Wine tasting with the ladies

I got to go wine tasting with a great group of girlfriends yesterday! We went to Domaine Carneros and Mumm. Then we made a stop at Silverado Country Club for a quick drink, finally it was dinner at Pizza Azzurro. YUM!
It is so nice(and necessary) to get out without kids and husbands once in awhile. As stay at home mom's we tend to put everyone's needs before our own, and we need to treat ourselves to a little something here and there! So make a date with your girlfriends and go have FUN!
All of the ladies at Domaine Carneros

 Jayme and I at Mumm

What a day

Today my heart aches. We found out today that Jim's cousin's 2 year old son has Leukemia. He underwent a blood transfusion today, and will be hospitalized for a  long time. I know that he will do just fine, and that he is strong enough to recover from this. But I just can't imagine how scared his parents must be. I have been on the verge of tears all day, because the hell that they must be going through is too much for me to even handle thinking about.
It puts into perspective how quickly life can take a turn. But the amount of support and donations that have been given already is astonishing. They have an amazing family and amazing friends, and they will all get through this.
If you are interested in donating anything even $5 can pay for a meal at the hospital. The costs of having a child hospitalized for an extended amount of time add up VERY quickly!! Here is the link
https://www.wepay.com/donations/255783
And if you believe in prayer, please say one for this sweet little man!!

Blah weekend

Friday afternoon I started feeling lousy. It started out with an upset stomach. Then I quickly started having symptoms like a bladder infection. I haven't had one of those in years, so it was weird.
I took the over the counter stuff, because I currently don't have health insurance. We are on COBRA insurance right now, and it was going to be almost $1000 for the month just for ME. So we just insured the kids and Jim(AMR pays for his portion) This has been the oh so wonderful part of Jim's company going out of business and going to work for someone else. Because why do we need health insurance anyway? It's not like we have 3 kids, one of which just had her fifth major surgery in a year. Thanks for screwing us on that one!!
So I am unable to go to the Dr. I could go to the dreaded free clinic if it got really bad, but I am really in no mood to deal with that place. It is ridiculous that in a county with as much money as we have, we only have one WAY overbooked, way underfunded free health clinic. I will just suffer.
Luckily I am feeling much better, so I think I have managed to avoid that whole mess!
I did not watch a single second of the Super Bowl. And honestly, if you have Facebook, you don't ever need too. Someone will post every five seconds updates of the game. Seriously? Is that necessary? If I was really interested in the game I would be watching it. I don't need your play by play thanks. But apparently Madonna gave a horrible half time show.....WHO CARES?!?!?!
I'm off to go be unproductive today. I have no car, so I can't go anywhere. My house is clean. So Real Housewives marathon it is!!

Dreaming

I have been driving my mom's BMW X5 for the last couple days. Jim's "tin can" or beater of a truck, doesn't fit in the parking garage at Oakland Childrens Hospital, so he had to take my suburban down there. He really needs a different vehicle. I was trying to get myself a new car and then he could just drive the suburban, but he didn't go for that idea:( I had to try though!
Anyway, I borrowed my mom's car and I am in LOVE!! I love my suburban, but this thing blows it out of the water. It is so quiet and smooth and fast as hell! I never thought that I would like a small SUV or car, but it has really changed my mind. So I am going to dream about the day when I don't have car seats, or strollers and can have a cute SUV or maybe a CAR:)
But until then I will still work on convincing Jim that I should get a new car. Wish me luck!

Cravings

Do you have cravings for certain things? I know I do. My usual is baked goods. Anything baked and warm fresh out of the oven!
Tonight I found and made the most amazing cookies I have ever had. I usually go for my trusty chocolate chip cookies, because they are always good and easy to make. But tonight I was missing some key ingredients(or ingrediences. Anyone a Real Housewives of New Jersey fan??) Jayme I know you got that one!!:) But I did have a bag of Reeses peanut butter chips in my pantry. I looked at the back of the bag and there was a recipe for "gooey chocolate cookies" I had all of the ingredients, so I figured I would try them.
Oh. My. God.
They are so frickin good!! I have eaten 3 so far, and it is only 8:15, so you know I will eat more before the night is over.
Do yourself a favor and GO MAKE THESE!!! RIGHT NOW. and then make sure to thank me and tell me how amazing they are:)
In case you needed more motivation to make them here is what they look like....
is your mouth watering?

Sleep is for wussies

The last two nights in my house have been HELL. Monday night Katie fell asleep at 7pm. Out cold. I tried waking her up, and she would not move. I was hoping that she would sleep all night, because the week before she did not sleep very much at her mom's house. I stayed up too late because quite frankly it is the only time that I have to myself. I can watch what I want to watch on TV. I can be on Facebook or blogging and no one gives me a hard time about it. But at 11:30 I got into bed, and you guessed it 12:01 Katie was wide awake. And being very noisy.
I turned on the tv for her and got her all situated. Got back into bed at 12:30. Jim was snoring so f-ing loud! So I got up as loudly as I could, threw back the covers, and stomped out of the room(hoping this would all wake him up, wrong) to go sleep on the couch.
I finally fell asleep at about 2:30 or so, when the TV shut off and Katie started laughing hysterically. It is already frustrating enough when the kids don't sleep at night, but to have to hear Jim snoring and sleeping away while I am up really pisses me off!! So I went in and SLAMMED the bedroom door so I couldn't hear him anymore.:)

Then last night Reese decided at 10:30(once again right when I had climbed into bed) to wake up. Luckily Jim was still up during this time so he dealt with her. But I could still hear them, so I wasn't really sleeping. She stayed up until 1:30AM!!! I have NO idea what the problem was. NOT HAPPY.
Jim gets into bed at 2:00 and guess who is wide awake at 2:30....that's right, KATIE!! Grrrrrr.
Have you seen the children's book "Go the fuck to sleep"? If not, google it. There is a youtube video where the book is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, and it is amazing. Last night I actually begged(under my breath of course:) for Reese to please please go the f**k to sleep.
I am really hoping tonight is a different story. Or else I might lose my mind.
Will I ever be able to get a good nights sleep again?!? 

Cleaning

I will start out saying that I am a person who actually enjoys cleaning my house. I like the instant gratification and smell of a sparkling clean room. I am the first to admit I have mild OCD. I hide it well, but certain things really get to me(like my hot and cold foods can't touch on my plate, people biting down on silverware, there are plenty more I will let you in on as time goes on) I don't mind doing laundry or dishes(and I really have to do my dishes, because we don't have a dishwasher) But the one thing I absolutely hate doing is cleaning the bathrooms.

Part of my problem is I am becoming more and more of a germaphobe, so the bathroom actually creeps me out. I have this whole process I have to use when cleaning it. Ready for it??
1. I clean the shower and tub with CLR. The smell of it makes me lightheaded, so I have to walk out of the room after I'm done and let it air out for a bit. We have a slate stone shower and CLR is the only thing I have found that keeps it super clean.
2. Once the fumes are gone, I clean the sink and mirror.
3. Then the toilet. This is the part I struggle with the most. The thought of what happens in that thing makes my skin crawl. I scrub it with disinfecting cleaner inside the bowl, then I have to take the brush and put it in a bucket of scalding hot water with bleach to clean it. Then I clean the outside of the bowl and floor around it with a disinfecting cleaner.
4. Mop the floors, and put everything away.
Nothing too crazy right?
But then I HAVE to take a shower immediately after. Does anyone else do this?
So now cleaning my two small bathrooms, becomes a huge process. Then most of the time, after all of this, I walk in to use the bathroom and find Caleb has pissed all over the toilet!!! It makes me crazy.
And then I am the screaming bat shit crazy mom. Sweet!!!!
The reason for this post? I guess you know what I am doing tomorrow, and I guess I needed to mentally pump myself up for it:)