Swweeeeet!

I HAD to get my oil changed today because . . . well . . . I'm only 3000 miles over when I should've gotten one. You know that old saying about the doctor's kids always being sick? Yeah, well, the mechanic's wife's As*hole van is always over on its oil change.

Chandler isn't here today, so Kady and the babies and I loaded up and drove into town. Kady had already had a meltdown when I told her I just had to refix her hair. She was SO proud of how she'd fixed it herself and I hated to burst her little bubble, but man, it was something else. Then when she came out of her bedroom in her leather sandals and Strawbaby Shootcake socks with the fuzzy balls on the heels (well, only on one - the other one is ball-less) and I told her she couldn't wear the socks with the sandals, she was crushed. So I relented on the socks. When Abby was her age and would get an independent streak and dress herself rather interestingly, I'd put a sticker on her back that said, "I dressed myself today!" It totally took the blame off of me and people thought it was cute. I am out of those stickers and did I mention my printer crapped out yesterday? So then she came into the living room, hands on her hips, and said, "Momma? Does it weely wook siwwy if I weaw the socks wif the sandaws?" (Did you get that or should I translate? Just read it like Elmer Fudd.) I said, "Yeah, baby it's kind of silly, but there are days I wish I could dress silly, so if you want to wear them you go right ahead." She took them off.

When we pulled into the parking lot at W*M Kady and I spent 10 minutes cleaning out the van. It had gotten pretty bad. We picked up the countless empty Sonic cups, color sheets, Lab School paintings, old French fries, and all of the toys that were scattered about and even though there were still some chicken strip crumbs in the floor, it looked much better. Paul has threatened me to not ever take the van in to the shop messy. They really hate it when messy vehicles come in. He was probably mortified at the crumbs in the floor, but until he gets out there and cleans it, they're probably going to stay where they are. He's got 3000 - nah, more like 6000 - miles to clean 'em up. Or I could turn the kittens loose in there. They'd take care of any crumbs.

The babies were again SO WONDERFUL at Wal*Mart that I can't even begin to describe what great babies they are. Not a fuss, whine or cry the entire time. We did break out the Cheerios toward the end because it was awfully close to lunch and I was trying to ward off evil hungry spirits.

On the way home I noticed garage sale signs out here. Rarely do you find garage sales on rough, country roads way out here in BFE so naturally I was intrigued. By the time I figured out where it was, I realized I was about a mile from my house; I just came in the back way. I picked up a Shrek video, two Veggie Tales videos, some stick on foam letters (Abby's a craft fiend), a nap mat for Chandler and a whole bunch of styrofoam balls (I see 8 Brownies making snowmen soon) and a Hillary Duff CD (Not for me - for my eldest child) for the low, low price of $25. Not too shabby, I thought. And the Veggie Tales movies worked like a charm in bribing my youngest to take a nap this afternoon.

Now I am in the process of cleaning house while everyone's napping. Presently I'm bleaching my shower curtain. I sure hope all that mildew and slimey stuff wasn't one of the kids' science projects because it's gone now.

I feel my momentum slowly slipping away so I really should get back up and start moving again. I took a break because, dangit, cleaning SUCKS and I take as many breaks as I possibly can. Which is probably why my house is never all the way clean all the time. I clean like crazy then take a break and hmh, never start back up again. Hey, I have never claimed to be Martha Freaking Stewart.

"Shower Mildew - it's not a good thing, but no one's died yet." That could be my new slogan.