Good News:
1. I can take hot showers again. We thought our water heater was broken and have been taking cold (okay well room temperature, it is 100 degrees today. I love Fall.) showers for the last month. Turns out a pilot light just needed to be re-lit.
2. I finally get to have my stuff from my old house and I am excited to decorate.

Bad News:
1. I think I ruined my perfect baby by having her sleep in my bed every night. Now I REALLY want her to sleep in her crib but she seems to think this is a ridiculous request on my part. She wakes up every half hour and just cries and cries until I can't take it anymore and she ends up back in my bed. Considering placing a warm water bottle next to her with a picture of my face on top.

Funny News:
1. Poor Macie is always mistaken for a boy. The old lady at the grocery store told me yesterday how cute my children were. First she said Chloe was a princess...and then she said, "Oh and he is so cute too. He's just all boy!"
I guess purple pants and a onesie that says "little sister," is not sufficient enough to aid in identifying her gender.
2. Chelsey has spent the better part of a week at my house. I told her today that Chloe has been taking ballet lessons and she said, "Well. I never got to take ballet lessons and now it is too late."
So I said, "it's never too late! You can take ballet lessons, do you want to take ballet lessons?"
And she said emphatically, "No! I am just going to be a tom boy and play video games all day."
And that has pretty much been how most of our conversations have gone this week, just with different subjects.

A conversation heard from the front seat of my car:
Chelsey: "I don't really want to listen to this."
Chloe: "Well, you can just talk to yourself then."
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Went to the grocery store today and Chloe picked out a container of mushrooms and said she really, really wanted it.
Well what Mother turns down the opportunity to introduce a new vegetable to an eager child?
Of course I did realize that the reason she wanted the mushrooms was because it was in a pink Styrofoam container.
She is under the illusion that only wonderful things come in pink packages.
I did warn her that they were a mushroom and did not taste like candy.
But I was naively optimistic that she would like them.
Without me knowing, she took the mushrooms from the grocery bag and stuck one in her mouth.
To say she was highly disappointed is an understatement.
She cried for a good 15 minutes.
But I am not so sure whether she was freaking out about the taste of the mushroom or the booger that she had placed on her skirt that she wanted off immediately.
You know, I don't drink, but today I understood why many people do.

The Perils of Pink Toothbrushes

So yesterday I was taking a shower, as I sometimes do.

And I was reflecting on the nastiness of the glass shower door and the grime that likes to hang out and fester at the borders of the metal frame supporting the nasty shower door.

No amount of cleaning had yet resulted in any acceptable solution.

So I decided it had to go and face the truth of what lurked below the metal monstrosity.

I got out the screw driver and my cleaning supplies, one of which being an old pink toothbrush that I have used many times to scrub behind faucets and all manner of nastiness.

Well I put the toothbrush on my bathroom counter.

Unfortunately the toothbrush I use to brush my million dollar smile is also pink.

And you can see where this is going.

This morning I made the horrible realization that my teeth cleaning pink toothbrush was tucked away in the drawer, and the cleaning all manner of nastiness pink toothbrush was in the medicine cabinet where I had placed it last night after brushing my teeth.

It is a good thing I did not realize my mistake until this morning as I would have had nightmares last night had I known.

PS Don's favorite joke:

Did you know the toothbrush was invented in Arkansas?

Ya because if it was invented somewhere else it would be called a "Teethbrush."

PPS Please don't be offended if you are from Arkansas or like Arkansas or have a cousin or a Father or former President from Arkansas.

So today Chloe was asking me about jail (long story) and she asked me what it looked like.
I told her it had bars and that you can't get out.
And she said, "Oh like in that show about the Elf and he eats syrup on his spaghetti?"
Yes, I said.
So she said she wanted to watch "Elf."
So we watch Elf and then she wants to know exactly "how" Santa can fit down the chimney.
And I told her, he just does.
And she said, "Because he has Christmas magic?"

Yes. Because he has Christmas magic.

Last Friday I was curling my hair when I noticed a large red mark on the back of Macie's head. Of course my first thought was what did Chloe do. So I asked Chloe.
I thought she bit the back of her head. She said she didn't. Then I wondered if I had burned her head with my curling iron. But I thought surely she would have cried.
Well then Don came home and I showed him. He knew exactly what happened. He should have been a detective. In fact we jested the other week after some friends moved to Hawaii with the FBI, that he should join the FBI.
Then he pointed out that not everyone gets sent to Hawaii. And we could end up some place horrible like Paris or London. Just kidding. I would not mind living in Paris or London. But with our luck we would probably end up in some dusty little desert town named Tumbleweed or something. I can handle living in a big city in the desert. But a dusty desert town...not a chance.
I digress.
Well Don asked Chloe, "Did you drag her across the carpet?"
And she said "Yes. Four times!"
My poor little Macie. Bald and scarred.
Miss Macie is almost 8 months which I can't believe. She rolls around but that's about it. Which I am okay with. I am not in a hurry for her to be mobile. In fact I have taken to binding her feet. This will make her feet small and dainty like, also make it so she can't walk. Double win.
I thought this story fit in nicely with all the other abuse poor Macie has been afflicted with as of late.
In other news I completed a project. With the help of my friend (A LOT of help) I sewed this roman blind for my kitchen window. So I have something pretty to look at while I do one of my favorite things: dishes. It was nice to get something pretty up. All my paintings and decorations are at the old house still.

Hmm. It doesn't look very impressive. I guess I'll never fit into the online world of Domestic Blogging Goddesses.

Now that is what I call photogenic.

Last Sunday I asked my brother to take some pictures. He so kindly agreed.

I scrambled to find stuff for us to wear and now that I see how I looked in my outfit, I wished I had scrambled a little longer.

By the time we finally got dressed and out the door we noticed a large haboob (aka huge dust cloud) was headed our way.

We had 5 minutes to snap some shots. You can see in the background the impending doom.

Also, we look terrible.

Today was the 10th anniversary of a horrific day in American history.
I looked at my babies today and felt astonished realizing that this day in history will probably seem to them like Pearl Harbor day seems to me: an important date in history, but lacking any real personal attachment.

I have forgotten what happened that day. Who really wants to remember? Watching the footage, it is just as painful now as it was back then. Maybe even more painful being that I have children. I still find myself hearing these stories that I have heard before...just hoping there is a different outcome...perhaps this time, the passengers will be able to take control of the plane and make it back home to their little children safe and sound. But of course the accounts always end the same. And every time, I am shocked by the devastating outcomes.

It might seem morbid to focus on such a distressing event, but every once in awhile we need to remember because we learned something back then that somehow we keep forgetting: The only things that really matter are Family, Faith, Friends and Freedom. And that good will always triumph over evil.
I believe in the goodness of people and I believe in the goodness of America.
God bless America.