This and That

So last night I complained about the next door neighbor and the drums before I went to bed. I had to open a window this afternoon because I had the oven on and the house was hot. The hubby and I were sitting here after dinner tonight watching TV and heard the drums start up again. The window I had open was the one facing that particular house. Then we heard the music start and I recognized the song right away. The hubby muted the TV and we sat here listening to them. They played Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" a couple of times. Then I heard the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand." We looked at each other, and he said, "Well, at least they're playing some good stuff." Yep. Really, my only gripe about the drums last night was the fact that it was so late on a week night. Fortunately my kids will sleep through just about anything, so it didn't bother them.

I mentioned having the oven on this afternoon. I made Lasagna for dinner tonight. I called the hubby and asked him to pick up some garlic bread and wine on his way home. He fussed a little bit, which I think is just a man obligation or something, but took care of it for me. I don't make Lasagna that often, but I might just have to make it more often than I have been. The Little Man ate three helpings! Granted, we didn't give him really big pieces, but still...pasta of any kind is filling, and I couldn't believe he ate three helpings of it plus two pieces of garlic bread. The Princes only ate one piece, but she said, "Mommy, I don't usually eat Lasagna, but your Lasagna is better than regular Lasagna." Hmmm...I'm not sure what exactly that meant, but I was flattered anyway.

They both lied to me tonight. They were playing this afternoon and I asked them to clean up what they'd been playing with before we ate dinner. So I heard them playing right before their daddy got home and asked them if they'd cleaned up their mess. Both of them assured me they had. I chose to trust them. I sat them down to dinner and took a basket full of clean laundry up to my room, and looked in their rooms on my way down. J's room was ok, but A's room was a disaster. Not only that, but she had taken the top parts of her bed posts (which her daddy has to repair since she decided to swing on them) into her room and was playing with them. We've told her time and time again to leave them alone. They're not toys, and they can hurt her since the bolt part of the connection is on them and the nut part is in the bottom part. So I came down and lectured her about that and told her that she would be cleaning the mess up when she was finished with supper. J asked if he had to help. I asked if he'd made the mess. He said no. A contradicted him. So I asked if he was playing in there. He said no. Again, A contradicted him. So J said, "We weren't playing together, but I was playing a game at the same time she was playing a game." Hmmmm...ok, once again I asked him if he was playing in her room and reminded him of the importance of telling the truth. Once more he said no and A insisted that he was. So I said that since he chose to lie to me he could have his mouth washed out with soap. "OK, OK, he said...I was playing in her room." Too late. He had already lied to me three times in a row. So after supper he got a taste of liquid soap. Since A had lied to me as well, she got a taste too. They complained for a few minutes, so I told them to think about that next time they considered lying to me. Yes, I know I'm a mean mom, but that was an experience they're not likely to soon forget.

Heidi blogged today about UFOs. I wrote yesterday about resuming my long-neglected hobby of cross-stitching. My current project, which I'm actually almost finished with, is a pre-packaged project, meaning that all the necessary materials (fabric, needle, threads) are included in the kit. However, I'm somehow missing a color. It was probably there when I unpacked the kit and has gone missing in the chaos that is my life. I'll probably find it when we move to the new house. Anyway, I have lots of patterns and threads in a craft basket which has been in the bonus room upstairs. I got to a point tonight where I have to find a thread that will work to finish this one. Usually the pattern includes the number code (DMC) of each color, but of course this one was the exception, so I had to take the one I had (light coral) and find the thread in my collection which most closely matched it. Then I could decide which one would be best to use for the one I was missing (medium coral). Anyway, my boxes of threads are, of course, at the bottom of the basket. So here I am pulling stuff out of the basket, with the hubby reminding me that if we're getting ready to move, unpacking is not the best idea right now. OK smart aleck, I'm putting this stuff back when I find what I'm looking for. Anyway, as I'm going through the basket, I'm finding long-forgotten patterns and UFOs (UnFinished Objects) of my own. Many of my projects don't require a lot to finish...mostly outlining stitches and cleaning/ironing of the finished product...hopefully they're not irreversibly stained. And the long-forgotten patterns? While the hubby was in Iraq I found a place (I think it was militarywives.com or something like that) where I got all kinds of cool patriotic patterns and booklets with several patterns. I'll do them eventually.

Oh, the Princess got sassy with us tonight, too. I already mentioned that they were supposed to be cleaning up the mess after dinner that they had fibbed and told me they had already cleaned. We heard running and jumping upstairs...clearly not cleaning. So I asked why they weren't cleaning. The hubby answered, saying they weren't minding, and called them downstairs to give us goodnight kisses for bedtime. As I kissed A, I asked her if she had gotten her room cleaned up, and she told me no. They'd been up there for about a half hour, more than enough time to get it done...it really wasn't THAT bad since they'd gotten their rooms cleaned last night, and they could have had it done in about 10-15 minutes. I should also add here that when we told them it was bedtime, she said, "thank goodness." When I asked her why she said that she said, "I'm tired." I asked her why her room wasn't clean. She said, "Like Daddy said, we weren't minding." Oh, I don't think so. Well, at least she learned something from the soap incident earlier and didn't lie to me, so in a way, I was a bit amused, but tried to hide it. Her daddy, though, let her know real quick that she wasn't about to get off that easily. He told her to get her little butt back upstairs and get her room cleaned up, and she had 15 minutes to do so. I told J that his had better be done, too, although his wasn't the mess hers was. Funny, because usually it's the opposite.

Don't know what I'm gonna do with my monsters. Never a dull moment in this house. Like I told my sister the other day, though...my life is definitely not boring!