I Wish

On March 9th the blogger prompt was:

I wish someone had told me

Begin your entry with "I wish someone had told me..."

I wish someone had told me that digital scrapbooking would be so addictive.
I wish someone had told me that I would have sleepless nights once I learned how to use adobe photoshop elements.
I wish someone had told me that there was a chance I could have triplets.
I wish someone had told me not to stay up late.
I wish someone had told me that I would be raising these kids alone.
I wish someone had told me the easiest way to keep the house clean.
I wish someone had told me how to handle tantrum toddlers.
I wish someone had told me how to back up my files. Note: I have a new harddrive yet it just sits there waiting for my husband to show me how to backup my files. I sure hope my computer doesn't crash before it gets backed up.

Here is my layout for that prompt.

Credits

It's a Miracle - Missing Ring Found

You all know by now that I lost my wedding band 2 days ago. I had looked all over my friend's house and my house with no luck. I even prayed to God that I would find it. I am behind on my laundry. I had 4 loads to fold that were in baskets on top of the washer/dryer. Four or 5 loads to still wash. One load in the washing machine and one in the dryer. When I went to take out the clothes from the dryer to fold guess what I saw right on top of the dried clothes? My ring, My ring! It was amongst the clean dried clothes. So no I did not have my ring on at the library. Nor did I have it on at Stacy's house. It's a miracle that I have found it again. I also learned how to use the micro setting on my camera and finally took a photo of it. I kept saying I wish I had a photo of my ring so now I do and I actually have the real ring back.

Lost Wedding Ring - Hope

I lost my wedding ring today. I prayed that I would find it. I searched and searched with no luck. Could it be at the library? Could it be in my car? Could it be at Stacy's house? Could it be in the garbage as we were painting and using baby wipes to get the paint off our hands? Where oh where could my ring have gone. I was so upset that I cried both at Stacy's house and again at home that caused a migrane headache again. I've been getting them more frequently lately. Maybe it's a sign I need to take a break. After putting the children to sleep for the night I took a Motrin and passed out at 8:30 pm. Waking up at 12:30 am. My husband came up to check on me because it is not like me to go to bed so early normally I'm up on the computer until 2 am. He hugged me and said not to keep my hopes up that my ring is gone and that he will get me a new one. How sweet is that?

This was not my first wedding ring. This was my 2nd one that he purchased for me for our 10 year anniversary because I could not wear my first ring because of the weight that I had gained from the triplets. It wasn't purchased in the USA. It was bought when we were in St. Thomas on vacation. Also this is not the first time in the past 2 years that I have lost it. I lost it once before. It took a week but it did turn up when I stopped searching for it. So I'm praying that it will turn up again.

I found this poem on the internet by Hayley Sales - it really portrays the feelings I am going through at this time in my life except for the broken engagement part. But wow, she even has the whining child in there and I so need a Great Escape!


The Great Escape
Today
has carved
me from head to toe
slicing
each reservoir
of serenity
into tiny shards of what used to be
a heart
Tomorrow
i feel
knocking at my door
already
But he’s the
sillohette
of a towering man who breaths
down my neck laughing
GET BACK!!
GET BACK!!
GET BACK!!!
I race
back to
yesterday, but yesterday
is a
whinning child crying out
every moment
I missed while wanting
a better moment
Tomorrow
Today
is all i have
but it
feels meaningless
a broken engagement
a lost wedding ring
a molded bouquet
How i long for the great escape

--------------------------------
PRAYER FOR HOPE
Lord, when all around me looks dark, remind me the bridge of hope will carry me over the present troubles, into the future You have promised. Amen.

What, then, can I count on, O Lord? In You my hope lies. Psalms 39:8

Childhood Birthdays

Describe one of your childhood birthdays. Compare it to your current birthday celebrations, what has stayed the same over time?

My birthday is in February so every year that I remember my party was cancelled because of the weather. It always snowed!

It continues to have bad weather now that I'm older. I used to have cake at my birthdays but this year I did not have a cake. Is it that I'm getting old or that my husband just forgot? He's 3 weeks younger than me so when it was his birthday I didn't give him a cake either. I did get an awesome gift a new digital camera with video though so I can't be mad at him for forgetting my cake.

Party Anyone?

Are you the partying type? Party? I am so not a party type. I do not drink, however, lately I've been considering it. When I attend a party I like to hide in the crowd. I do not like to draw attention to myself. I think that is why I am having a hard time dealing with the celebrity attention that the triplets have given to my life. I just don't like to be noticed and having triplets brings a lot of attention. When we are out in public we stand out in the crowd and it's like we have 3 heads or something. Why do people stare and make wise remarks? I'd much rather climb under a rock then be notice like I am now.

Write about a party you've had or attended. The last party I attended was for a 2 year old little boy, our cousin. It was a Spiderman theme. The tables had favors which were spiderman bags and inside the bags were candy and lots of lolly pops. Why do I remember the lolly pops? Well, because I don't give my children any candy except for when they are getting their hair cut so it's more like a treat for them to keep them quite and be good. This day all they ate were those lolly pops. The food that was served was Kosher. There were bagels, tuna fish, egg salad and noodle koogle. I gave them bagels since they do not eat that other stuff. They did have cake too so it was a sugar high for sure that day. The entertainment was really cool. They had a woman who played and sang songs and then she gave out these musical instruments to all the children to play with. The kids loved it. Of course, they are familiar with music time since I take them to the library for those type of activities.

Ever wanted to be the recipient of a surprise party? Now is your chance to let your family know! Nope no interest in a surprise party. I did have a surprise bridal shower once. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the location I noticed my mom's car in the parking lot so it was a big give away that it was my shower. For my baby shower I actually planned it since we had to have it early and we had it in my house so I wouldn't have to lug 3 high chairs, 3 play pens, 3 cribs, etc. etc. back to the house. Speaking of surprises my neighbor just turned 40. How do I know? Well, her husband had signs all over the neighborhood. How embarrassing is that? Well, it gets even better. As I saw the signs I decided to drive past her house because I thought she was having a party or something well, in front of her house she has 2 trees. Hanging from her trees were pink bras and again more signs saying she was 40. Could you imagine? I certainly would be so embarrassed. Not only is turning 40 rough but for the entire neighborhood to know you are 40 that's embarrassing. I have 3 more years till I'm 40 and I so hope my husband doesn't advertise it to the world.

Babies, I Hate You

Today it was in the 60's so when we returned from the MOPs meeting we had our lunch in the backyard sitting at the baby picnic table. It was only about 12:30 pm when we arrived back home. So after eating our lunch I allowed the kids to play a bit more in the yard while I brought out my computer to write my blog entry for Wed. While I was writing the kids started to fight. They normally fight so it was no surprise to me. They screamed and cried over the toy stroller that we have only 2 of and there are, of course, 3 of them. I always have to break up the fight and persuade them to play with something else. It can become loud at times. Whenever there is no noise I know that they are in some sort of trouble.

While we were in the yard the little boy who lives behind us was in his yard playing and he kept saying, "Be Quite!" "Be Quite" "Babies, Be Quite". The little boy must be about 4 years old because he wasn't in school so I'm just guessing here. Our yards are separated by a strip of trees and then the fence on our side but we can see through slightly to their yard.

Well, the fighting did not stop and then all of a sudden I hear from the little boy, "BABIES, I HATE YOU." He repeats it over and over again. I know that he was referring to my children as who else would he be talking to or about? I must be over sensitive because this has been bothering me for like 3 hours now and I figured I'd write it down to release it from my mind. After hearing this a couple of times I decided it was time to bring my children in for their nap. I just wanted the little boy to stop shouting those painful words so my children wouldn't hear it and repeat it. I don't think it affected them because I haven't heard them say anything and they are at the stage where they repeat things so I'm hoping that they didn't pick up on what he has said. Time will tell.

Peculiar Gift

What's the most peculiar gift you've ever received? Describe the scene when you opened it and your reaction.

At my bridal shower I opened up a box which contained the ugliest glass shaped dombs with a metal holder that looked like it was rusting. At the time almost 12 years ago I did not know what those glass dombs were for so I just smiled and said thank you. For years I stored them in my basement with all the other china and glass things I received from the shower. When I joined flylady a couple of years later I did actually throw those pieces of glass and metal in the garbage only to find out that they were actually candle holders. I guess they were just not my taste at the time and still to this day I think they were ugly.

Names

Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?
My first and middle name remains the same. The only thing that has changed is my last name when I married my husband I took on his last name.

If you could change your name (first or middle, no last names for safety please!), what would it be? I never really thought about changing my name except that I like the name Rebecca (Rivka). Biblical: Rebekah, noted in the Genesis account as a maiden of beauty, modesty, and kindness, became the wife of Abraham's son, Isaac. I couldn't use it for my children's names because I took it as my hebrew name when I converted.

Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?) For my first name I don't know the answer to this one. I guess I will have to ask my parents the next time I see them. I do know that my middle name is named after my Aunt Lynn.

Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why? Well, I already mentioned that I loved the name Rebecca (read above). I also love Victoria, Ashley, Aiden and Justin. I have used all the names I really liked in my children's names. Nope, Naomi was not one that I liked. I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either. My husband named her. It means "pleasant one; above all, beauty". Her middle name we made up as we needed a D name and since I hated Danielle we took the name Aiden and added a D to make Daiden.

I hate the names Danielle, Daniel, Samantha, Lori and Linda. I'm sure I can go on and on here. Why I hate those names I don't really know. Maybe because they remind me of people I met years ago or I just don't like the way they sound.

Remembering Childhood

List five childhood accomplishments (straight A's, training the dog, etc.).
1. Regents Diploma (high school)
2. Honor Roll (middle school)
3. Graduated 6 months early (high school)
4. Was on the Year Book Committee (high school)
5. Fell head over heals in Love (high school - my husband)

And..list five favorite childhood foods - get one of those this week.
1. Homemade Chicken Rice Soup - this was made from my first boyfriend's mother. I never got her recipe.
2. Very thin pancakes with butter and sugar rolled up. My next door neighbor made this for me often. It was my favorite. To this day I still put butter and sugar on my pancakes, however, I can never get them very thin as I remembered them.
3. Pizza. I remember doing a lot of take out when I was younger because my mom did not cook. My dad did cook and still does. I guess that's why I like to do take out myself but lately we are trying to cut back on our expenses as this way of living is way too expensive.
4. Soft Pretzel. While in high school I would live on the soft pretzels that were sold right outside the gym area. They were just regular soft pretzels with salt on them. Today you can find them with all different types of toppings. Now, I'm craving a pretzel.
5. Tea Tassies cookies. During the Christmas holidays I remember making tons of different cookies with my dad. It was a tradition that we did every year. My favorite cookie was the tea tassies. It was a recipe that I had gotten from my friend Paulette's Mom back in middle school. I still have that recipe somewhere and occasionally make it during the holiday time. Actually, my sister made it this past holiday.

Childhood Room

Describe your childhood room. Why did you like it? What was your favorite thing you liked? What about your room now?

My childhood bedroom was in the attic. The walls were slanted like in a barn. They had red panels that my dad put up. On those walls I had millions of posters taped up. I think they were of Duran Duran and John Stamos and maybe some Days of Our Lives actors and actresses. Yes, I watched them back when I was a teen. I also remember that I had satin things hanging from the ceilings. Like balloons, hearts, etc. back then I think they were popular. The favorite thing that I liked was that my dad made me a sliding glass mirrored closet for my clothes. If you went into one side of the closet it would lead you to a hidden trapped door where I had my old toys such as dolls and barbies. When I was really young I would play in that hidden closet. I had a queen size bed. It was a set that my mom purchased 2nd hand. It was light brown in color. The bedroom set came with me when I got married but when we purchased our first house we went and got a king size bed pictured below. My old set is being used by Justin today.

My room now is really boring. We have only white walls which we never painted. There is nothing at all on them not even any pictures. I do have a walk in closet for storing all my clothes that I share with my husband. It needs more shelves for our stuff though. My bed is a king size bed and we have a big headboard with mirrors and draws and cabinets where I store my books. We have a ceiling fan with light which I think is at times spooked because sometimes the light will go on by itself and turn off by itself so I don't leave the light switch on. It's on a remote so maybe one of my neighbors has the same remote and is controlling our light. We are the first owners of this house so that's the only logical explanation I can come up with. Our bed sheets are normally either blue like pictured or green in color. I sometimes use a duvet cover or I got one of those bed in the bags sets that I alternate from time to time. The colors are usually light in color because I did try to get a dark blue or dark green and the hair from my 2 cats just attracts to the dark colors and looked awful after one day. So I stay with the light colors.

Behind the - Bathtime with Triplets

Expose a funny or interesting "behind the scenes" story from your job or home. What really happens when no one else is around that we wouldn't expect? (Or maybe we would expect it, so you can confirm it for us!)

As most of you already know I am on my own raising the triplets. Yes, no help from my husband at all. He works 24/7 to support us so he's never around. As they are getting older I am finding that it's not getting easier. It is exactly the opposite, it's getting harder. They are getting into more and more stuff and the noise level in our house has definately raised up a notch with all the screaming and whining from them fighting.

At least 2 times a week I attempt bathtime. How is bathtime done with triplets? Well, I am still doing one child at a time in the kitchen sink. Yes, they still fit in my kitchen sink. They now fight on who's going to get their bath first. They run in the kitchen and hang onto my leg screaming and crying until I pick one. I try to alternate who goes first so it's fair. I play a movie or tv show for the other two to entertain them while I am bathing the one. Yesterday, was bathtime. Victoria is potty training so she ran into the bathroom while I was bathing her sister. She is almost considered potty trained because she now can do it on her own until she is done. When she is done she carries the tray out to me to show me that she had success because she wants a treat (M&M's). I am giving them treats for success. Well, this time she didn't come out. I didn't know she was in the bathroom until I was finished with Naomi. Victoria came out screaming that she was wet! WET!!!!!!! At this point my blood pressure is rising. WET!!!! How? After dressing Naomi I go to see why she is wet. I step into the bathroom. What do I see? Well, the floor is drenched. I have a flood of water all over the floor. She apparently was playing in the toilet again. I quickly wipe up the floor. I'm fuming at this point in time. Yes, lately I've been losing my temper a lot. My mind is racing. These thoughts are rushing into my head. "Why can't my husband take 1/2 hour of his time to watch them so I can do bathtime without any incidents." "Why God do you make him work so much?" "Don't you see I need his help". "By some miracle can you please at least give him some slack so he doesn't have to work so hard to support us?" "And please give me the patience so I don't hurt my children."

Well, the bathroom floor is now clean. The other two have been bathed and now it's time for storytime. After the stories they go to sleep and Mommy is left with guilt for being a raving lunatic from screaming at spilt water on the floor. Oh, this has not happened only the one time. This has happened before. I should be used to it by now. Every time I am occupied with one child the other two seem to get into some type of trouble. It may not be the water in the toilet but it could be poopie decorating, whole boxes of cereal spilled onto the floor and dragged throughout the house, bananas opened and smeared on the carpet and couch, now don't get me started on the amount of toys that are thrown all over the house where there are occasions that I wind up stepping on them and hurting my foot in the process. It's never ending messes at our house to pick up or clean up. At least I made it through another day. They are all safe and asleep. And the new day starts tomorrow. What will they get into next?

Music

What does music mean to me? Well, when I was growing up, I learned many different musical instruments by taking lots of lessons. What instruments did I learn? I learned the guitar, accordion, clarinet and hand bells. The guitar I quit because of the callouses I was forming on my fingers. It was not fun.












The accordion was such a silly instrument to learn but I did so just because my dad wanted me to. I know stop laughing yes I did learn this funny looking instrument. The instrument was heavier than I was.















The clarinet I took lessons in junior high school for the band. I hated the clarinet because I would get light headed from blowing. I don't remember how long I played for but it was probably one year.








The hand bells I played in the church choir. The hand bells I loved but stopped playing because I got too old for the age group that it was for. If I had to do any of the 4 instruments that I learned again I would probably do the hand bells again. I really wish my parents took photos of me playing them back then. I have not found any photos at all. I remember going at night for practice and then playing them for the Christmas holidays. A couple of times we played for the strawberry festival during the summer time and there was one time we even went to New York City on a trip to play during the holiday season. Now the sad part is that I don't remember where we went to play. Sure wish I journaled when I was younger.

Why is music coming to me now? Why am I remembering this? Well, my in-laws are giving us their piano. I always wanted to learn how to play so now I will have the opportunity to do so. I already know how to read music but, of course, I will be slow at it since I haven't done it in a long time. Will it be like riding a bike? We will so see! This last photo is of my children sitting in front of my in-laws piano during Hanukkah. Maybe one of them will want to learn as well. I know playing the piano will take lots of practice. My mom thinks I will be good at it since I use my fingers all the time to type. He! He! Yes, I do type fast. Probably 80 words a minute still.

Spring - Go with the Flow

Go with the flow: Choose a prompting word from the following list and write about whatever comes to mind for 10 minutes without stopping.

Prompting Words List:

Rebirth, renew, fresh, spring, wet, budding, growth, beginning, March, April, May, Easter Sunday, rabbits, eggs, April showers, May flowers, lent, Jesus, traditions, holiday, candy, jellybeans, chocolate rabbits, baskets.

April is a busy month. Lots to do. The calendar is full of play dates. I think I have only one day that is empty which will be filled with a family play date. Easter is at my moms so my sister says. Mom did not tell me as of yet so it could change. Egg hunt is at Stacy's house a MOMs club member. I have the eggs and the stuffing just need to find time to stuff them and get them ready for April 3 I think it is or is it the 4th? It's written on the calendar so I can remember. What else are we doing in April. Yes, we are going to see Elmo live. I haven't told the kids yet as they will bother me until it is time to go so I figured I'd keep quite until that day. My mom will stay over the night before to help me get them to the theatre. Oh, my sister and my niece and grandmother and dad are also going. It should be fun. My dad's birthday is in April. My grandmother's birthday is also in April. The kids will be 32 months old in April. I still have 5 more minutes to ramble on and on about April. I sure hope we don't have that much rain. There are many activities planned at parks in the month of April. I sure hope I start to see some flowers blooming around. We had snow this past week so everything is still that really dull green color. The only flowers I have seen are ones which they sell at the plant stores. I haven't seen any flowers as I walked around the block with the kids. Speaking of walking around the block I don't think I will be doing that again any time soon. The last time I walked around Victoria ran off and Naomi got too tired and I had to carry her meanwhile my heart was beating so very fast as I was afraid Victoria would run in the street. 2 more minutes! Man 10 minutes is a long time to write. April, April. What else can I write about April? Oh, yeah! I'm going to an all day scrapbook event. Yes, an all day one. My mom is going to watch the children. I can't wait. I asked for an electrical outlet so I can bring my laptop and digital scrapbook the day away. I so need a break from the kids so this I am certainly looking forward to attending. 10 minutes is up!

DSP Celebrates 3 Years

Digitalscrapbookplace.com celebrates 3 years. They are having a big birthday party. Here is the cake that I decorated for the celebration.

Credits.

Another Pet Lovers Freebie

Calico Designs has another cat/dog freebie. Click on image to get to their website. There is even a tutorial on how to add the cats/dogs name to the name tags. Really cool.

More "G" Words

11. Grouchy. I am feeling a bit grouchy today. Why, well, I had time to take a shower but when it was time to dry my hair my blow dryer blew out so I'm having my hair air dry. I got the kids dressed and down for breakfast and while getting their juice (orange for today). I didn't realize that I took the cover off the orange juice and I picked it up and shook it. Yes, I was covered in orange juice. My shirt, my pants, my hair. I did not scream though. I'm actually sitting here with my bra on as I'm washing my cloths. It's only 10 am. The kids are handing me their coats. They love to go out, however, today I have nothing planned. I sure hope the rest of the day doesn't go like it did this morning.

12. Gold. I'm not much of a jewelry person. I wear my wedding band and my gold post earrings on a daily basis. There are only a few times a year that I actually put on a necklace. I never ever wear a bracelet but always wear my Italian charm watch. If I had to choose from gold and silver, I would pick gold. I never ever wear costume jewelry.

13. Gardening. I hate to garden. Pulling up weeds is the worst! I hate to get my hands dirty. When my mother comes to visit she maintains the front of our house for us. We don't even cut our lawn we pay someone to do it for us.

14. Gemstone. My favorite gemstone is Amethyst. It is also my birthstone. Of course, my favorite color is also purple. When I was picking out my wedding band I actually wanted Amethyst in my setting but wound up just getting diamonds. My pre-engagement ring, however, does have Amethyst in it. It is a heart shaped ring that has diamonds and Amethysts alternating around the heart.

15. Groups. I belong to many support groups. Most are related to raising triplets and some are for my scrapbooking.

• MOPS - Mothers of Preschoolers. I joined back in October. I attend 2 times a month a meeting where they watch my children and I socialize with other mothers and they have a speaker or movie about parenting and then discussion group and at each meeting we make a craft to carry home. It's been a lifesaver for me since it's the only real time I get alone without the kids. the kids love it too as they think they are attending school.
• MOMS club - Mothers Offering Mothers Support. This is a local group that I joined back in October as well. This club has once a month meetings where they have a guest speaker and the children play while they speak with us all in the same room so it can get very chaotic at times. I am very involved in this group. I am now officially on the committee as photographer and scrapbooker for the club. This club has activities every day of the week except for Saturday and Sunday. It's a great way to get my kids out of the house and they really enjoy playing with other children. This club also has Moms Night Out that are really fun to attend. I try to make each one. Last month they had a spa night were we all went for a massage! This month it's just dinner but next month we will be attending Super Supers. Can't wait to see what that's all about as I'm always struggling with the question, "What's for Dinner?" At the Super Supers we will be making 6 meals which we will freeze for the week. It is a bit expensive $135 I think for the 3 meals but just think I won't have to do the grocery shopping as they do all that for you.
• Triplet Moms Clubs. I belong to the local triplet moms club. This club meets once a month for dinner (Moms Night out). This group consists of moms who have triplets of all different ages so there is no triplet get together except for the yearly picnic which happens once a year usually in August. But it is nice to get to a dinner and discuss the issues that I'm dealing with now and most of the moms have already gone through what I'm going through and can give you tips on how to handle the situation. They survived!
• Yahoo groups Triplet Mom Same Age Group. This one I'm most active in. This group is of triplet moms who have the same age triplets as mine. It's a fun support group as we all are in the same boat so to speak. It's nice to know that I'm not alone here with the tantrums, whining, potty training and poop parties. Thanks guys for all your support.
• Yahoo groups Triplet Moms. This one I belong to and only occasionally post to as it's very very active and I really don't have the time to read every one's posts but it's available to me if I need it.
• Yahoo groups Scrapals. I have been a member of scrapals for about 8 years when I first learned how to scrapbook. I even met some of the woman in the group before my children were born. My first time to California. It was a scrapbook retreat. Very fun. Waving to my friends here. I used to be very active in this group but with the triplets I haven't been posting as much but it's nice to have some friends who share the same passion for scrapbooking.

Letter of the Day is "G"

1. Girls. I have 2 girls. They are not identical and their personalities are way different too. Both are little princesses in their own special way.

Naomi. She is the baby. She is very demanding and serious. She also whines all day long especially when she wants something or if one of the other two are taking her toys away or bothering her. She also tattletales. She is the first one to tell you something is wrong and who did it.
Victoria. She is the oldest triplet. She is the most vocal. You can actually have a conversation with her and she will talk back to you. She also now sings songs along with you. She loves that song 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. She counts to five. She likes to tease her sister and take her toys away so I call her my little antagonizer.


2. Garage. We have a 2 car garage. Before the triplets were born I was able to get both my car and my husband's car in the garage but now that they are here the extra equipment that came with the triplets takes up one of the car spaces. So my husband's car is in our driveway. My goal this summer is to get rid of the extra strollers, high chairs, other things in the garage to get the car back into it. I will either sell on e-bay or go to a consignment shop with all this stuff. I can't give it to my sister since my niece has already outgrown this stuff.

3. Gates. I have 3 gates in my house. One which separates my dining room from my kitchen. Another which is at the bottom of the steps and the 3rd is a very long one which separates the foyer from the family room. These gates are necessary to keep the triplets confined to 1/2 of the first floor. They have access to the kitchen, family room, bathroom, and play room during the day time.

4. Garbage. Why are the triplets so fascinated with the garbage? I have to keep the garbage pail up on top of my kitchen island because little hands keep taking things out of the garbage. I tried today to keep it down on the floor yet again they managed to put their toys in it and then take things out that they weren't supposed to. You would think by age 2 1/2 they wouldn't do that any more. So again up on top of the island it went.

Another thing about garbage. Why is it only 50 % of the time my husband will remember to take it out to the curb. When I wake up at 8 am and here the truck it's already too late to run out the pails that are filled with garbage and dirty diapers. I so hate when he misses a pick up because then our garage reeks from the smell of diapers! Yuck.

5. Goat. What is it about goats? I rented this book called, "On Top of Spaghetti" by Paul Brett Johnson. While reading it every time I turn the page the triplets say "Who's that?" and point to the goat. I tell them it's a goat every day. You would think they would remember what the animal was after repeating it page after page. Okay, it is a funny looking cartoon character picture of a goat in that book.

6. Green. Well, the other day story time at the library theme was "It's Not Easy Being Green". I really thought that she would read books about frogs or the grinch. But she read books about St. Patricks Day instead. Silly me forgot that St. Patricks day was approaching. Anyway, the kids had fun making shamrocks with tissue paper.

7. Giraffe. When the triplets first saw a giraffe at the safari last summer Naomi kept screaming and holding her head. I just don't know why? Maybe she was scared of them because they were so tall. They actually came up to the car and she was screaming. Wonder if she will do that again this year when we go to the safari again.

8. Guitar. Bet you didn't know that when I was younger I took guitar lessons? I did it for a year. It didn't stick though. Didn't like the callouses it formed on my hands. I couldn't play anything now though.

9. Girl Scout. When I was little I was in the girl scouts. I started out as a brownie and then went into the girl scouts. It was something I enjoyed doing. I liked earning the different badges and doing all the arts and crafts. I hope when my children get older they too join the girl scouts and boy scouts. It would be fun to be a scout leader. Bet I volunteer when it is time for my children to join.

10. Geese. We saw some geese at the lake near the library the other day. I told my kids they were ducks. I guess because they know how to say ducks and that ducks say quack quack. I should have corrected myself and told them they are geese. The next time we are out I will tell them and show them the difference.

Veggies Anyone?

Did you, or did you not, eat your vegetables as a youngster? What sorts of veggies will and won't you eat nowadays? Home garden grown, organic only, or anything goes?

When I was younger that's all I liked to eat was veggies. My sister was the meat eater and I was the veggie eater. Most days I would trade my meat for her veggies. I used to eat tons of veggies before I was pregnant with the triplets. Broccoli was my favorite. However, I would get very bad gas pains and didn't realize that broccoli was the cause of my pain until I looked up what was causing my discomfort and low and behold broccoli is the number one gas contributing factor. So I stopped eating it and only on occasion I will have broccoli and suffer the consequences afterwards. The one veggie that I eat a lot of now is canned green beans. I buy cases of it when Shoprite has their can-can sale. I also eat zucchini and eggplant. I'm not much of a salad eater but from time to time I will order one at a restaurant. I like the kind that has tons of weird things in it like sun dried tomatoes, olives, cranberries, tangerines, croutons, etc. etc. Not particularly in the same salad. I don't grow my own veggies. I go for the canned version which is fast, on rare occasions I get the frozen kind and very often I try to get the fresh kind in the grocery store.

Descriptive Writing Skills

Let's practice our descriptive writing skills.

Write out, in detail, what you did for the last five minutes before you sat down at the computer. Now write a second paragraph about the same five minutes, but try to include even more details.

Ambitious? Do it again, with more!

I was sitting at my computer for the last 3 hours and then when I started this blogger prompt I started to hear one of my girls coughing. I sat for a few minutes wondering if I should go up to her but when she continued to cough I decided to go up. I brought up cough medication. When I opened up the door I found my daughter Naomi standing at her crib side still coughing. I gave her some cough medication and told her to lay down. She asked for some water. So I came back downstairs to get her some water and then back upstairs again. The coughing has now stopped.

I was sitting at my computer for the last 3 hours checking e-mails, downloading digital files, coding digital files and doing a blogging catch up. When I started this blogger prompt I started to hear one of my girls coughing. It was a hacking cough at first. Then it got louder and more frequent. I sat for a few minutes wondering if I should go up to her but when she continued to cough I decided to go up. I got some cough medication ready and brought that up with me. When I opened up the door I found my daughter Naomi standing at her crib side still coughing. I gave her some cough medication and told her to lay down and try to go back to sleep. She asked for some water. I told her I would get her some and so I came back downstairs to get her a sippy cup that I filled with ice and water and then I went back upstairs again. I told her to drink some water and I went back downstairs to finish my blogging. The coughing has now stopped.

I was sitting at my computer for the last 3 hours checking e-mails, downloading digital files, coding them and trying to catch up on my blog prompts that I didn't have time to do in the past couple of days. When I started this blogger prompt I heard one of my girls coughing. It was a hacking cough at first then it got louder and more frequent. I sat for a few minutes wondering if I should go up to her but when she continued to cough I decided to go up to check on her. I got some cough medication ready before heading up the stairs and brought that with me. At the top of the steps I turned on the hallway light. I then opened up the door to the girls room and I found my daughter Naomi standing in her crib still coughing. I gave her some cough medication and told her to lay down and try to go back to sleep. She asked for some water. I told her I would get her some and so I came back downstairs to get her a sippy cup that I filled with ice and water from the refrigerator. I then went back upstairs to give it to her as I promised I would. I told her to drink some water and to lay down. I covered her with her Dora blanket and rubbed her back. I then looked into Victoria's crib since they share the same room. I was afraid all that coughing from Naomi would have woken her up. She was still sleeping, however, her pj's were thrown on the floor next to her crib. I lifted up her blanket to make sure she still had her diaper on. She did, thankfully for that duct tape. She has been found naked on numerous occasions and sometimes is drenched in urine. Luckily tonight is not one of those nights. I turned and left their room shutting the door behind me. Then shutting the light and I went back downstairs to finish my blog entry. The coughing has now stopped.

Home Improvements

--Home
What's the one thing your dream home must have? Two dishwashers. I am constantly using my dishwasher and there are days that I not only run it once a day, it's ran twice a day. When the children were babies it was ran so many times that we actually had to replace the one which came with the house and it was only 5 years old at that time! I still put everything in my dishwasher except for my pots and pans. I forever wish I had dishwasher safe pots though. I so hate doing the dishes night after night.

--Improvement
What's the one thing you would change about your current home? New bed, couch? New carpet or wallpaper? Or something major like an addition? We built our home 7 years ago and the one thing I wish we had done was put the extension on our garage. We only got the 2 car garage. To add the 3rd car extension at the time it would have been only a $10,000 option but to do it now it would be $30,000. That's a big difference in price. At the time we fit both our cars in the garage but now that the children are here one part of the garage we store the children's unused stuff and now only one of our cars can fit into the garage. My goal this coming summer is to clean out the garage to get our other car back into the garage again.

--Shows
Do you ever watch home improvement shows? I used to watch home improvement shows when I didn't have any children. HGTV was my favorite channel at that time. But now that I have the children the Noggin channel is on most of the day and at night I only have time to watch whatever TIVO taped for me. Usually Days of Our Lives and then maybe one or two shows like Desperate House Wives, Scrubs, ER and According to Gym. Don't have any more time to watch shows.