Think this marriage will last?

YES! What great fun... And that's what a wedding should be, right? Fun! A celebration! I love it.

Week 1 of 7 - Complete!

I survived the first week of fulltime babysitting for Mr. B. Not only did I survive, but I was quite amazed at how easy the week actually was. Of course, having Jeff work from home may have something to do with it. Mr. B will play quietly in Jeff's office for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, which gives me a break and let's me keep up with at least some of the daily household needs. Vacation Bible School didn't go quite as planned. Mr. B was fine on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday when I took him, he was excited to go, hopped in the car with no problem, hopped out of the car when we arrived and ran to his "class room" - and then freaked out on me. Complete meltdown. I did eventually leave him there, but we were both unhappy that I did. Later we talked about it, and I think Mr. B accidently got kicked in the face by another child, and when he went in that room and saw the kid again, it scared him bigtime. I talked to him about "accidents happen" and the girl didn't do it on purpose, but he wasn't having any of it. He did not refuse to go on Thursday, but I could see in his eyes and his attitude that he really really didn't want to go. So I gave him the option of going to VBS or going grocery shopping with me (which is not one of his favorite things to do) and he chose grocery shopping. On Friday we went to the once-a-year Hammacher-Schlemmer warehouse sale. This is an event both Jeff and I look forward to each year, and we usually come away with some real bargains -- of stuff we don't need... If you don't know H/S they normally sell very high quality goods and this warehouse sale has those goods at 75% off and more. Last year I bought a tabletop steam iron/press for $25.00, for example. But this year I decided I would only buy things that I could use for Christmas gifts. The result? I came out of the biggest and best sale of the year with nothing! LOL I think I deserve a bumper sticker for this! "I bought nothing at the Hammacher-Schlemmer Warehouse Sale"! Other than that, our week was uneventful. We went to one yard sale, where we bought a Candyland game (We played one game - he won) and a Bingo game. Mr. B and I practiced writing numbers and letters, I taught him to play "Go Fish" with "big people" playing cards (he won), we took care of our tomato and green pepper plants, we made up his breakfast and lunch menues for the week before we went grocery shopping (teaching him to shop from a list, not just go and buy buy buy), and we did a bit of "cooking". I mentioned before that Mr. B is an extremely fussy eater, and fruits and vegetables are really falling by the wayside and I wanted to work on getting him to eat better. So we decided to make a fruit smoothie - and he absolutely loved it. Here is "his" recipe: Mr. B's Blueberry Banana Smoothie In a blender, put: 6 ice cubes Use the blender to turn them into crushed ice before adding: 1/4 cup blueberries 1/2 banana 1 container S/F vanilla yogurt (I use CarbMaster yogurt) Blend it up good, pour and enjoy! We also looked up smoothie recipes on the Internet and will go grocery shopping on Monday for more fruits to try in our smoothies. He wants to try peaches and strawberries. It's all good! So today is "Catch Up Day" as far as housework goes. I have quite a To Do List for the weekend, though I would like to find some time to do some quilting too. Here's my To Do List for today: Dust the downstairs - Done Vac the downstairs - Done Wash Kitchen, hallway, laundry room and d/s bathroom floors - Delegated to Jeff Clean refrigerator out - done Change Sheets in master bedroom Laundry - done Windex slider, kitchen windows and front door - done Clean downstairs bathroom - done Give the kitchen a good cleaning - done Catch up on blog stuff - half done Move my treadle sewing machine to family room so I can sew at night while watching TV (Changed my mind - we're going to re-arrange the family room to accommodate a sofa table I just took out of my office.) Hopefully, I'll get this all done today so I can have a free and easy day tomorrow, before starting the babysitting all over again on Monday. Next week is just four days, as my daughter gets every other Friday off during the summer months. I have three baby quilts to make for the months of August and September, and have one cut out and started, but am so tired at night that all I do is sink down in my chair in front of the TV and turn into a vegetable... sigh... So on my other blog, Quilting on a Budget, I asked my readers to tell me how they find time to get quilting done -and I've received some great responses! If you're a quilter, you won't want to miss it. Now the computer is going off and not coming back on until I have my To Do List done for the day. I can do this.... yes, I can!

Will I be blogging? I'm not sure...

Well, my two months (gulp) of babysitting for Mr. B start tomorrow. He'll be here from 7:30 am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday, with every other Friday off. One minute I think how much fun we're going to have, and the next I'm wondering how on earth I'm going to do everything that needs to get done with a 3 yr old in tow. The good news? He still takes a good solid 2 hour nap every day. In fact, he'd take a 3 or 4 hour nap if I'd let him, but then he has a tough time falling asleep for his Mom at night, so I do wake him up. And, of course, the best news is that he's very well behaved - very rarely has meltdowns or temper tantrums, and can usually be sidetracked quite easily when they do happen. He has a tendency now and then to get "bossy" but I'll work on that with him as it happens. He starts Vacation Bible School tomorrow, 10am to 12noon every day for the entire week. When we get back from VBS, he'll have his lunch and go down for a nap, so the first week will actually be relatively easy. Of course, the quilting bug finally hit me - today. It is tough to do any sewing or quiltling when Mr. B is here because he wants to help me sew, and when you're doing serious quilting, we all know you have to be exact. Yes, we do projects he can work on with me, but I guess I'll have to relegate nap time for serious quilting time. It's going to be tough, but it certainly could be worse. He could be a screaming, temper-tantrum throwing, obnoxious three year old. He's not. He's funny, well-behaved, talkative and very willing to learn new things. I have a few "goals" while he's here. 1. Teach him to use scissors. 2. Work on his letters and printing his name. 3. Teach him his phone number and address. 4. Teach him how to introduce himself to other kids and ask them if they want to play (I think because he's an only child he's very shy around other kids, especially those he doesn't know). 5. Get him to try some new foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Cut down on snacks and concentrate more on meals. 6. Teach him household chores - feeding the cat and the fish, taking care of our mini-vegetable garden out on the deck, helping fold laundry, take out trash, put dishes away. I'm sure there's more, but that's the basics. So understand if you don't see me blogging - I'm probably glassy-eyed and sitting at my kitchen table trying to muster up some energy. I've always said there's a reason God invented menopause - 'cuz us ol' ladies don't have enough energy to chase 3 year olds!