10 on Tuesdays - 11/25/08

1) Jason surprised me with changing out the glass on our kitchen island pendant lights. I didn't have a problem with the old ones, but when I saw these I couldn't believe how 2 little shades could change a room so much. {we have obviously painted the kitchen since the first pic was taken}

2) I would like to patent a new product line of mints for moms to use when their kids squeal & shriek and are embarrassments in public. They're called "Punishmints". I had previously seen how disgusted Roman is with Altoids. He snuck some once and was trying to rip out his tongue because of the taste. One day while checking out at the store, he was being a PITA {pain in the *ss} and was squealing at eardrum-piercing octaves. I couldn't just leave as was the advice given to me when Roman starts acting this way because I had a cart full of necessities and was like 5 minutes from leaving, anyway. I got a lot of stares and "tsk's" and then I remembered another nugget of advice someone told me to do when Roman yells which was to spray vinegar in his mouth. Well I thought about how his squealing & shrieking are mostly saved for public and not in the privacy of our own home where vinegar is readily available and I wouldn't be frowned upon by spraying it in his mouth. Then I remembered the Altoids. I grabbed a tin from the end-of-the-checkout & unwrapped it and popped one in Roman's mouth and watched as he stared at me in horror. He spit it out and was rubbing his tongue. Then I told him next time he screamed like that I was going to put one of those mints in his mouth. I carry that tin around in the diaper bag so it is always with me and you know the squealing, shrieking & screaming has severely decreased?

3) Roman's ear infection issues I discussed last week are still continuing. After a pediatrician appointment last Friday, we discovered he still has infections in both ears. If this round of antibiotics doesn't work... its tube-time! Ugh!

4) Out of nowhere, Roman has learned to count. About a week ago, he only had 1 & 2 down pat and now he counts to ten. We were in the car this weekend and Jason said "Roman repeat after me! 1, 2..." Then instead of repeating it, Roman said "3, 4". Jason & I laughed & congratulated him {even though he didn't follow the directions}. Then Jason said "5,6,7" and then Roman said really quickly "8,9,10". We were amazed. Either he is learning this at PDO, by watching Barney or Nana sets up a little learning boot camp at her house when she babysits Roman. Then Jason asked Roman if he wanted "1 or 2 pieces of pizza" and Roman said "2". Jason asked if he wanted "10 or 8 cookies" and Roman said "10". Now watch him make a liar out of us when we try and get him to do this as a party trick for the relatives at Thanksgiving.

5) Roman is also trying to figure words out. The other day he kept saying "light hat" and I had no idea what he was talking about. I kind of ignored it and then he pointed to the lamp-shade. Well yes... it does look like the light's hat!

6) Sunday night Jason & Roman were wrestling in the living room and I took that dad/son playtime as an opportunity to go brush my teeth, wash my face, etc... Well, Roman escaped Jason's clutches and ran away. Jason thought I was still in the kitchen and would take over "Roman duty". Jason then comes walking upstairs and in to our room and then sees me and asks "Where is Roman?". I said "I thought he was with you". We both run downstairs to see Roman holding the Febreze spray bottle up to his mouth and the whole basement reeks of Autumn Spice Febreze. I freaked out that he had sprayed it in his mouth {because earlier in the week he had almost "huffed" the compressed gas duster that we use to clean our computer keyboard} and we asked him if he did and he said "yes". Stupid us... his answer to everything is "yes". "Did you have fun at school today?" "yes" "Did you like your juice?" "yes" "Did you and a hippo skateboard to China today?" "yes". So we had to resort to smelling his breath, but the odor in the air was so overwhelming and we couldn't smell anything but the Febreze. We asked him again and he answered "no" in a very honest & serious tone, so we stopped worrying. I grabbed the can, which was brand-new and it is now half-full. He saturated our computer chair {I sat down and my butt was wet}. He doused our leather couches. Our cabinets were covered with little droplets. For some reason I'm craving a pumpkin spice latte with a side of pumpkin cake topped with pumpkin ice cream, but I just can't put my finger on why I'm craving it! Hee hee!

7) My friend Jenny and I went on a hike Saturday and I had previously told her that I wanted to look for "those lime green round bumpy things" which I now know are called hedgeapples. I saw some cute decorating ideas and wanted to use them for Thanksgiving and the table I am hostessing & decorating for our church's holiday tea. Well I forgot all about it when we set out on our hike and it wasn't until we saw a plethora of them at the furthest distance from our car {and at the top of a very steep hill} that I remembered I had wanted to bring a backpack to find them and carry them home. Poor Jenny - we each carried 4 back down the hill and I thought she was just carrying her 4 for herself... I had no idea she was carrying them for me! Now I have 8 - what a friend! Hopefully I'll come up with something super-sassy to do with them. If not, I read on www.hedgeapple.com that they're an excellent spider repellant. Jenny - when you read this, I'll be you'll be wanting your 4 back!

8) Roman has seemed inpunishable lately; nothing seems to faze him. Last week, however, I was escorting him upstairs to get him dressed from pj's to school-clothes and I watched as he got so excited that he was going to have pockets to put his golf balls in. Well about 20 minutes later he did something naughty and I tried a new tactic - I took a golf ball out of his pocket.

9) We went to the KC Zoo this past weekend. I had already been to their website to confirm that they're open daily {even in the winter} so when we showed up and the parking lot had 4 cars in it an hour after opening, I could only help but think of Clark Griswold when he & his family parked their truckster in the empty lot at WallyWorld "Sorry folks. Park's closed! Moose out front shoulda told ya." They only charged us 1/2 price admission because they told us that due to the weather that some of the animals would be in their indoor habitats. It ended up being a really nice day and not only were most of the animals out, but they were front & center and close to the fences and plexiglass ready to play! I'll post all of the pix soon, but here are a few to tide you over. Be sure to click on it to enlarge it and see the pix with Roman and the gorilla glaring at him and the "cat" yawning.


10) Happy Thanksgiving! Go Tigers!


It's 11:49 pm on Tuesday - not too shabby... thought this was going to be "Writer's Block on Tuesday - Wednesdays"