A Difficult Day

Well unfortunately we did not make it to Gainesville today to visit our friends like I had planned. We got up around 8 this morning and by noon I was extremely frustrated and still nowhere near ready to leave the house. Brody was feeling like he needed to be held every second, which is fine unless you want to say ... take a shower, get dressed, pack the diaper bags, etc. And Houston ... oh where do I begin?!?! He was in a very trying mood all day. The only good thing about his behavior today was that he decided to start using the potty all by himself ... he peed on the potty five times today without any urging on my part. I read a book that scared me away from pushing him to use the potty and since i've stopped trying to make him go he has decided to start going on his own. Yep ... that's my son alright. He likes to do things on his own, his way. Just like he now insists on dressing himself and picking out his own food. Which is all cute and stuff but if you are planning to leave the house anytime soon (or at all) then it can be not so cute because it takes forever! Which is what happened today. In the first four hours of my day all I managed to do was feed Houston breakfast and give the boys a bath. That's it in four hours ... I had not even eaten anything yet and my cup of hot tea that I made when I got up was still sitting on the stove four hours later. I about had a breakdown and so I called Joy and told her we were not going to make it ... which turned into a nice phone conversation so at least I did manage to have a little friend time. Minus all the times I had to turn my attention away from the phone and back towards Houston. I finally got Brody down for a good solid nap around 4 o'clock. I tried to get Houston to nap with us so we could all sleep but all he wanted to do was sit on Brody or kick him in the head or whatever else he could do to keep him from sleeping. I decided a nap was not going to be in my future today so after I finally got Brody good and sleeping without Houston waking him up right away we outside to play. Actually Houston went outside to play and I went outside to work. I got five more boards fully sanded and about five more boards halfway sanded. Then I had to wash some stinky dogs. Marzbar got sprayed by a skunk last night so I had to try and wash some of that off of him ... yummy. Tiki just finally stopped smelling from when she got sprayed a few weeks ago and then Marz goes and gets sprayed. Seems to be a theme around here ... at least one of our dogs usually has a bit of a skunk smell to them when. One of these days i'm gonna get that skunk. Until then i'll just complain about him.

On a happier note, i've started thinking about my Christmas list for this year. I've got some great handmade gifts planned ... if only I find the time. I always start thinking of Christmas gifts this time of year because July 25th is one of my dearest friends birthdays (Happy B-Day Rachel) and I always remember it by thinking "Christmas in July" (thanks to another mutual friends suggestion many years ago). Then I go to Hallmark to pick out a card and I see they have the ornaments out already, which I collect ... so I start thinking "how many can I buy this year if I start now and stick to my 'one oranment per paycheck' rule". Then I start yearning for the fall and cooler weather and the holiday festivities (is it hot out or what!). Which leads into the need to start thinking about this years halloween costumes, which I usually make myself. I am really feeling the need to be crafty right now (obviously) but i'm finding it extremely difficult to find the time. The boys are a handful and then some ... and then there is project bunk bed ... which is pretty crafty in itself I suppose ... so my Christmas gifts will have to wait. Good thing it is only July. And part of having the bunk beds done requires me to have my craft room organized and in good working order so the guest bed can be moved into that room. So I suppose in a way the completion of the bunk beds will help me get to all those crafty things I want to do. A month ago you couldn't even walk into that room. Now you can walk in and even all the way across (which is not far b/c it's not a big room) and it is really starting to look like a craft room and not a messy room full of stuff. I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as far as that cleaning/organizing project goes. I don't even know when i've had time to work on it much. I just do it here and there even if it's only for five minutes. It definitely adds up because I can tell a major difference. Hopefully by the time the bunk bed boards are sanded, stained and drilled i'll have it to a point where we can move the guest bed (Houston's bed) in there and be able to put the bunk beds together. And then .... finally ... project Christmas Gift can begin! I don't want to go into much detail about my gift ideas because I don't want to give them away to those of you who may be recipients of said gifts but I am looking forward to making some new things this year.

Well it is now midnight so I better get back to work and stop rambling. This is what happens when I drink coffee, which I don't do anymore except when I absolutely need to so that I can get some work done. I have a project to turn in in the morning ... gotta pay for all those craft supplies somehow. :-) Brett made me an iced coffee so I could do this zero rise project and I got halfway through it and got distracted with thoughts of what to type on my blog for all my dedicated readers (ha ha). So here I sit, many ramblings later with way too much caffiene surging through me remembering that I should be working on the computer and not playing around. It's nice though because the house is quiet and I finally have some time to myself. Well not really since i'm sitting here working ... but after I finish this job I will have some time to myself and since i've had this coffee I will be wide awake. Maybe I will get some more done in the craft/guest room tonight. Or maybe I will work on Houston's birthday party invitations and menu. Or maybe I will work on the baby blanket I am crocheting. Or maybe I will read through my new knitting pattern book (Exquisite Little Knits ... great book!). Or maybe I will go sand some more boards (good thing we don't have neighbors). Oh if only there were more hours in the day ... or if only I could find a way to make money without working ... now there's a good idea ... alright ... back to work!