havocandmayhem.com

I skipped my regular gym & shopping Monday because it was Mayhem’s birthday & on your birthday you get to call the shots (within reason). He wanted to stay home & play Lego Star Wars and we agreed to do the gym & shopping thing Tuesday when we normally stay home. Then it snowed and we had snow days Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. Friday DH calls from the doctors office to say he has walking pneumonia & has been contagious at least 24 hours and will be for at least 24-48 more. While waiting for his prescription to be filled he went next door to the AT&T store and picked me up a new phone to replace my broken one I finally fled the house today in search of gear for my new phone. None of my ringtones & wallpaper transferred from the old phone (neither did any of the contacts. I love new things, but new things can be a real pain). My new phone isn’t a regular USB plug and I didn’t have a card reader on my laptop, plus the only memory card I had that ...

Day 3 of icy road conditions cancelling school. Sorry if I haven’t visited the forums or the galleries or blogs or dropped cards on anyone. These kids being home is throwing off the rhythm of my days. And the ice is playing merry hell with my internet signal. But it is warming up today, the ice is melting & hopefully there will be school tomorrow and I can get back to my routine. I like the occasional snow day. I like a surprise day set apart from the routine. I’m just not so keen on 3 in row. As a kid it is great. As a parent, not so much. I’m so over being in this house. We’re headed to a local consignment shop & to Wal Mart to get some groceries, get Havoc’s glasses fixed (3 whole months without needing them fixed! A record!) and some new pants for Havoc since Mayhem is outgrowing his. Then I think we’ll find some fast food with indoor kiddie hamster tubes and let the boys run around while I read a book and very very slowly eat some fries or a salad.

Day 2 of schools canceled due to weather.  Hour 18 of Wii Lego Star Wars.

And it's actually sticking this time! The canceled school due to the icy road conditions & given that the snow we have falling now is supposed to turn to icy rain overnight, I'm guessing there will be no school tomorrow either. Apparently they started plowing around 3am.  This is our road at 10am 7 hours of plowing later and they haven't even reached our road yet. I'm hoping they at least salt it before the freezing rain starts or DH may have a challenge getting up the hill & into our driveway when he comes in from work.  Havoc has already been out in it. 'shoveling a path for the cats to get to their food' he says and sled ridding

I could have sworn I just went into labor with Mayhem, but the photographic evidence suggests otherwise. Jan 26, 2004 Jan 26, 2005    Jan 26, 2006 Jan 26, 2007 Jan 26, 2008 Jan 26, 2009 Happy Birthday Little Man!   

The week started out with Mayhem getting a hair cut Then we found Greenie, who was reported missing back in October & has been the source of much random anxiety on Mayhem's part It was snack time at dino day care Mayhem is considering doing his own 365 Project For more Weekly Winners visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom . Thank you for stopping by!

I got a speeding ticket last month. I was doing 19 over the limit in a zone that changes speed 3 times, 2 while going down hill. Not that that is an excuse. I drive that road often enough that I know the limit goes down halfway down the hill. I drive often enough with children having hysterics that their lollipop fell on the floor, that it shouldn't distract me from slowing down on the hill. But sometimes events overtake us and we find ourselves noticing a police car off to the side ahead of us, instinctively look down at the speedometer, hit the brakes just seconds too late and  SHIT! those blue lights are for us. This is hardly my first speeding ticket. I'm not trying out for NASCAR or anything but every 3 years, give or take, I get a ticket. Usually for for going too fast in a 35 or 45 zone because I fail to notice the limit changed. Since nearly all my tickets occur around where I live, this is solely due to failure to pay attention on my part and in nearly every case I w...

Ha! I went to Body Pump today & I kicked ass! AH! I went last week for the first time in over a month & it felt good, like I might be able to get back to where I had been the last time I took it (which wasn't quite where I had been from the time before that. I had been doing squats with 34lbs back in October, then took a break & was only at 27lbs in December & last week I had 20lbs) by February. I had intended to go Friday but missed it. So today had been a week since the last time. I just slapped on the weights I had been using a month ago (27lbs at squats) & went with it. It hurt like hell! But I did it! I even did all those freaking thigh agony lunges for the first time ever! With the weights! Ha! I am going to be so sore in about 6 hours..... I doubt I'll be able to get out of bed in the morning. But I'm going back on Friday.

The kids finally go back to school! Mayhem had Wed-Fri & today off. Havoc had half days Wed & Thurs, plus Fri & today off. They were teacher in service days, not weather related. It's supposed to flurry today though, which tends to incite panic in people around here. But our county did show remarkably good sense last time it was supposed to snow so I'm hoping even if flurries arrive there will still be school. I did buy milk & toilet paper, as required by local ordinance. I seriously need my normal 4 kid-free hours. I haven't been able to sweep or mop or put away anything since Tuesday. The only thing I have accomplished is laundry (though not the folding of it). I'm hoping to catch at least some of the inauguration in between cleaning. I know a lot of people who initially planned on going but none of them are now. Cold and logistics have changed their minds. We're only 2 hours away. It's not an impossible thing for adults or teens but none...

So far this week we have gone out to Buffalo Wild Wings for 99 cent kid meal night I received my 2008 Project 365 book from Blurb I tried two days in a row to take photos of the weather. But 'cold' is a difficult thing to photograph when there is no ice, snow or trees being blown in the wind. We just have really cold stillness. This is Wednesday and this is Thursday. It was about 12 degrees both days Friday I ground up some filling for Cornish pasties and Saturday I made muffins. Off to the right you can see who that brought out of hibernation. For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom

I talked to my folks last night & mentioned that the boys were wondering when we might see them again. It looks like it'll be June, when they stop by on their way to WV for July. Then we'll see them in July if we can find a hotel room (my parents sold thier house in Wheeling last summer & now live in an efficiency rental apartment for 6 weeks every year when they 'go home'). My mom tosses out "or you could come down for Easter if the kids have off. I've seen flights out of Pittsburgh for $79 one way." Um...except I am flying both ways, and live about 7 hours from Pittsburgh. But what the heck? Why not check it out? I went out to expediaoribtzpriceline.com and plugged in my dates & preferred airports.  Because I hate to fly (airports stress me out, I set foot in them, even to meet someone at baggage claim and I get really really tense) & the whole idea of managing the boys alone in a couple airports fills me with deep dread, I had a bu...

I received my book from Blurb yesterday.  It is really very nicely put together. Here are some photos, but let me warn you they don't do the book print quality justice.  The lighting in the house sucks because it's morning. We don't get full sun on our main windows in winter until about 3:30pm. Here is the cover. I ordered a 10x8 landscape book with Image Wrap cover, the photo is printed on the cover itself. It's 158 pages Couple of shots from the actual pages I paid extra for the Premium Paper which is 35% heavier than the regular (hoping it will stand up to the boys). It has a silk finish, which gives it a matte appearance but a nicer feel. I would have preferred glossy paper, but the hardcover Image Wrap Style doesn't come in glossy. The hardcover with dust jacket does, but a dust jacket wouldn't last 8 seconds with the boys around. Softcover comes in glossy too, but again...boys... They love the book. They both have gone through it severa...

When I became a SAHM 6 years ago, we gave up over a third of our income. That meant cutting out lots of little things that we used to buy without thought. The biggest expense in this category was books. I had a 2 book a day habit before I had kids. UPS regularly brought boxes from Amazon to my house. I drove an hour or more to go to a Borders or Barnes & Noble. I knew the owner of the local used book store very well. And it all had to stop. This wasn't that big of deal for the first 2 years. I had 2 kids 15 months apart. The first one didn't understand the word 'sleep' no matter what language I said it in and while the second one did sleep, the first one had to be constantly prevented from waking him up. So there wasn't much time to read or even think about books. Things eventually slowed down and I thought to myself a new book might be nice but $24 for the latest by one of my favorite authors seemed a bit much. Then one day as I came out of Safeway I noti...

Something happened to my internet connection in the past week. First there were sporadic power outages, then some high winds and then....my connection speed took a nose dive. I went from an RSSI of 70 to one of 50 (and they boot you off the tower at 60 because you are dragging everyone else down). My error rate went from 35% to 49%. My connection is now moody. Sometimes it is in an upload mood, letting me upload things like this post or photos. But if it is in an upload mood, no downloading is allowed, and vice versa. This is not good. I have broadband internet and due to topography issues my signal comes from a 4 ft antenna at the top of a 50ft pole on my roof. So if the problem is not with the router in the house, then it is with the cable coming from the antenna or the antenna itself. Meaning the pole has to be collapsed as much as it can be and taken down, things replaced and then the pole gets hoisted back up and extended. (My house is underground so while it is a PITA to unde...

Over at Sweet Shoppe Designs they had a challenge this week to take at least 8 photos of your day and then do a layout about it.  These are some of my photos from January 9th. I went to Safeway where I got food and drugs. Then I got some books from the library, both bought & borrowed I finished the boys homemade Snuggies And was watched closely by Nefertiti For more Weekly Winners please visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom .     

And I was relieved of my stress by it Every weekday about 4:02 I have this stress event happen. "What if I missed the bus?" The school system has this (very admirable & I totally agree with it) rule that they won't let primary kids off the bus unless an adult is visibly waiting for them (and the kids have to recognize the adult - the bus driver will ask the kids if the bus driver doesn't recognize the person).  If your happen to live near the road, like just about everyone else on our road, this means you can stand on your porch as the bus pulls into site, or even stay inside your front door or by a large window in the comfort of your house, should you still be clearly visible.  However, you can't see the road from our house & you can't see our house from the road. We have a long driveway with a 'rise' in the middle of it. (I'd call it a hill but that'd be gross exaggeration, but it is a visible incline and you do have to go uphil...

I'm bad about returning tags for memes. I admit that and I apologize if I still haven't done yours. I'm doing a little catch up right now & I am working backwards because that is how my email is sorted. (I could resort it forwards but I'd have to start in the middle & I get confused when I do that. Probably I ought to do a purge of that folder & just leave the meme links. I'll add that to my list) Anyway.... Lola at Lola's Diner tagged me with a meme where I have to find the 6th photo in my 6th folder in My Pictures' folder. Then I have to list 7 things about me and then tag 5 other people. So first off the photo. I just purged my pictures file, copying a bunch of 2008 stuff to my EHD, so in the interest of not posting jan 6, 2009's daily photo which is what it would be because I only have 2 folders in my Pictures at the moment) I decided to use the EHD's My Picture's folder because there is more variety there. Look at those ...

No ice thankfully (or not, depending on how you look at it). It never quite gets cold enough for ice. Just lots of freezing rain.  The boys are bummed because Monday the teachers (and everyone really) were all talking about how an ice storm was coming & there might not be any school Tuesday or Wednesday. Then it just rained and everybody had to go to school. That's almost the worst thing about winter when you are a kid. Weather forecasts get your hopes up for snow or ice and all the adults start talking about what to do if the roads are bad and school is canceled. You get all excited and giddy at the thought of a day off of school (even though you just started back after a 2 week vacation) and then... it RAINS. That just sucks when you are a kid. You were -}this{- close to having a day off and then - you were robbed! Damn those lying weathermen anyway! But what is the absolute worst thing about winter when you are a kid is when the neighboring school district jumps th...

Anything you still cannot cope with is therefor your own problem Douglas Adams quotes make me happy. The boys are back in school. I am back at the gym. The tree & decorations are packed. The menu for the next week has been planned. Laundry is being done. There are no more 'marathons' on TV. Routine has been re-established. AAAHHHHHH!! I am about to head out to the big town for a bunch of stock up shopping. To the Mennonite market for bulk baking goods, to Sams for bulk everything else, except meat (we just got 40lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts for the same price as bone skin on chicken thighs), to Michael's for sheets of beeswax to make candles. (Imbolc is coming up). To Barnes & Noble to find a journal of appropriate thickness to make a new 5 year journal. (I'm a few days late getting it together but I'm having a hell of a time finding the right sized book). I also need a wall calendar. Havoc has become obsessed with the Snuggie/Slanket (A...

I missed last week because I was in a car for 10 hours Saturday and 12 hours Sunday, so you are getting a mix of this week & that one. Sugar cookies, emphasis on the SUGAR Dinos trying not to wake Santa Fun in the pool A plethora of Lego City vehicles The rebels have arrived We had a very short, yet intense, flurry fall on the 31st First photo of the new year He got himself up there, but then couldn't get back down. Be sure to visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom for more Weekly Winners. I'm starting a new 365 Project for this year.  No theme this time, just glorious randomness. and probably dinosaurs.       

I'm not good with new year's resolutions because I tend to view every Monday as a day to begin again.  Most of my resolutions fall under the broad category of "BETTER".  I will be better at keeping up with the house cleaning. I will be better at sticking to my meal plan. I will be better about clipping & using coupons. I will be better at not snapping at the kids. My resolution for this year, if you can call it that, is to not just say I'll do better, but say HOW I will do better.  I will make a cleaning schedule, I'll put the coupons with my groery list, I'll count to 10. Whatever I need to make it happen.

This is the Jan 1 photo for my 2009 365 Photo Project Mayhem, stuck in a tree. So, which is more disturbing: A. We left a 4 year old unsupervised out in the yard long enough for him to get the swimming pool ladder from the shed in the background, haul it to the tree, and then climb up so high he can't climb back down. B. He was farsighted enough to go get a ladder to help him get into the tree C. Our reaction to his inability to climb down was to run inside and get the camera.   We had our usual NYE party last night. It was DH's 43rd birthday as well. It was too windy to have the bonfire we usually have, so 15 people crowded into the house. The kids took over the larger living room and the adults stood around in the kitchen most of the night.  I whacked the bejeebus out of my knee right before guests started arriving. Slammed it upward right into the sharp corner of my desk. There is a gate around my desk area & I was stepping over it at an odd angle. I ser...