wouldn't want MY butt to look or feel like that; I'm not going to make her have to live with it! With each diaper change, I was becoming more upset that the butt cream wasn't enough. So, I sprayed some Fantastic in my kitchen sink, wiped it, sprayed again, wiped it, and sprayed it again. I guess you could say my kitchen sink was clean by this point ;) To make a long story short, Ellie has gotten a sink bath every couple of diaper changes. Her diaper rash is still there, for now, but it's not bleeding anymore. As you can see from the photo above (and please excuse the clutter surrounding the sink), she loves her sink baths. It's just the right size for her and she can sit up on her own in there. We may make these sink baths part of our usual routine!

I Need a Vacation

I need a vacation. It really only needs to be a few days. Honestly. I don't need a whole week; just a few days of silence and being left ALONE!

I want to go somewhere where nobody is latched on to me, requires constant direction and re-direction and more re-direction. I want to avoid laundry, dishes, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, and meaningless discussions with acquaintances. I want to sip Mai-Tai's (whatever those are) and hang from a hammock for hours in the shade between two palm trees, their leaves blowing gently in the breeze coming from the shore.


I don't want to have to answer "Why!?!?!?!?", "Why not!?!?!?!?" or "Mom, can I...?" I don't want to have to ask "Do you have homework?", "Did you flush the toilet/wash your hands/turn the lights off?" I don't want to have to repeat "Aurora, eat!", "Ryan, sit straight in your chair!", or "Both of you, be quiet and EAT!" Investigating should only be done from the sea shore, as I follow the footprints of a crab or seagull; it should NOT require searching under beds for lost Squinkies or pieces of trash!



I will nap all day long and sleep all night through during this vacation. When my vacation is over, I will come home fully refreshed, slightly tanned, and able to take back my responsibilities with great ease, because in some sick way, I will have missed it all while I was swinging in my hammock peacefully. After all, I am blessed beyond belief with 3 amazing children and a wonderful husband, who all love me unconditionally--even on days where I desire vacations over my daily grind.

Ok. Vacation is over. Time to go re-direct again.