havocandmayhem.com

An Epic washer & dryer. Front loading. 4.0 and 7.0 cubic feet capacity!  I can at long last wash my comforters in my own home!! I can also dry a normal load of laundry in less than an hour & a half! That is the first layout I have done in over 3 weeks. I haven't had much scrapping mojo lately but I'm feeling like if I can get through this week, I'll be in a better mental place to scrap. Plus we're going to Day out with Thomas Saturday so I'll have some fun new photos to scrap as well. That means I'll miss the NSD excitement & sales. I seem to miss it every year though so I am used to it. I've been reading a lot instead of scrapping or crocheting. I'm about to finish my 20th book this month this afternoon. giving me 15 new reads and 5 rereads. I've also been working on a Gandalf figure but I'm not having much luck. My stitch counter keeps falling out of the yarn & I'm not tracking what row I am on very well.  We have a

Mayhem had an appointment with an ENT today, an hour away from home. At noon, which pretty much shot my morning because I only had 90 minutes to work with & that is not enough time to drive 25 minutes in the opposite direction and run errands. It ended up shooting my afternoon as well. Mayhem has swollen tonsils and adenoids. He probably has allergies. He's been given a prescription for Nasonex and we go back in 6 weeks to see if there is improvement. We waited a half hour to see the doc. She then sent us off to the outpatient clinic to get Mayhem's blood drawn for allergy tests. That took over an hour. We'll get results in 2 weeks. Once we know what we are dealing with & see how the meds do, then we'll decide where to go from there. Mayhem was cooped up from 11am to 2pm in a car, waiting rooms & offices, then he got stuck with a needle. He behaved really well throughout it all. He watched the rain drops on the car window chase themselves.  He played wit

Havoc wants mac & cheese for dinner. The problem with that is DH is not fond of it & while I will eat it, I prefer not to. Mac & cheese dinners must occur on nights when we get Thai take out. The boys have yet to find a single edible item on the menu at the Thai place so they get mac & cheese when we want Thai. Thursday is take out night & we were going to get Thai then.  We'd had the braised endive Tuesdays, and as predicted Havoc ate his eggs, Mayhem's eggs and some of my eggs, plus the required one bite of endive. Mayhem choked down a bite of endive & a bite of egg & had a piece of cheese & some grapes. He asked, rather pathetically "We have meaf-woaf tomowoow?" Havoc is not wild about meatloaf but he ate a few bites of it and the mixed veggies and then requested mac & cheese for the next night. That worked out well with the Thai plan. Except then we were invited to join several other people for dinner at a teppan yaki place. T

damn hippies! backstory...it's an underground home built in 1977 almost entirely by the owners themselves, possibly while they were stoned. The house is full of 'quirks' as a result. where to begin...... There are 3 problems, 2 stories...Normally I'd start with the one I saw coming, but I was dubious from the beginning about both situations. Not because I am so much better at figuring these things out than the others in my life & just not assertive enough to get my point across, but because I am dubious about everything measurement related until I see the actual thing in it's actual place. It's not intelligence or prescience, it's just simple mistrust predicated on a lifetime's experience. I'm a cynic. I don't believe, given a choice, that I will make the right one. It's always too much or too little. It's never just right. Let's start with the dryer because it started us looking for a replacement. Plastic ductwork is

We bought a washer & dryer this weekend. Just doing our part to keep the country out of a recession. The rebate check had nothing to do with it. We don't have it yet so it can't help pay for them. Besides we already earmarked that money for a root canal & tooth cap. This is just gratuitous spending. Our current 13 year old washer & dryer still work, you see. We don't actually *need* a new washer & dryer. Mostly.  The dryer is dying. It now takes 3 runs to dry what used to, for the past 3 years, take 2 runs and before that only took 1. The washer has capacity issues. It's a 3.2 cu ft washer, bought during our "Oh hell no, we won't be having kids" phase. So I am now during laundry 6 days out of 7 because I now have the clothing laundry equivalent of another adult in my house. Plus the towel and sheet equivalent of 2 adults. That will only get larger as the boys get larger. I'm fairly sure I am running up the electric bill running the mach

It began at 5:45am, when Mayhem came stomping down the stairs from his room and began loudly playing with trains in the kitchen. He was dropping small metal trains off of the table & onto the slate floor. Noisy. This was followed around 6am by the discovery that I had purchased cinnamon flavored toothpaste instead of mint. I hate cinnamon (except cinnamon rolls). I discovered this, not by reading the box or tube, but by sticking a toothbrush with it in my mouth. Nasty Then there were the usual issues of small people dawdling while getting ready for school, followed by the engine light coming on in my car while I was driving them there. Could be expensive Gas was $3.49 a gallon! One of the cats got in the house while we were leaving for school. The one that pees on bathmats (which is why they are an outside cat). Smelly Lowe's called. The dryer they were supposed to be delivering and installing today has a massive dent in it and it could be Friday before they can deliv

I have about 50 cookbooks. They are all full of post it notes marking recipes I was to try cooking. Most of them have been marked for years without my ever cooking them. Lately I have been trying to change that. Once a month I pick a cookbook and select 3-5 recipes to try. This month's is All About Braising & the dinner plan for the next 2 weeks features 3 recipes from it. Braised Endive with eggs (tonight) Braised Chicken with Cider & Parsnips Braised Short Ribs We're also having: meatloaf green soup (last night) lasagna roll ups chicken with bacon marinade tacos homemade pizza x2 pasta to be determined steak & lentils That is only 11 meals out of 14, but we get take out, go out to eat or have insta food (tyson chicken patties or fish sticks) on the remaining 3 nights. Probably one of each. I'm not silly enough to think my kids will like braised endive with eggs. I'm not certain I'll like it, but I want to try it. Problem is

There was a great deal of noise coming from the backseat the other day. "BOYS!!!" I said in my stern, knock-it-off, voice "just BOY, actuawy" replies Mayhem, sitting alone in the back. "How can you make so much noise by yourself?" "I don't have anyone to play with. How come you only have 2 boys? Why not 3 so I have someone to play with when Havoc at school?" "......"

My Library Thing library is now completely up to date. 2042 books. I like that the 42 ended up in there without my realizing it. I actually have something about 1100 of those books in my possession currently. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Stacey42 Now that this is done perhaps I can get back to crochet & digi scrapping. I haven't done a single layout or picked up a hook this month.

My parents were in town this weekend. The boys spent most of their time trying to get Grandma & Pa to put their books down & play with them, which they were perfectly willing to do. This meant that I could read a book in relative peace.  I read Excellent Women by Barbara Pym in one day. It was glorious. Then, later in the evening I discussed the book with my family. It was a good read. Lots of detail, well drawn characters, with that cozy British village feel.  But nobody died & I found that very disconcerting. I have been reading a lot of mysteries lately & forgot this was just fiction. I read the first couple chapters with an eye toward guessing who the victim would be and speculating on possible motives by various other characters for doing away with this person or that person. But nobody was murdered. I was 6 chapters into the book wondering when the hell a body would turn up before I remembered this was not a cozy village mystery but a straight story. It left me

My parents are in town for a visit.  Dad will be 70 this year, mom will be 69 on Tuesday.  My 4 and 5 year old do not understand that their grandparents have no idea how to use a Wii, that they have never seen or used a Wii and that they will need some time to figure out the controls. Dad wasn't here 5 minutes before Mayhem had him sitting in front of the TV, Wiimote in hand and playing tanks. Or at least, trying to play tanks. Tanks is Mayhem's all time favorite Wii game and he doesn't understand that Pa does not instinctively know how to play tanks. Havoc had created Miis for Grandma & Pa earlier this week in anticipation of their arrival. I did try to explain that it would take some time for them to figure out how to use it.  The boys didn't get it. They tried to explain how to use the Wiimote, but Mayhem's version of explaining is "You do dis Pa! Wike dis!" and Havoc runs back & forth between Grandma and the TV, wanting to be next to it to wa

I have food issues. There are a lot of foods I don't like. I was a 'picky eater' when I was a kid, completely unwilling to try anything new. I was in my late 20's before I was willing to risk trying new foods or reconsider old rejected ones. Looking back from an adult perspective, part of this is my parents' fault. I was not encouraged to try new foods. Dad would occasionally offer me something but Mom's invariable reply was "Ew, don't give her that, she'll hate it." Dad was not so open in his food dislike, but I never once in my entire childhood saw a bowl of peas on the table, or carrots. We had canned green beans, canned corn, and frozen broccoli or cauliflower in cheese sauce. Other foods simply never appeared because my did didn't like them & he never suggested I try them. We had decided from the beginning, given my issues, that we would always encourage the kids to try things. We would never say "ew" or "yuck"

March 31 - the Island of Sodor today April 1 - I'm not sure who is hauling who April 2 - beautiful day to play with the hose April 3 - setting up the castle for defense April 4 - what trains do when there is no track April 5 - Curious George comes for a visit & helps make banana muffins April 6 - Curious George learns to play cow racing.

He just chooses not to listen. That is the verdict from the hearing tests Mayhem had yesterday. He had some problems with the test they do in the ped's office. We couldn't determine whether he wasn't hearing or if he wasn't paying attention.  The doc & I discussed it and because I did have other concerns about his hearing she scheduled this more in depth test. Mayhem always complains that the TV is not loud enough and his ability to hear when there are distractions seems to be limited.  "What did you say?" gets shouted at me several times a week. When he speaks he sounds as if he is stuffed up, even when he isn't. Is it a hearing problem or is he just being difficult or attempting to exert control on his surroundings?  Turns out he's just being Mayhem, which doesn't really surprise me.  He passed the test with flying colors.  He hears what he wants to hear.  We are going to see a ear, nose & throat specialist in a couple of weeks because of

I've been out on etsy looking at the lovely hand dyed yarns. They are all so pretty my hands just itch to reach through the screen and touch them. Problem is, odds are my hands really would itch if I touched the yarn but I have no way of knowing for sure without actually touching. Sniff... all that lovely yarn and I can't have any! I just bought some Vinca superwash sock weight wool in a beautiful blue off of etsy. That's supposed to be the really soft stuff and it is soft ish on my hands, but a little scratchy on my legs and I'm afraid to make it into socks for fear I'd never wear them. I have a wool sensitivity & it extends to cover mohair, angora, llama, and alpaca. I'm allergic to dog & cat hair too, so I'm assuming its just an animal sensitivity.  Some wools, etc, are just a bit uncomfortable. I could wear them as a cardigan or shawl, assuming it didn't constantly touch bare skin. Most wools make me itchy and give me hives. Some make my

Feel free to read whatever innuendo you please into this account my weekend. Friday I told DH that his pole just wasn't doing it for me any longer. I needed something bigger & if he needed any help raising it, to just let me know. Saturday he collapsed the pole and took it down. He then spent a lot of time working out just how much wire he would need to tie down the new, taller and stronger pole. Cutting the wires, fastening them to the top & middle rings & untangling everything took a bit more time. Then I joined in and helped make it bigger. The first section slid out smoothly, the second would not budge & the third & fourth required a lot of effort. We had to pull the second one out while the pole was down because there was no way in hell DH could move once the pole was up. That took about a half hour because that section was tight. We spent a lot of time beating that pole to get it to extend all the way. Now we had a 30ft pole to erect. This is consider

It seems I do not have a principle , I just had an idea that I liked.  Mayhem had the varicella vax. He also had his last MMR and sometime in the next couple months he'll get the last DTaP.  I did have a bit of an argument with the doc about the Hib & HepB.  I'll be bringing my supporting documentation (from the DOH website) when we go back for the DTaP.  He meets the base vax requirement on those even if the schedule looks like he needs one more of each.  I did stick with my intended delayed vax schedule. It just was bumped a year because the public school started offering a Pre-K, so the shots were needed sooner. He would have had that MMR and DTaP at his yearly exam anyway (which should have been last month) So maybe I did have a principle and even mostly stuck to it. Tomorrow Curious George comes home with Havoc for the weekend. His teacher has a stuffed George, complete with suitcase, journal and PJs, and he is visiting everyone in the class for a weekend. We're

There is this tv commercial running lately. It's for a cell phones or maybe for cell phone service. I'm not sure because the commercial content itself distracts me so much I pay no attention to the logo.  It shows 2 people, one sitting outside on a park bench & the other sitting in a home, on a sofa. They are both holding cell phones and texting one another what are assumed to be romantic messages, given the doodles shown over their heads.  Here is why I don't know what exactly is being sold & why I do know I am old. Every time I see that commercial I cannot help but say "Why don't they just CALL each other? They are holding PHONES in their hands." Obviously they have nothing going on to prevent them from actually speaking to one another. They are alone. They are not doing anything else.  Why would you text someone in that circumstance? I can see texting if you are someplace where you cannot talk easily - someplace really noisy or someplace really quie