Underwear for Peace

I have had a bad case of bloggers block lately. I will start thinking of a post in my mind and I decide it sucks so I haven't really been inspired to write anything. The kids have had a lingering virus lately so between visits to the ER (Leah), frequent doses of Motrin, and constant waiting on them hand and foot I haven't really been feeling creative.
The subject of this post though is driven by desperation. My three year old has spent the entire summer complaining how most of her clothes annoy her. They are itchy, too tight, or simply unwearable. I thought it was just a phase that she would grow out of but I think she is truly bothered by seams and snug clothing. She has driven me insane on most mornings trying to find something to wear. Getting her to wear any pants, long sleeved shirts, socks or sneakers has been impossible and I know what people are thinking when we show up to the park on a cold morning in a sleeveless dress and crocs. I am wondering how many times of her freezing to death it will take before she admits she needs warmer clothes.
The clothes issue I can work with but recently she has been complaining about her underwear and has flat out refused to wear them a couple of times. This would be ok if we were staying home or just running to store but she really needs to wear them to school and I am weary from all the battles. So I am on the search for 'Morgan Approved' underwear. I have tried buying her a bigger size but she hates the way they dig around her legs and I don't think they make boy shorts for toddlers. I have ordered her some from Hanna Andersson (expensive!) and am going to have a coniption if she won't wear them. My next idea will be to buy her some boys underwear and see how that goes.
This is what my life has been reduced to: Spending hours on finding a picky three year old the perfect underwear just so I can have some peace!
Any suggestions?

Mouse Update

I created a humane trap for our little gray visitor but unfortunately he did not take the bait. I set up the trap for a week but either he was too lazy to venture down the tunnel or too smart. I was afraid that if not caught soon our single mouse would quickly turn into a more serious infestation. So Mr Mouse has gone to visit the big cheese in the sky courtesy of a very fast (and hopefully instant) traditional spring mouse trap. I thank the hubby for taking care of this while I was away this week since I definitely would not had the courage to do it myself.
I would still recommend this idea of a humane trap to anyone that has a mouse in the house before you try to kill the poor thing. Here is a link to how to make your own humane mouse trap.

Of Mice and Men....or Dogs

We have a mouse in the house. I have not seen said mouse or heard any suspicious sounds but this is how I know:

Hubby insisted that the black small crumbs on my kitchen counter was indeed mouse poop.

The small holes in some bags of food on the floor of my pantry were not victims of Luke's constant mission of trying to eat himself to death but due to little, gnawing, mouse teeth.

I did see a mouse in our garage recently, probably was disturbed by the construction in the back yard and now it seems he has moved somewhere in the kitchen. Horrified by the thought of some little, grey, furry rodent invading my kitchen every night I have to trap the little bugger. Yes, this is me the animal lover. I realized that Libby, the dog that has attacked every type of small wildlife in my backyard, is slipping in her old age. The dog doesn't miss one leaf blowing by the window but is oblivious to the fact that her territory has been invaded by a active rodent. Ack.

So after a quick Google search I found a homemade humane contraption that will catch him and I won't have to deal with a dead rodent or one that is half alive stuck to a glue trap (ugh!).

I set it up last night but so far he has not taken the bait. Will set it up again tonight and will post when (if!) I catch him.

Great Mysteries in Life

These are the thoughts that have popped into my head recently about the mysteries in my life....

1. Why is the 'Fast Play' option on a Disney movie much, much slower than just going to the DVD menu and pressing 'Play'?

2. How is it that a man can insulate an entire room in one day but can't make two kids lunches in a space of two hours?

3. Why does it always seem that when a car accident is caused by a drunk driver, the drunk driver always survives? Is it because they are drunk? Has anyone done a study on this?

4. How do people figure that exercise makes you more energetic? It just makes me tired.

5. Why do manufacturers put so many nooks and crannies in sippy cups that require a toothpick to try to clean stale milk out of?

6. Why does it take more than two parents to handle two children?

7. Why can't we fire all the politicians in New Jersey and start fresh? I figure a good clean sweep is what we need. Oh, well they did arrest 44 of them, so I guess that is a start.

8. How does my house get to be full of clutter in the space of day, everyday?

Anybody have any more mysteries?

The Rainbow Bridge

I have blogged about my aging Golden Retriever, Luke, before. However, this post is a tribute to my mum's dog, Gertie, who recently passed away.

When I was a kid we had a big, black dog named Churchill (who was named after the tank, not the man) but after he passed my parents did not want to get another. "We will never find another like him" was what I remember hearing. So two countries, a divorce, and many years later my mum decided that she was ready to finally get another dog. I was volunteering for the Gloucester County Animal Shelter at the time so mum came to visit one day and took a shine to the very large doberman mix that I was babysitting. He was a young, active dog and I did not think that this would be a good fit for her but mum was insistent. However, another person had first dibs on the doberman mix and went with a different family. Mum was disappointed.

A couple of weeks later, Mum and I visited the shelter one night and visited with several of the dogs there. We saw a lovely hound mix that was just not right and then we visited with a Rottweiler that was five years old. We took her outside on a leash so that we could get a better feel for the dog. The dog was very relaxed and seemed so happy to get any kind of attention. The worker at the shelter told us that the Rottweiler had been labeled as 'cage aggressive' by some of the other workers at the shelter but that she had never seen an signs of it. Mum and I stared at this happy, smiley dog in disbelief and Mum promptly decided that this was her new dog.

So Gertie came home a couple of days later after being spayed. We discussed the chance that she could exhibit some aggressiveness and that Mum should be firm and careful with her. After all, she was a cage aggressive Rottweiler!! We should not have worried, Gertie was a model dog, the most un-Rottweiler I have ever met. She loved to be walked and ride in the car. She went hiking like she was born wearing a backpack and even tried swimming in the pool for a while.

Gertie was totally unfazed by chaos, of course the fact that she turned out to be quite deaf helped with that. She was a slow, laid back kind of dog that everyone loved to pet but could be whipped up into quite a frenzy by the mere sight of a flashlight. There is nothing funnier than seeing a ninety pound Rottweiler spinning around like a mechanical bull after the sunlight shining through the chandelier.

So here's to Gertie, the dog that took over where Churchill left off. May your days be bright at the Rainbow Bridge and the hot dogs plentiful.

Not me Tuesday!

A blog that I follow normally does a 'Not Me Monday' activity but I am as usual a day late and a dollar short. The idea is to blog about the embarrassing or lazy things that I did (not) do this past week. This is my first ever recap of the things that I did not do.

I certainly did not pretend not to notice as my Golden Retriever swiped some of Morgan's cereal out of her breakfast bowl so I did not have to get up to get her more. I also did not let the same dog drink out of Leah's empty bottle because it was keeping her quiet and entertained for more than five minutes.

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I did not use a onesie out of the laundry hamper after I peed because there was no toilet paper. I would never do something so gross to avoid having to run down the stairs with my pants around my ankles.

I did not let the dogs pee on my husbands beloved front lawn because he annoyed me by not taking out said dogs. Nor did I recap that story to a friend and laugh hysterically.

I did not put earplugs in my ears after trying for two hours to get my 10 month old to sleep unsuccessfully. And I didn't feel guilty in the slightest after I discovered she had a double ear infection. I am cold like that.

Ha!! Pretty good week....

The Alcohol Lesson

I read a comment on the front of my local newspaper, The Courier Post, the other day that got me thinking. In fact I was surprised at how different this point of view was from my own. Of course, I am usually shocked that not everyone agrees with me all of the time. It was from a mother that said she was shocked that her friend was drinking a wine cooler in front of her daughter and let her have a sip. She even mentioned that she had thought about calling DYFS about it but decided that it was too extreme. You think?

Frankly, I am surprised that women with children are not drunk more often. After a day full of excruciating conversations with three year olds and hours spent dragging the nine month old off of various objects I could easily dive into a vat of beer and spend a few minutes chugging but I digress :-)

I used to drink a fair amount on weekends (before children) and rarely touched a drop during the week. Now I am more

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likely to have a single beer after the kids go to bed a couple of nights a week and maybe two on a weekend night. It is not often that they do see me have an alcoholic beverage but that is not by design just a desire to savor my drink in peace.
I feel that if you hide the fact that you do indeed imbibe responsibly you are doing a disservice to your kids. I am not suggesting that you get loaded in front of them but show them a good example of enjoying a treat (one that is for adults only). Alcohol is a fact of life after you turn 21 and lets face it, before that even. If you hide the fact that you drink alcohol or make it a mysterious subject you are only encouraging the taboo factor that will make it irresistible to kids.