ps I just posted the Hello Dolly recipe.  They are so yummy!  I told other people about them and there's actually another name for them so you may have already had them under a different name.  My dad changed the recipe somewhat and hyped them up

Chicken barbecue is in crockpot, brownies are done and cooling (man I hope they cooked right - I can't seem to get them right anymore!), both trays of Hello Dollys are in oven (all those ingredients barely fit in the pans and that was using only half the pecans and none of the butterscotch chips!). 

 

Also, ordered game for Braeden off ebay.

 

Going to work 'til 11 on cleaning the kitchen and dining room.  Then I'll start wrapping.  Why does that sentence give me deja vu???

ugh why do i have to have a friend walking on my keyboard every time i sit down here!!!  at least she's giving the tree a break right now though.  we got her to keep sami company because she followed me around, now angel follows me around all day!  she's so lovey though.  finally a lap cat!  she doesn't insist on being on your lap but whenever you grab her and hold her, she stays.

 

i no longer feel like wrapping.  i cant' get into it with the house a mess.  christmas threw up all over my living room and playroom, and a cooking/baking bomb hit my kitchen and dining room.

 

i'm going to make a list of areas to clean, small ones, and feel good each time one is totally done!

Well, I'm back and have a sleeping baby. i still have to unload the van but it's raining/snowing out there. yuck

 

Got quite a bit of little errand running done. Forgot to pick up my order from Sears though. augh

 

I'm not sure what to do right now... I'm thinking some kind of lunch (but not sure what) and maybe I should wrap while doing that. But, then there's cleaning up to do and Andrew's having a meeting here with 2 other people tonight. So, cleaning is always a good thing. I'm also tired of the basement being a mess. Because it isnt' spotless, the kids think they don't have to pick up. Plus, there's balls EVERYWHERE. This morning, the kids were playing with the big ball we have (that I've told them numerous times not to because they've knocked things with it.) Sure enough, it broke a Christmas ornament beyond repair (it had a snow globe in it.) I was so beyond ticked off cause it just seems like daily, my rules are being broken and there's no regard for things in the house. Emily is picking up on Gavin's 'whatever' attitude. Actually, 3 times within a 1/2 hr, I would tell Emily to do something and she'd say, no. I told her she would have to do her home reading tomorrow because she fooled around and it was way past her bedtime. She said, no, it's ok, I'll do it now. Um, excuse me? I just said no, you'll have to do it tomorrow. It's just that attitude like parents or adults aren't in authority, they're just here to give us suggestions or bug us or something. Gavin is so freakin' disrespectful. Basically, I'm beyond sick of this. But, Gavin and Laura are my only region daycare kids and unless I had other people lined up, I dont' want to let them go unless I knew I'd be able to replace them asap.

 

It's frustrating. There's a lack of daycare kids in the area or something. Maybe that's a good thing for the families but there's 3 of us that are pretty much empty. I'm in my caseworker's bad books likely because I'm pregnant. I think I'd be the last choice if she came across some kids.

 

Ok, gotta find some lunch. Also waiting for dh to reply to tell me where's the stuff we got on Sat. (I'm thinking his car) and if that's the case, I need to go over what we bought so I can write that down on my list.

 

Shoot, I think I hear timmy walking around... hopefully it's just the cat.

I'm frustrating myself. I pulled out most of the Christmas gifts. I hate wrapping. I feel so disorganized. ahhhh

 

I have to still bring in the stuff from the van but it's still raining. yucky.

 

Ooo, I looked at the hello dolly's. I looove those. We use walnuts instead of pecans. I call them Rocky Road bars. I do the graham crust, then a layer of walnuts, coconut, chocolate chips (plain) and then marshmallows. Pour a can of sweet. condensed milk and voila. I melt choc. and drip it over once it's baked. I've seen them with m&ms too but they're so good with the original recipe, why mess up a good thing!?

 

Ok, I have about an hour and a half. I'm going to drive so that's my motivation to empty the van (or else I'll have these kids just stepping on whatever is in the van or complaining about how messy my van is :P bah.

 

I'm going to get moving and check in around 2:30. Things that MUST be done:

-bring in stuff from van

-finish writing down Christmas stuff in my notebook

-wrap a few of dh's things

-put away al the gifts, sorted into stucking stuff, etc

-clear dr table and cut up watermelon, lay out nachos and cheese for after school snack (which means bringing in a load of canned food from the back porch)

-sweep up broken glass in basement

-change T's bum

-bring down dishes from my room

-load into washer

Geez louise, didn't even get my list done but needed a break.

 

Christmas gifts are taken care of though I didn't bother wrapping any of dh's gifts. That can be done another day. Brought in everything and put it all away which took longer than expected.

 

I've got about 1/2 hr left. Timmy is changed and playing with the play kitchen (he absolutely loves it! i wonder if he'll like it when he's older, despite the fact that it's a Disney Princess kitchen. hehe)

 

Ok, going to try to finish up my list and I have a few other things to put away before I get the kids. I should call Koula about helping out with pizza day. I can't count the money tomorrow but I can help on Friday.

Other people's kids complain about my messy van too.  I hope my kids aren't like that!  Although they are so used to mess they probably don't even notice lol.

 

My hello dollys wouldn't set up - well, one batch wouldn't even though they were cooked at the same time.  My dad was by and he looked at it and said don't worry, once you freeze them they'll be okay.  There are no eggs so at least I don't have to worry about anyone getting sick from them.

 

GJ on the Christmas gifts!  You wrap as you go right?  I used to do that but I need a visual on what I have.  I prefer to wait and gather it all around me.  Makes for a backache to do it all at once though!  I wrap really crappy though so I get it done reasonably quickly.  My MIL buys 3 times as much as I do, wraps everything nicely (not like gorgeous trims or anything but she does things like puts cardboard over those toys with the plastic window and stuff like that) and tapes every single seam and whatnot.   And refuses to let anyone help her wrap - I buy toys or stuff for Scott that stay here and offer to wrap them but she tells me to hold them for her and she'll do it.  I wrap friends' gifts nicely but honestly for anyone in the family, I don't care!

 

Watermelon?  Where did you get a decent watermelon??

 

That's cute about the play kitchen.  My boys all loved play kitchens and play food.  And since once will eventually be a chef, maybe that's where he got his start?  I kind of miss those toys sometimes even though when we had them I couldn't wait to get rid of them!!!

 

I was supposed to take the kids to buy the angel gift at Walmart but decided we'll do it Thursday.  I thought it was due Thursday at Walmart but it's not - it's due Friday so we'll go after school Thursday before our Scout meeting.  Tomorrow I have a cleaning job then a Rocky apptmt with kids and then my med check - I'll basically be gone from 9 to 7 so I definitely won't get anything done!  Thursday is another job from 9 to 1 and then a meeting where we'll all be gone from 6 to 9 so this week is totally hurtling by.  I won't get my whole list from Monday done but I hope to get things at least picked up tonight which is why I didn't take them shopping.  Still working on the kitchen - I had to lie down for awhile this afternoon I was so brain tired.  At least dinner is a no-brainer, I have so much!  Scott is picking up ketchup and pickles for "loose meat" which is another of his favorites.  It is ground beef fried with onion then mixed with chopped pickles, seasoning and ketchup and at the end you add mozzarella cheese and serve on rolls.  We haven't had it in a couple of years because I always forget to fry the ground beef with onions so he can't wait.  I had a little chicken barbecue - yummmy!!!

 

Gotta give B back the computer

Whoa momma, you've got a busy week ahead of you now. Well, not that it wasn't busy with all your house stuff to do but now it's busy outside of the house!

 

No, I dont' wrap as I go. Well, sort of, I guess you could say. We procrastinate so we see what's coming up. Like, this Sat. Hmm, we need 2 Sneaky Santa gifts. So, we'll get those Friday and then wrap them right before we head out to Orillia the next day. lol For the kids, I leave it and then we're up super late Christmas Eve, wrapping and doing last minute stuff. I HATE that. I'd love to have everything done and be able to veg and watch a movie with dh that night and go to bed at a decent hour so that we can enjoy the morning with the kids, stay awake for the 2 hr drive to my nanny and poppa's house and then when we get to my parent's afterwards, we can still stay up a few hours to have fun with my siblings. Oh yeah, and I suck at wrapping!

 

They had mini watermelons on sale for $2. It wasn't the best but actually better tasting then some of the large ones I had this summer! A mini one really doesn't go too far but the kids were more interested in the cheese sauce and nachos. Timmy had a lot though!

 

My ground beef isn't going to be thawed out in time for supper. argh. Plus, I have the library and possibly Value Village to go to. Man, eating out would be nice but NOOO, I gotta resist!

 

My house is still messy but getting there. The living room actually isn't that bad but I figure that's where they'll have their meeting so it should be pristine. I'm sure bright green play-doh on the coffee table would stand out just a bit.

 

Ok, I should get moving here. The girls have been too quiet so I'm afraid to know what they're doing. Hopefully my leg doesn't bug me too much. timmy sort of bit my leg right on a varicose vein. So, I'm hoping it's just really bruised and that it's not something more. i'm paranoid about 'bad' clots.

I totally missed your post from 12:22.  I saw "meeting" in your last post and read back to see what you meant and realized I missed a whole post.

 

Okay, I'm not great at discipline which is why Chane is a PITA.  However, I'm learning about consistency from his therapist.  I know it's hard but I bet there are workshops and other ideas for daycare providers on discipline.  There's no way teachers in school would let kids break their rules without consequences.  Could you do a simple "three strike" or "red light" system like they do in schools.  It would be harder with different age groups but maybe different age groups could have different consequences.  I know B's and C's classes have always had class rewards for good weeks (if more than a few kids were misbehaving, the whole class would lose their sticker so when they had a certain # of stickers, they had a treat).  And for Scouts I use marbles - each kid gets a marble and if they are warned about something (mostly being disrespectful when other kids are talking) they get one warning and the next time they lose their marble.  They get a treat when they fill a jar with marbles - they peer pressure each other not to lose the marbles.  The candy campfire was a marble treat.  Because Chane is "special" and manages to go beyond losing his marble, we also have a special system in place with exactly what to do next.  That is because he lost it one week and I didn't know what to do next.  Rocky told me to sit down and figure out exactly what can happen and what to do about it. So now if he loses his marble, I leave the den with another parent and go down to get Mike, the Cubmaster.  He will lead Chane up three floors to Scott's den, where he'll have to sit and observe boring stuff with the big kids.  Mike is involved because I'm afraid Chane will go as far as throwing a screaming fit with just me.  You wouldn't have to do exactly what I do but it sounds like the kids' lack of respect for your rules is driving you crazy so maybe if you took an hour and went to dinner or something somewhere by yourself with a notebook and just thought it all through, you could come up with some plans?  I always had systems before but never real plans for a lot of the things  Chane does.  It really does help.  Last night because I knew how badly he was wanting to do the campfire thing, I was able to just use a simple "three strikes" with him because I had a big enough motivator but that only works with him if there's something he wants badly enough.  Which I also plan to bring up to Rocky - if he truly can't control his behavior sometimes, how come if he wants something badly enough he can?  Although there have been many times when he lost something he wanted badly so maybe that's not true but it does seem like if there's something really good I ahve more of a chance of "three strikes" working.

 

Just a suggestion.  Between Chane and Scouts I've had to do some thinking lately and I think that even though you can't stop other people's kids from being annoying, you can definitely expect them to follow house rules.  It would be different if they were your kids' friends - you wouldn't have them much and you could stop inviting them if they misbehave.  But you are running a business and it would drive me nuts if I had to deal with annoyingness AND ruining things.  Of course they will ruin some things, that's to be expected, but throwing a ball in the house after you tell them not to is too  much.

 

Oh man my dad gave Chane his first joke book so he is reading jokes out loud to me but then he doesn't even get them so he has to say "what does that mean?"  I tried to explain that the job of a comedian is to gauge his audience and figure out if jokes are funny first but he just keeps reading one after the other.  I already have Braeden doing that although his are finally mostly funny since he's older - man!

 

I need to go have a thinking session myself.  Gotta figure out when we'll do our Christmas stuff.  I think we're going to have a "Making Christmas part II" weekend this weekend.  Now that we are busy so many nights I feel like we have to make time for Christmas stuff.  I like that we do a whole season of stuff and not just a couple of days.  I think that's why the kids have been so angelic on Christmas Day the last 4 Christmasses - because the gifts aren't the biggest part of their Christmas.  So I need to fit it all in!  At least the kid stuff!  And the decorating, especially outside, since that's more for them too.