Author: jclawver

Great news: US forces free 41 hostages held by al Queda. I don’t believe a word of it. This may very well be true, but I don’t trust anything the media reports about Iraq after the blatant lies reported about Jessica Lynch.

I will always need my mom. Even when I am 64 and a grandmother living off of social security and enjoying the early bird special at Luby’s, I will still need my mom. Even if there comes a time when she isn’t around, due to the cycle of life, I will still need my mom.\
Check it out: My mom and Me!

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Going up the Eiffel Tower is freaking scary! Why I ever thought it was a good idea, when I can’t even stand by my hotel window and look down, is beyond me. Thankfully the top level was closed, so I only went to the second level. It took me 30 seconds to get off of the elevator and I couldn’t get within 3 feet of the edge, even though there is a 12 foot fence all around the edge.\
Yesterday I wandered around a local neighborhood, totally getting lost. I had my map, so I wasn’t really lost, but it did take the map to get me back to the hotel.\
Today’s adventure is tackling the Paris metro in search of the Louvre. Wish me luck! I don’t need too much though, because there are restaurants every 5 feet (so I know I won’t go hungry) and I can always take a cab if I need to.\
The French Presidency just switched power; it is super neat to be here for that. They didn’t invite me to the ceremony though, so poo on them.

Only three more days until Paris! Two more days until my mom comes! Wheeee.\
I spent a good portion of this morning cleaning out my fridge, in preparation of my mother’s arrival. The more I clean, the more dirty things there are. Grrrr. There are crannies and nooks in the fridge that I can’t get to and the gunk that I can see is driving me crazy. Plus, I can’t get the vent-thingie at the bottom of the fridge clean. Booooo. Does that come off? Maybe I will try q-tips to get in there. Or Valium and a nap. Ha. The funniest thing about this situation is that our carpet is stained and the walls have crayon all over them, but I am fretting over fridge crannies.\
Whenever I have problems like this, I am always tempted to take a picture to mail to my dad so he can talk me through to a solution. (Hi Dad, love you!)\
I realized the baseboards haven’t been dusted in a long while either. Man, after all of this cleaning, I am going to need a vacation! I even dusted the books.\
Earlier in the week, I put away Brian’s 2T’s and got out the old 3 and 4T’s. Brian now has too many clothes for them to fit in his dresser when they are all clean (as they are currently). So now I have to re-organize his closet to fit some of his clothes in there. I am not sure when I will find time to do this since I apparently have to add, “dust baseboards” to my chore list.\
Brian quirks-\
“There” used to = “left” but is now “left way” as Brian tries to communicate more clearly.\
Movie= Hoovie.\
Move= Oof.\
Has been waking up at 6 am. Poooooo.\
Loves the food from my plate more than his plate, even when it is the same food.\
Max’s quirks-\
Couldn’t care less if his pants are on backwards, which they sometimes are.\
Sleeps on the floor on a pile of blankets because he thinks his bed is uncomfortable.\
Takes his pants off immediately upon coming home; his shirt is sometimes off by dinnertime.\
Turned down a piece of cake this week. Whaa?? I couldn’t believe it. It was the best cake ever, too!\
I am tired. ttyl, peeps.

My kids are really well behaved. YAY! But they do have some annoying traits. Let me share some with you, ok? OK!\
Max:\
He says, “Mommy?” I stop what I am doing and look at him, “Yes?” Then he doesn’t say anything for a minute. 60 seconds. Oy. Usually after the 15th second, I return back to my task. Max will then say, “Mommy?” again and we start over. He seems lost in his thoughts or distracted by something else, not merely ignoring me, but it happens every single time. Ask Kevin, he’ll back me up.\
Brian:\
He asks me to read video game instruction booklets, because they have bright, pretty pictures on the cover. These aren’t entertaining in any shape or form. I want to hide them from him, but that seems mean.\
Kevin and I are totally perfect and not annoying in the slightest though. It’s true.

According to an article at CNN, if I got paid for being a good stay-at-home mom, I would be earning \$138,000. Woot!\
Only one more week until my mom comes to town to watch the kids while we’re in Paris. Whee. I am excited to see my mom. Still so much to do before our Paris trip, not the least of which is finding a good book or two. Kevin doesn’t want me to take our hardback Harry Potter books since they are so big and heavy.\
New Supernatural on tonight. YAY for fun tv!\
I need to lock Kevin in his office for half an hour so he can upload some videos to the site I want him to share with you all. He’s just too busy sometimes.\
After dinner one night Max said, “Oh yea, I need to take a puppet of a Roman soldier dressed in a toga to school tomorrow“. I ran and got Kevin, who dropped everything to draw a soldier for Max. YAY!\
Max made a sign that read, “No surgery for intersex kids.” Hmm, I think someone needs to pre-check his reading again.\
Brian continues to be super cute, and I love that Kevin’s second instinct was to take a picture:\

Kevin ended up taking Brian with him, so YAY!\
Yesterday I woke up early to help Kevin gather all of the stuff he needed for the trip and to see them off. After goofing off for a couple of hours, I took a nap. An 8 hour nap. I think I have proven that I am the Olympic champion of naps! Woot. I went down at 9:15 in the morning and got up at 5:07 in the evening. It was so nice. (Duh.) After I woke up, I cleaned the sun room, living room, play room, and family room, and organized toys and books.\
Today I woke up early even though I had planned to sleep in. Since I woke up on my own, it was ok. I again goofed off for awhile then tackled the dining room and Max’s room before resting for awhile. YAY for being in charge of my own schedule.\
I should feel guilty for how much I am enjoying being by myself while I clean. But I am not! My weekend alone is now half over. Sad. At least the list of chores I NEED to get done is now half done!

Yesterday I sweet talked Kevin into agreeing with me staying home while everyone else goes to Ohio. (By sweet talk I mean that I looked pathetic since my face was throbbing from my earlier dentist appointment and simply asked if he minded.) That would mean three glorious days home alone. I was so relieved and happy that I cried.\
Today, Brian has a runny nose and a slight cough. I am way too considerate of others to send him to Ohio if he really is sick. So, I may be crying again real damn soon.