Stress-case

Is anyone else super stressed out? And feel like you're busy ALL the time no matter what you do? I literally have not stopped moving since 6:10 am, when Benji woke up, but I feel like I'm not even close to getting my stuff done.

• I'm behind two issues on our news magazine.
• I have 4 more phone numbers to call for the first time for Ethan's preschool to ask for donations. And I left messages with the other 7 businesses, WHICH TOOK ME ALMOST AN HOUR, so I'll have to follow up with them again. Extremely obnoxious.
• This morning I finished up two ugly giant display boards for the International Festival tomorrow. They look like a 2nd grader made them, and it looks like a sloppy 30 minutes of work, but no, I spent literally 2 1/2 hours on each one. That's right, 5 hours of work for an ugly board that looks cheesy. I'm a little bitter about this, yes.
• Also this morning, I did finish writing thank you notes for Benji's birthday presents, so I guess that's good.
• I'm in the process of reading two long websites about caring for our new guinea pigs. I have to read them, then sign a contract saying I read them. I estimate that will take me another 30 minutes to read them. Great.
• I've been trying to clean the house for days ... literally. I can usually get one tiny area done, then it's either destroyed by children, or I get distracted by the hundreds of other things to do. I HAVE GOT TO finish cleaning this weekend. Our house looks like a tornado came through.
• Oh, and there's the never-ending laundry! I put away two clean loads today that have been sitting in the basket for 4 days, but now I have two more loads to put away. Gosh, how I hate laundry. I will die of joy the day we have a washer and dryer in our house. But then I wouldn't ever get to experience the wonder of washing IN my house, so I guess I won't die. I'll just be giddy with happiness.
• And tonight, I have to shop for ingredients for sadza and relish for the International Festival tomorrow.
• On that note, I'll be at the International Festival tomorrow from 9 am till 3 pm. Then back at the Old Rec Ctr again for about 2 hours that night for the outdoor movie. I love my job, don't get me wrong, but on occasion, it makes me feel overwhelmed.
• And I just spent 15 minutes writing this post. But that's okay, at least, it will be if at least 3 people read it; that would make it worthwhile.

Okay, so after all that complaining, I have a question. For those of you who feel balanced in your life, and who are able to keep up with your chores and housework and paperwork and bills and reading and general what-not, HOW DO YOU DO IT???? I need help, really; I feel like I'm drowning in busyness. And I don't want to be that way. I want to focus more on my kids and being an available mommy. Not a mommy who says, "Just a minute" or "Not right now; I'm busy" all the time. Who wants a mommy like that?

Cutest Blog on the Block ... my foot!

I've tried three separate times to do a background on my blog from cutestblogontheblock.com. It won't work. I've tried it from Safari and from Firefox. I follow the directions exactly. What am I doing wrong? Someone help! My blog is so ugly and I want it to be cute like everyone else's.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana Smoothie

Are you salivating already? I am. Here's all you need:

1 scant cup of skim milk

1 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp Ovaltine

1 banana

2-3 ice cubes if you want

I mix it all together in my Magic Bullet, but a blender would work just fine.

It's 320 calories, which is kind of a lot for breakfast, but it's so darn delectable, it will make you happy for the rest of the day.

Yes, you too can be THIS happy:

if you drink this smoothie.

Die, LOST, die!

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever. And that I'm finally doing it, it will not be a happy post. It will be a post of how much I hate LOST. Seriously, that show is so lame. It's so confusing, what with the alternate life and who's alive and who's impersonating who, and which dead people are showing up, etc, etc. I can't remember what happened in the previous show, so when I watch a new show, I ask Chad a hundred questions, and he gets irritated.

Okay, the alternate universe thing. WHAT. THE. HECK? Come on, writers of LOST, can't you do something better with your time...like answer our questions about the show?

Oh, and all that advertised nonsense of "only 5 episodes left, questions will be answered" is such a lie. Instead of answering our questions, they bring in new characters (the Tina-Fey-wanna-be), blow up old ones (Nadya) instead of telling the secrets behind them, and create new mysteries.

And the thing about the show that bugs more than anything else is when the characters have hair in their faces. Okay, come on. In real life, no woman wandering around on a dessert island with no shampoo, high humidity, tracking through thick jungle, and fighting off attackers is really going to go around with her hair down...hanging in her eyes. I can't stand it. Take this for instance. Claire, get your hair out of your face!!!

And Kate, is this REALLY necessary? Obviously, you need to redo your ponytail because half of your hair has fallen out and is BLURRING YOUR VISION.

And Sawyer's just as bad as the girls. I don't even know how he and Kate can kiss with all that hair in their faces.

The saddest thing is that I've wasted 5 years of my life on this show, I'm SO ready for it to be over, but I just know that the writers are going to have some super lame ending and that they won't answer all the questions. We'll be left with our mouths hanging open, our eyebrows up, and saying, "What? THAT was the ending??" The only solution: die, LOST.

The Winner

I had a very hard time deciding who should win the blog give away, my cookbook. All the comments were very nice, and I just can't pick one over the other. So I've decided to give the cookbook to the first person who made a comment, Emily W. Congratulations, Emily! All the rest of you should invite yourselves over to Emily's house sometime for some good cookin'! :)

Super Cool Giveaway!

Last year, I spent from January to September creating new recipes, testing them, taking pictures of the finished product, and then eating delicious food. What I was doing was creating a cookbook for a Christmas present for family and close friends. I got the idea from Michelle who did it the previous year.

My recipe book has 79 recipes including appetizers, soups, salads, vegetarian, desserts, and main dishes. There are color photos of every single recipe. It's valued at $19; that's what it cost me to make each one. It's pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.

I have one left, and the bad news is that it's sitting un-used and unappreciated on my bookshelf, but the good news is that one of you can have it! Leave me a comment convincing me that you should be the lucky winner. If you live away from Irvine, I'll mail it to you.

I will decide the winner on Sunday, March 21st.

Whine Online

Today, I do not want to be a mother (which is really ironic because in my last post, I was feeling so grateful for all the wonderful things God has given me). I really do love my kids, don't get me wrong, but lately, I'm so frustrated with Ethan. I'm almost at my wit's end with him. He seems like such an angry child lately. For example, when we're playing games, I let him win about half the time (sometimes more); but when he doesn't win, he screams "I WANTED TO WIN!" and throws things around. He'll grab a toy from Benji, and when Benji cries, Ethan yells "STOP CRYING, BENJI!" He's very disrespectful to Chad and me, saying things like "I will never come to dinner. I will never eat that. I will never go upstairs. I will never take a bath." He is disciplined, sometimes with a time out, sometimes with a loving but serious talking-to, sometimes with a spanking. No matter what the discipline, it seems to make him more angry.

Someone told me that around this age (4), they go through a very selfish phase. That's fine, but I still have to teach him not to be so selfish and to be respectful.

What's the root problem? Does he feel like I don't love him enough? I tell him more than once a day that I love him. I try my hardest to be patient and loving at all times (even when I discipline).

If we're not at Disneyland or watching a movie or if he's not at preschool, Ethan asks me constantly, "Mommy, will you play with me? Mommy, will you play with me?" I really hate the imagination play he loves to do. Here's how it goes: we each get a transformer, a Lego man, or a Batcave inhabitant; we make them talk to each other, a bad guy comes along, they fight off the bad guy, they talk some more, the bad guy comes back, they fight him off again, blah blah blah. It's SO BORING! But I do it because he loves it. When he asks me to play with him, I'll set the timer, and say, "I'll play with you for 20 minutes, then I have to..." When the time is up, he begs for more and gets upset when I say no.

My kids are not into crafts, coloring, play-do, puzzles, Candy Land. It's all imagination play with Ethan, and I despise it.

WHAT DO I DO? How do I play with him without hating it while I'm doing it? How do I teach this child that it's okay not to win? That it's not okay to throw things around? How to be respectful to his parents and to other children?

Any advice appreciated. If you have a lot to say, call me.