Nap Time For Mom!!

I took a nap today! That probably isn’t big news to the rest of society–but OOOOOOOOOH, it was AWESOME!! My kids went next door to play at the neighbors house and my littlest took a nap of his own. So I decided it was a slow enough day to just lie down. 3.5 hours later I woke up! Pretty bad, huh. The bad thing-the littlest was still asleep too, and it was late enough-that it may just be a VERY LONG night! But that’s ok, the sleep was amazing. I always have a hard time waking up after a mid-day nap, but it’s Sunday-and it felt so good!

So I just have to say—I had a great nap–and I feel amazing! Why do younger kids hate naps so much? Heck, why do adults love naps so much??

My Lost Debit Cards!!

Last week my 2 year old lost all of my credit and debit cards. I knew they were in the house-I just didn’t know where. The one thing I did know…as soon as I cancelled them–I would find them! But because I couldn’t find them anywhere, I finally decided to cancel them. When I woke up in the morning–my husband had found all of my cards tucked into his box of baseball cards! Yep–I had them 24 hours later–and now I had to wait 7-10 days to get all of my cards back!

I got them yesterday–just in the nick of time! I need to make a HUGE trip to the grocery store. Funny how the little things become such a necessity in my life! I buy groceries with my debit card–and when it’s gone–I just don’t go. Even though I had my husbands card, and his credit card–I just shy away from spending! Actually that might just be a good thing!! But the cards finally came in the mail yesterday–and I’m off to shop today!! See–I told you I was bad!!

The worst part of the big shopping trip–making the list! In order to do that–I have to come up with a menu. That isn’t hard for a lot of people–but you have to understand-when I’m not hungry-nothing sounds good–so the menu tends to become pretty elaborate! My kids are happy with Egg Salad Sandwiches–but that never sounds good when I’m making up my list! So I end up with exotic vegetables, and meats–only to sit in my freezer or veggie crisper until they are garbage! Yeah, I’m really bad!!

Well, I best get to my list!

Da Bulls!!

Well, the Bulls finally lost! Their final push in games 4 & 5–just too little, too late! J has been taking it really hard-you have to understand–J was in tears when the Bulls lost to the Nets in the final game of the season. He fully expected them to lose to the Heat-rather than sweeping them. He had been thrilled with the sweep, and even more thrilled with the prospects of going to a Finals game. But hey, he just has to learn the Chicago motto–”Maybe Next Year”!!

As for G-man and I, we still have two teams in the playoffs. The Jazz, waiting to start their conference finals-and the Suns-down one game to the Spurs going into game 6 tonight. The Jazz will play the winner of this series. Then it will be a tough choice. I’ve been a Suns fan for–forever, but will most likely be rooting for the Jazz. G was born in Scottsdale, Arizona–so he will be voting for the Suns!

New Window Treatment!!

I have to tell you!! I got only one thing done today–but it feels like I’ve done a ton! The curtains in our home are being shredded by age and by my children. I’m not a big “drapery” fan–but it came with the house–so they’ve stayed for nearly 5 years. We have a big dog, that is getting more and more paranoid with age, and will bark incessantly if anyone is outside of our house. So I told my husband yesterday that I wanted the window film that made your windows look like they were stain glass. So we headed to Home Depot. Now, I knew the rolls were expensive-but I was hoping to be able to get 2 windows per roll. Nope–1 window per roll–$20 each–10 windows. OH MY HEAVENS!! I’d pay to have them stain glassed for that much. But I was desperate-so I found a beige shelf paper with a brown marble print. Huge roll, $17.50. So today I pulled all of the draperies down, and put this shelf paper in the windows. It is beige, so it lets light into the room, but the dog can’t see out. Then at night, if you are on the street-the light from inside passing through makes it look like the old fashioned opaque stain glass windows–anyway–the design of the living room itself is charming–and this window treatment really is charming and fitting too. I was mostly surprised that with the long draperies down, and the windows “highlighted” the room not only looks bigger-it looks cleaner! I LOVE IT!!

Demon To Angel–A Wonderful Birthday Present!!

Well, yesterday was a pretty interesting birthday. My husband had the day off, which usually means stressful. I’m sure what I do to make money doesn’t look like work to him–but it is to me and I take it very seriously. So on his days off–I kind of expect him to cover the home bases while I’m doing my work. Yesterday he slept in–which I can’t ever be angry with him for–he works so many hours and with his broken body–it is a requirement. After he got up though, that’s another question. Our 2 year old is a DEMON and kind find himself a mess anywhere he looks. I’m not surprised by this–if I go down to switch the laundry-or step into the restroom for a moment–I can guarantee that there will be a mess somewhere when I come out. My husband is not used to that, and after each mess he comes in holding the problem, and looking at me. Let me just say–there were a ton of messes!

Last night we were a little nervous about taking that particular child out to an “adult” oriented restaurant. Not that a Japanese Steakhouse isn’t child friendly–but the price for the child’s meal tends to keep most families away. Well, not on my birthday!! So we took the B-man’s car seat in with us–and he was ANGELIC! Yep, it’s the magic car seat. It’s always worked for each of our kids when they were that age. I’m happy to report, that he ate most of his dinner, kept all of his digits intact and was not burned in anyway! All in all it was a wonderful evening out with the kids!

Birthday Post!!

I have to say–I have a birthday post all worked up and ready to go–but I wanted to add pictures to it. But you know, I have spent the day fighting a never ending battle with my new scanner–and I can’t get it to communicate with Vista—-1-2-3—-I HATE VISTA!!! So the birthday post will have to wait until tomorrow–which is soooooo not my birthday–and that makes me mad-but it’s ok–I will have the network up and running tonight–and I may just beat the midnight deadline to still have it my birthday when I get it posted! Or at least it will still be my birthday in Hawaii!!

Birthday Dinner!!

As you can tell by the title “Genki”–this blog has a tiny bit of a Japanese influence. So it should come as no surprise that I love Japanese food! Well, tonight for my birthday I would like to go to a Japanese Steakhouse! We have a couple around the area–they even have a Benihana nearby. I think my kids will love this type of restaurant–although I can pretty much guarantee that my 2 year old son will either find a way to get burned on the grill in the center of the table, or he will manage to get his arm sliced off during one of the fabulous feats of knife skill that the chef performs!! Either way–I see the evening ending traumatically for him!!

Just kidding–but he is a handful! I really don’t care where we go–I just really am in the mood for some good Japanese cooking! Sukiyaki! Yakisoba! Takoyaki! I miss it all!! So I will have to fill you all in tomorrow, on what I choose to eat today!!

Telling Julia!!

I think I mentioned earlier that when Jake and I went on our date together, he confided in me that he really liked a girl in his class. It was so cute. Well, yesterday–he told her how he feels. Kind of funny! He’s in third grade, and this is his first venture into the land of love. Little girls have had crushes on him since preschool-but this is the first one that he’s feeling. I wish I could spare him all of the pain that goes along with love–but for right now he’s really pleased with himself–and hey, it doesn’t hurt that the girl likes him too!!

Growing Up!!

Jake is growing up so fast! I know that I complain about his stubbornness and his temper, but I’m not sure I ever talk about the amazing sweetness that IS Jake!! Days off with my husband have always been hard days for Jake. He and his dad have always had a rough go together. Since Jake has discovered a love of basketball, a bridge has formed and they actually get along really well…until Jake has a melt down. He had a couple yesterday. I found him outside sitting dejectedly on the front steps, so I sat by him and we talked. It was probably the best talk we’ve ever had. Then shortly before we were heading out for the evening, he beat up Grayson (again) and I sent him in the house. No TV and no playing outside while we were gone. This is usually not a punishment for Jake–he doesn’t ever want to ‘run errands’ with us, so I wasn’t sure this was a great solve. So in the house he goes, and we all pile into the van. As we are about to pull away Jake comes running out–the sweetest, most sincere thing happened. He said, “I’m sorry—I’m just hungry!” Now, that doesn’t seem like much–but if you knew Jake–most apologies are coaxed out of him and even then they aren’t sweet. He never apologizes on his own! I was thrilled. He piled into the van, and off we went! We went to Target to get a gift card for my nephew. We are driving to Wisconsin for his wedding reception tomorrow. I wanted to get a gift, but I wasn’t sure if they were staying in Wisconsin to live right after the reception, or if they were heading back to Utah, and then back to Wisconsin. I didn’t want them to have to lug a toaster back to Utah–so a gift card it is! After Target, we hit Ruby Tuesday for dinner–it was YUMMY–and the boys-especially Jake–were angelic! He’s growing up!

Starbury Shoes!!

I wrote a post yesterday about my cool new Starbury shoes. I have to say, if it hadn’t been for Lisa, I never would have heard about them. I started recording Rachael Ray to catch a peek at Lisa–but have continued to tape them because I enjoy them. Stephan Marbury was on one day introducing his new shoe line. Same shoes as the expensive basketball shoes, but at a price of $14.98. My boys are huge basketball fans, and I hear daily how many “Jordan Nike’s” Oscar has–so I was happy to introduce my kids to these shoes. They don’t make them small enough for “Middle Man”, but J should be in them soon! I bought pink and white ones, and I wore them today–very comfortable! I’ll put a photo up in just a bit!!