Double Bomb Part 1

I don't even know where to begin today... Our week has been rather, um, eventful. Paige, our oldest, dropped a couple of different bombs on us this week and we're still trying to mentally catch up so I'll be doing this post in two parts.

James went and picked up the girls Christmas afternoon and we had Paige and Anne all week. Honestly, I love having them here so it's always great when we get them for extended periods of time. We had a house full of people until around 8 o'clock and then everyone settled into their respective spaces. Lena and Anne hauled up in there room to play with the new toys, James headed off to bed shortly after since he had to work the next morning, and I stayed up with Paige to visit for a bit.

I've mentioned before that I think she's a pretty amazing kid and I still think so. She confided in me Christmas night however that her and her boyfriend had done the deed. Or in her exact words "We ummmm... Yeah. You know? That."

In all truth, sex has been a pretty open topic in my household growing up, so it doesn't really phase me much. I've always been honest with Lena about the basics (no gory details), because I believe that when you make something into a huge deal then it becomes a huge deal. I know some parents would probably be horrified that I'm up front with my 11 year old about what sex is and how it happens. But in my personal opinion, I believe that if I make it into something shameful then later on down the road it will encourage her to keep secrets about whatever curiosities may strike her. I'd much rather she'd not be scared to approach me on the subject.

I feel sorta the same way with Paige. There's a huge exception though... I'm not technically her parent. I know and understand that she's 19 years old and that her and her boyfriend have been together almost 3 years now. Hearing it didn't make me uncomfortable because I know she's old enough to make that choice and it didn't happen with some weirdo she just met. Being the only person she told however, that put me in a rather tough spot. Mostly, I just listened to what she had to say and I gave her advice when she asked. All the while I'm busy thinking, how the hell does she think I won't tell her dad?

I let her know that I don't keep secrets from him and that she needed to fess up to him. I also strongly encouraged her to tell her mom. I told her that her dad won't be mad, that we just want her to be safe. However, Paige is scared of almost everything (which is what kept her waiting so long in the first place thankfully). She told me she knew she needed to tell them, but she doesn't want them to get mad at her. Paige does not do confrontation well with anyone, but especially her parents. Instead she hides things and pretends they don't exist. She does exactly what I'm trying to teach Lena not to do.

I gave her a full 24 hours to tell James before I told him he needed to go talk to her about her and the boyfriend.

The moment I mentioned it he already knew what she had to tell him. He looked straight at me and asked "It's sex, isn't it?" Well, I'm not going to lie... So I said yes. As I expected he wasn't mad at all. In fact, he went straight into our room and fished out the box of condoms we'd bought months ago for her when we figured she was getting close to being ready. Even though there was no yelling, no I'm disappointed, no retaliation of any kind, she stayed beat red and tight lipped about it. She admitted that it had happened and that was all he could get out of her. I guess at least it's out there and she knows if she needs to talk to him about it ever, she won't have to worry about losing her head.

Knowing however had now left James and I with some concerns. Usually Paige comes down on Thursday nights and her and the boyfriend spend Friday during the day together at our house while we're at work. Do we continue to allow this or do we put a halt to this now? Do we keep condoms stocked in the house or do we let it be their responsibility to get them? We're not really sure just yet. I'm fairly certain that they'll find a way whether we facilitate it or not, but the question is, if we make it safer her for her to do it or we really helping her or not? I don't know.

Merry Day After Christmas Photo Share

We must have worn the kids out yesterday because it's 9:30 and they're all still sleeping. That's not unusual for Paige, but for the little ones it's a rare occurrence. I would have thought for sure they'd be up and chomping at the bit to play more Disney Infinity. I'm not complaining though, I'm enjoying my coffee and the quiet. Here's a little photo recap of our holiday celebrations this week:

I spent 5 hours on Christmas Eve cleaning the kid's room.
4 full bags of garbage and 3 bags for donation.
But we found some fun things along the way.

Sam thought the tissue paper was the purrfect gift.

Thanks to Gramma, we said goodbye to Dora and the Jonas Brothers!

Paige had to chew on her gifts to get them open.
James thinks it's funny to tap all the corners shut for her.

Best part... There's left over pie!

You can check out the some video clips here.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We certainly did and I'm so grateful!

How to Transfer a Photo onto a Glass Block... Forget the Mod Podge!

I made several of these personalized glass blocks for my family last Christmas and they were a huge hit. I wanted to share my results for anyone looking for a unique and relatively inexpensive gift idea.

Originally I had started this post with a step by step process on using Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium. Turns out, you're required to own a laser printer in order for this to work properly. Sorry Mod Podge, but all I have is your standard affordable inkjet kind. It would have been nice if they put it on the bottle that it was necessary instead of just recommended.

 In the beginning I was extremely excited by this project. Getting gifts that my family doesn't just go and out and get themselves is hard and I thought putting a photograph on the square glass craft blockwas something no one in my family would ever think of (because no one in my family is exceptionally good at crafts, especially me). Two days in I was ready to be done with this nightmare!

See, it takes a little over 48 hours for Mod Podge to dry after application. And that's IF the temperature of your home is perfect. It can't be too cold, too hot, too damp, or too dry or it takes even longer (that should have been my clue right there this crap was tricky). But of course, I'm nothing if not determined so I applied it to my printed inkjet copy and waited for grass to grow for it to be completely dry. After the 24-48 hours waiting period you then dampen the paper and "simply" peel it off.

First of all, there is nothing simple about getting the printer paper off the damn block. It sticks like glue, peels the Mod Podge medium if you rub to hard, and drys too quickly which necessitates wetting it repeatedly which results in over saturation and smeared ink (this is probably why the "recommend" using a laser printer).

After a good 20 minutes of peeling off the soppy paper, my end result looked like this:

The photo isn't the least bit clear and if you look close enough you can see where not all the paper fibers came off. It took a total of 3 days just to get that and all I had to show for it was blue fingers and a foggy photo. I was more than disappointed, I was pissed!

After seeing this, I ended up researching alternatives well passed midnight. Some people recommended a product called Liquitex Professional Gloss Gel Transfer, which essentially is a different type of Mod Podge. There was no way I was doing that again! Other people recommended printing on vellum paper. However, after looking into it more closely printing on vellum is tricky. Not all printers will actually do it, since it's basically a water resistant tracing paper that's not actually meant to be printed on. That didn't seem like a really good idea to roll the dice on.

Time was running out, since we're leaving today and it took me until Wednesday to figure out Mod Podge is a joke. In the end, I went over to Office Depot on Thursday and found a wonderful printer friendly product.... WINDOW CLING! If I had just been smart enough to visit my local office store in the first place, it would have saved me a ton of time and a migraine.

So if anyone is looking to do something like this, please just order yourself some printable window cling sheets and save yourself a boat load of stress. You'll actually get the results you're looking for with essentially no hassle...

Sorry About The Future Therapy Kid... Mom's a Little Nuts!

Last night was Lena's choir concert and like all moms, I was extremely proud of my little girl. I'm kicking myself right now, because I already transferred all the videos on my phone over to my external drive last night and forgot to upload them to my YouTube Channel.

My mom wasn't able to make it since her car is broken again, so the moment I got home I hurried up and loaded them onto my regular Facebook page for Gramma to see and completely spaced out everything else. That's okay, I'm certain no one other than Gram wants to see an hour of a children's choir anyway. It's just one of those things that mothers love... When it's their own child. But here she is before we rushed out the door...

I made sure to get there super early, like 45 minutes early, this year to make sure I got good seats. Last year, I ended up stuck at work a little late and by the time I arrived I was seated all the way toward the back and could hardly see my munchkin. Both James and Lena thought I was being a bit excessive (and maybe I was) but there was no way I was not sitting in front this year.

As it turns out, even with all of my over-zealous seat obsession, I watched in almost utter horror as my daughter walked out and promptly walked all the way to the opposite end of the stage from where we were sitting. How could I let this happen? I was on the wrong freaking side!

I immediately leaped up and dashed to the other side of the gym. I'm pretty certain I embarrassed the living daylights out of Lena with my lightening reflexes, since no other parent moved an inch when the kids filed out and Lena had her face buried behind her hands.I suppose leaping like a gazelle across the isle and almost sliding across the gym floor wasn't the smoothest move I could have made. I'm also guessing that either A) the other children were kind enough to inform their parents of what side to sit on or B) that I'm really the only freak parent out there who doesn't care what other people think. I'm going to go with A, if for no other reason that to make myself feel better.

I was full on prepared to sit squarely on the floor (again, there was no way I wasn't sitting in the front). Thankfully, there was a kind old Gramma who took pity on me and had a spare seat next to her that she was kind enough to share with me. I thanked her and said hello to the mom on the other side who literally rolled her eyes at my greeting and proceeded to ignore my existence for the remainder of the evening. Sheesh... Someone's a GRINCH.

The only moment through the whole concert Lena smiled was when her Auntie Ma'mie got there during the second song, otherwise she was busy giving me dirty looks between songs.

But I don't care. I got a front row seat. I tapped the whole darn thing. And we kept the tradition my family has had since we were little and celebrated with DQ afterward.

I'll Be Getting Crafty

Is it just me or do the weeks just seem to be flying by lately? I can't believe that the weekend is already over (sigh).

So thanks to Pinterest, I have now discovered the wonderland that is Etsy. I had come across a t-shirt for Paige a while back that I knew the moment I saw it, she was getting it for Christmas. See, she has a bit of a Harry Potter obsession and you can't just stroll into JC Penny and expect to find the contents of Diagon Alley on the shelves. Etsy however, is a whole different ball game!

They had more Harry Potter stuff on there than I could have ever imagined. Over 250 pages worth in fact! I did order her Make Love Not Horcruxes shirt off there last week and I've been browsing ever since. I even went and installed the app on my phone and have already created a decent sized list of favorite items.

Now, I've never really been good at arts and crafts despite having an over abundance of crafting supplies. We have glitter literally coming out of every nook and cranny of the house (even when we've vacuumed 100s of times between uses) and enough glue and stickers to put back together the London Bridge if need be. Owning said craft supplies, does not however, make one good at being crafty. The attempts have always been there in spurts over the years though. Yesterday, we pulled all of this out because Anne had a project to make Naked and Thankfully Un-Anatomically Correct Santa a new suit.

Ultimately she only asked for my help with this because she wanted me to decorate Santa for her. I did help her cut things out and did the gluing, but all the decorating was her responsibility.

Once the craft supplies were scattered around the living room like a vast array of glittery landmines, it did spark that urge to get creative. I had seen these awesome photo transfer blocks on Etsy this week and now I've got it in my head that I don't have to order them, I can simply make them myself.

I found a video on YouTube that seems like it will be simple enough to follow and went through 1000's of pictures yesterday and picked out the one's I like for each person in my family. Last year, I did goodie baskets because frankly, if my family wants something they just go out and get it. It makes Christmas maddening sometimes, so it seemed just the thing I was looking for this year.

We don't have any of the girls this weekend since Lena is headed to my sister's house and I will be taking over the kitchen in an attempting to pull this off...

My Amazing Teenager

I am incredibly grateful for Paige this morning! She really saved our rear-ends. Lately, she's been coming down to our house on Thursday nights since she has to work weekends. When we take her to work on Saturday she goes home afterward since she has to work again on Sunday. Living an hour from James' girls is extremely less than convenient (I can't wait till we move closer this summer), but we've managed to find a way to make it work.

This morning, it was seriously a life saver that she was here. Lena is currently on her choir tour today to all the schools in town and the library. I made sure she showered last night, I blow dried her hair so it would be easier to straighten in the morning, and we laid out her required outfit. Literally as we're getting ready to walk out the door, Lena freezes in her tracks, and tells me "Oh mom! I forgot! I need a lunch today." Most people would think this was obvious, however she's a hot lunch kid. I don't ever make her a lunch really. I just deposit money into her account every payday and then it's one less thing I have to worry about. Well... She won't be at school today for lunch, i.e. she needed a sack lunch. Ummm... SHIT!

 I've mentioned several times before that neither Lena nor myself are exactly morning people and that she's also terribly distracted constantly. We're always rushing out the door at the last possible moment and pulling up to the stop as the bus gets there (or sometimes after the bus gets there and then we rush two more stops up and do a drive-by shove out let her get on with Luke instead). Even with all my preparation the night before, this morning was really no different than the others. There simply was just not time to make her this lunch that she failed to mention to me in the last two weeks. Coincidentally, she had also lost the sheet that came home with all details I would need. Frankly, she's lucky she had pants!

But I'm getting off track here... At that moment, I was faced with either A) being late to work to make this lunch and then drive her into school OR B) I could wake up Paige and ask her to drive Lena into school. Keep in mind folks, were talking about a teenager here, and her ability to sleep is one that I envy and miss greatly. Typically, we don't have her help out with the kids because she does enough of that at her other home (there are 6 kids in total there). We believe in our house she should be the kid and not a co-parent. I did end up waking up Paige though, this was an emergency after all, and thank the freaking gods she was willing and hell, even happy to help me out of this jam.

I kissed both my girls goodbye and dashed out the door. I made it to work with two minutes to spare thanks to Paige. She's one amazing kid and I'm grateful for her always, but especially today!

There's Never Enough Time

It has been an extremely busy week here in the Nowhere household. We've basically been running nonstop since Saturday. We got our Christmas tree, made cookies, and have been getting ready for the upcoming Nifty Notes concert that Lena is in next week. This required new shoes, new pants, new tights, and she was in serious need of a haircut.

I've spent every lunch break this week running errands trying to get everything put together and by the time I have been getting home, I'm just exhausted. We've been in bed by 9pm every night this week so far.

So instead of going on and on, I'm just going to share some photos instead today.

Saturday we hit up Luer's Christmas Tree Farm in Crown Point. This will also be our
Christmas card photo this year. Speaking of which, I need to get those ordered.

We cut down our own tree. And by "we" I mean James.

The girls decided to fight over who got to haul the tree.

So naturally, we made them take turns.

I don't have a lot of photos from decorating.
We finally learned how to use Skype and had the
Great Grandparents from FL join in the festivities.

And we ran out of lights when we got to the top.

Sunday we made cookies and they promptly ditched me
when I wouldn't let them keep eating the dough.

Sam has decided to help encourage Lena with her reading.
This seems to be working very well, because she doesn't
want him to leave her bed, so she reads longer than required.

Oh, and he wants to go to school.

How to Tell Dad Was in Charge

Thursday morning Lena and I went to Meijers to get a few last minute things for Thanksgiving dinner and then the remainder of the day was spent quietly at home. There was no huge family meal, although I did make a Thanksgiving dinner. It was just Lena, James, and I. My family was scattered about with their various commitments with their significant others. Anne and Paige spent Thanksgiving with their mom this year because it was her turn, but they did come down late Thursday night since it's our weekend with them. Plus, we had already celebrated with James' family a couple weeks ago since that's what worked with everyone's scheduled. All and all though, Thanksgiving was not very eventful, which was nice. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my family, but it's a good feeling to just stay home sometimes.

Friday I did have to work. James was off though, so he got to stay home with our girls which basically ended up being an entire day to himself (sorta, he is on call this week and spent a decent amount of Friday on the phone). Paige and her boyfriend wanted to head out for Black Friday and she decided to take her two younger siblings along since dad was answering call after call after call. Now, I do understand that he was most likely distracted during the hustle and bustle of the girls getting ready to leave for what turned out to be an entire day's adventure, but you would think he would have noticed a couple small things...

For instance, what they left the house wearing would have been a worth while observation...

I might be mistaken, but I'm fairly certain I've put this shirt in the donation pile more than once. Not only did Anne not match, every time she lifts her arms even slightly, it exposes her whole mid section. A whole 5 extra seconds of looking in her closet and she would have found the shirt that actually came with the pants. When I asked James about it he informed me that he didn't even notice. She's old enough to dress herself and therefore it translates in his male mind that whatever she should happen to put on is sufficient. Oh dear... Just because she's 7 and physically able to dress herself, it doesn't mean she isn't in need of a little guidance at times. My sweet child walked around Toys 'R Us, Walmart, the entire mall, and out to dinner at Baker's Square dressed like a piece of spin art gone wrong. Lovely!

That's not all though. He also failed to have them brush their hair and their teeth before sending them on this shopping adventure. Lena's hair is already a labyrinth of tangles when she wakes up. The child honestly sleeps like a mini hurricane and somehow manages to get all of her hair mated to the point of looking like some sort of mental patient with a fear of hair brushes... Every. Single. Morning. Again, this is something that James is well aware of. Yet somehow, it slipped his mind as she slapped a pony tail holder in her hair and jettisoned out the door. 

When my girls got home Friday evening and I saw this all I could was shake my head and grab the camera. Maybe I'll write up a list of instructions next time it's his day to watch the girls. You know, with the basics?

1. Have the children brush their teeth: while Lena does believe that is part dragon or part werewolf, please make sure she does not smell like one.

2. Have the children brush their hair: this may require some assistance on your part. Neither child is very skilled in this arena and they tend to leave gigantic knots on the undersides of their heads.

3. Make sure they where clothes that match: it is only cute when they dress themselves in mismatched clothes when they're toddlers. Once they have passed that phase, it just looks tacky to send them out in clothes that are too small and in wonky colors.

4. Feed them before they leave the house: we already know our teenager is addicted to all things fast food. If you fail to feed them prior to sending them off with the oldest child they will eat nothing but french fries and chicken nuggets for all three meals with ice cream in between.

5. Please text me if you have any doubts: in this wonderful day and age of technology, you can send me a picture if you're just not sure. Believe me, I will help you.