Weekend Round up

Things have been kind of busy lately which has kept me from visiting this little space in cyberworld. There is a lot going on right now which is all anticipation of things to come. I kind of like living in the time of execution, that time when you are gearing up for and getting ready for something to happen. Kendra and I are getting ready for the JBF sale which starts next week. This sale is something else. You take the baby and kid things that you no longer need, outgrown, doubles, etc. and have an opportunity to sell it at above garage sale prices. We usually make out fairly well at these sales and have a lot of stuff to get rid of. Kendra has been working on getting the clothes entered in to the computer and last night we sorted the cards, which will go on the clothes to identify whose item it is. We will also be working the sale in addition to having our items for sale. It's a hectic two weeks, but we like it.
I made a casserole last night to take to a family who just had a baby. This thing is GOOD! I'll make it again, soon and post the process--you'll want to make it. It's a basic chicken and rice casserole, but you use sherry and chicken broth for the liquid in making the rice, rotisserie chicken, and then for the topping...crushed fried onions and crackers!!! It's so good. I could have eaten the whole thing, but resisted. I was really starving because I hadn't eaten a lot all day.

We went to Jimmy's Egg for lunch. When we go to Jimmy's I always get: Pigs in Blanket, I think I've tried their biscuits and gravy once. Biscuits and gravy are one of my all time favorite breakfast foods to eat. I was comforted when we sat down and the table smelled like bleach. I am border line phobic when it comes to restaurants and "catching something." I worry especially at these places because the waitresses...who bring your food out and handle your beverages is also the same person who just finished busing the table next to you and didn't stop to wash their hands. That just grosses me out. The waitress who took care of us was not on her best game because she sat a piping hot cup of coffee right in front of Teensy. It was a refill and she sat it down, Kendra didn't notice (I think I was buttering toast for the boys--they were in rare form) and Teensy grabbed the cup spilling it all over her legs. Kendra felt horrible, Teensy was screaming and the waitress was just standing there with a very dazed and confused look on her face. We didn't say anything to her and just took care of our baby. She's fine now, her legs were a little red, but not bad. I was keyed up to say the least and couldn't enjoy my food. Once we were finished terrorizing the joint, we headed home to get ready for a baby shower.

We usually don't' take our children to baby showers, one of us usually go and the other stays home. Since our kids really like Nichole, whose due soon, we decided to take them. Emma was good, still recovering from her coffee exfoliation. Titus was really well behaved (he's been taught his whole life how to handle showers and things of that nature at church) but Chubber's was on a tear. He is a very busy two-year old and not afraid to be as loud as feels like he needs to be to get his point across. Fortunately for us he liked the punch. It was one of those ice cream 7-up punches. I usually don't' like them and feel like they are a cop out for doing up some really good punch, but this was good. He had a permanent milk mustache on his lip. He also liked the cake and that kept him occupied for most of the time. Once the cake was finished and his third glass of punch was drunk he started to get, "twoish." Three cups on a folding table (the card table type) that are 1/8 to 1/4 full can still make a huge mess when the table it turned over...onto a purse...and mom's shoe. It was a commotion and a mess and my blood pressure just kept on rising.
After church we had a Chili cook off to attend. I'm not a big chili fan, and usually get my fill in the early part of winter. One pot of chili is all I need to get my fill for the year. I just wasn't interested in shopping around the room for chili. Titus loved the bowl he had. Levi found someone who kept giving him cornbread. He had no plans to eat it, I think he was going to keep taking it as long as it was being handed out. There was one station that had Three-way. What's three way? It's spaghetti covered in chili then topped with cheese and onion. Pretty good, but something you need to grow up on to really love. By the time we got home it was bath and bed time. I had the casserole to make so I did that and cleaned the kitchen.
I did get a chance to go to Target with Teensy on Saturday to buy the groceries I needed for the casseroles. I really, really love going to Target. I love stopping in at the Starbucks, and then strolling through the store sipping my coffee. It's very relaxing and I just love it. I had to pick up some deodorant while I was there and was met with some shocking and unsettling discoveries. They didn't have my deodorant! This is the kind of stuff that really get my apple cart all upset. It takes me years to find a deodorant I like. I use Anti-Persperant/Deodorant. I have always like the Sure...Arrid...Ban powder scents. I don't like heavy looming funky fragrances just too loud for me. I do like a scent though I can't explain why I just know I do. There wasn't a powder scent to same my life! So I had to go through the whole process of new deodorant hunting. It's so grueling. All of the brands that you would associate with men purchasing: Speed Stick, Right Guard (you get the picture) have all of these really odd and bizarre names. None of the names indicate what something is going to smell like, rather it identifies some type of bold and daring adventure. Mountain Peak...Arctic Blast...Fresh Burst just to name a few left me standing at the deodorant aisle in a stupor. I just wish I could get Ban A/D Powder Fresh that's all I need nothing more. Oh well, this won't the be last time I have to go on a search for new products.

Welcome...Tooth Fairy

Last Thursday was a milestone day in our family--Titus lost his first tooth! Of course it is not your typical process, which I've come to accept that atypical IS our typical, because we did not have a clue his tooth was loose. That's right...no clue! We all got up and went through our normal frantic push to get everyone out the door all in as good a mood as possible, and when we got to school it wasn't five minutes that I got a call to come back to the preschool office. I wasn't expecting to hear that my son was goign to lose a tooth, didn't even cross my mind. Kendra met me in the hall, "Titus has something to show you." Great...what's happened. Did he sharpie on the wall? Did he build "somefing" that destroyed something else? What coudl it be. Then I saw his face. It was the face of a child who is beaming--bursting with pride. I could tell this was big..a big deal to my boy. He slowly walked up grinning like a chesire cat and said, "my tooth is loose!" "Your tooth is loose? Which one?" He showed me and what do you know is was not only loose it was wiggly! How did we miss a wiggly tooth?

"We are going to have an activity and pull it Dad. I'm going to tie a string to it then tie the other end to the door and SLAM it!" Ms. Patti, his teacher quickly put the kibosh on that. I knew that this tooth would consume him and this tooth would get no relief--sure enough by lunch the tooth was gone. There was one minor emergency when Titus was showing off his tooth and dropped it on the flloor-losing it...for the second time! His entire class and our custodian were crawling on the ground looking for the lost tooth which was found. His tooth is itty bitty, so it was hard to find.

I had just under six hours to figure out how the Tooth Fairy would visit our house. Since we are going to be dealing with some 60 teeth I didn't want to start some precident I wasn't prepared to repeat SIXTY times! I've heard of some folks who sprinkle glitter on the pillow and window seal of their child's room to show the fairy has come and gone--great idea! I didn't have glitter. Being a Children's Minister I've come to hate glitter because children+glitter=Diasaster! I have a $500 Wool Suit with a permanent glitter mark on the pants leg because some snivler slammed into my leg with glue covered glitter. I'm not goign to get on my soap box, which will be hard to do--resist...resist...resist. I think I'm over it. I also wanted to buy gold $1 coins and put a gold coin under his pillow--didn't make it to the bank. I may still go the coin route, I really like that idea. I can do that 59 times!

In the end, I took the path of least investment...a dollar bill under the pillow and a tooth in my underwear drawer with the pacifier that was Titus' favorite "passie." I'll keep that first tooth forever and it will be in my underwear drawer right along side the other precious things. Any of you who wonder where Dad's stash precious things..check the underwear drawer first you are sure to find a treasure trove!

The next tooth is loose, but not wiggly loose so we have some warning that it's on it's way out. His first tooth to come out was the lower Central incisor, and other central incisor is the one loose now. These were his first teeth in, do you loose teeth in order of their "eruption?" I read a dentist website that said teeth erupt! Doesn't that sound harsh and painful--Eruptions! Our pediatrician in Fort Wroth, "Dr. Ghee" said teeth itch when they are...erupting. I thought that was interesting..how does one come to know that teeth itch? Was there someone who actually remembered getting their first teeth in and saying, "boy those suckers were itching like crazy! I couldn't wait for them to erupt!" Just how to doctors come up with this stuff?

We've had the hardest time getting Titus into a routine of brushing his teeth in the morning and at bedtime, jsut a battle. I've off handedly told him that the tooth fairy pays more for clean, brushed teeth, than she does for dirty unbrushed teeth. Maybe that will work. When he gets up in the morning he has some stanky breath, it's oppressive to say the least. It smells like something has literally died in his mouth. Any hints on helping us get through this milestone woudl be apprecaited.

Don't worry, there aren't 59 more, "We've lost another tooth!" posts coming your way. I will for sure post on Levi's first tooth and Teensy's first tooth but those will be several years away..so there's time.