I'll not pay for those TWICE, thankyouverymuch

First of all, I don't play imaginary heroes. (And honestly, this morning I can't decide if the plural of hero is with an e at the end or not. whatevah. I need coffee.) With my boys I've never played Santa, Easter Bunny or any other kind of imaginary omnipotent hero. And that was no big deal to them until they began losing teeth.

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"Is the tooth fairy real?" they asked.

"Nope." I say, in my don't be ridiculous tone.

"Well, can we get paid for our teeth when they fall out?" Silly kids, always trying to work me for a dollar.

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Losing teeth IS a big deal to kids...so I had to come up with a plan.

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In our house, the Tooth Fairy is mom. And everyone knows it. If you feel you've missed out on some childhood fantasy, you can still put your tooth under your pillow and I'll put money there. For the most part, they just show up with an open palm holding a tooth and another open palm ready to be paid. But, because I'm stingy, frugal, brilliant, here's the way it works:

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If you lose a tooth that never had a cavity, you get paid $1 for a small tooth and $3 for a molar. BUT, if the tooth had a cavity, you get $NADA, $ZILCH, $ZEE-HEE-RO. Because I have already paid for that tooth once.

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How much do your kids get for losing teeth? Anyone else have a creative way to reward kids for good brushing?

We're moving, and that explains why my posts are infrequent and boring...

I'm going to give you the short version of my chaotic (and yet terrrrrrific) life.

One day this fall the Mr. decided we should sell our house and move into something smaller to save a little money while we wait on a bigger house - and a good deal - to come along. Our children will not stop growing.

So that's what we did. And that's what we're doing.
And wow, what a mess it is right now in my house.

And with that, my calendar got very busy trying to collect boxes, categorize all our junk stuff as STORAGE or HOUSE, and carefully mark all the boxes for easy identification. (Oh, and keep some sense of normalcy in the house for the kids who come home everyday to an emptier house.)

I hate moving.
I like knowing this is the right decision for our little family.
I'd like it more if I didn't have to pack.
Plinking around on my computer doesn't make the Top 10 Things To Do on most days. Maybe next week?

Nothing to do today? Come on over. B.Y.O.Box

Anyone actually like to pack? (Not trying to recruit you, seriously - just wondering if anyone really thinks this part is fun?)

Anyone still with me? Ugh. I'm pretty e-boring these days... :)

I OD'd on Fox News

On most days I do not turn on the television until late in the evening when the boys have gone to bed and the foxy Mr and I need to watch an episode of The Office, or Lost or 24. Tuesday was different.

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I woke up to some Fox News and pretty much didn't stop until the clock demanded I take Kid Two to a soccer game. Seriously, that's enough TV news for me for the next 2 weeks - borderline overdose. (Except that LOST starts this week so I'll have to give it another go...)

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I was certainly grateful nothing catastrophic occurred during the ceremony. Good job, fellow Americans. Nice self-control. :)

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He doesn't have to be my favorite president, but he IS my president. This was the best blog post I read today. It captured my thoughts exactly.

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And you? Did you watch the inauguration? Did anyone watch more Fox News than I did? (Please say yes and make me feel better...) What were your initial thoughts?

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(It was either politics or aprons today. I'm low on good stories about my life...)

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You thought I was going to link the word aprons to www.PinkLicorice.net, didn't you? Come on, I don't self-promote everyday... :)

Let me do you a favor today

Let me do you a favor today, okay? There are two websites I visit to get the skinny on good deals and great products. You should take a trip to these two places in particular today...

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Christi's 2 Cents - She is a friend in my Bible study and always has some great shopping deals available for the penny-pincher in all of us. A couple of her links sent some free stuff on its way to my house recently! I love free. Hurry on over and check her out. GO!

Consumer Queen - This gal works with the Mr. and also has a very cool website. She does a lot of product reviews, hosts giveaways and informs readers about all kinds of deals and steals! Wednesday night she was interviewed by our local news channel! Go check out this site today too!

You can see her interview here. And you might even learn how to start getting your own free stuff! WHOA!....Before you decide you don't have time for this, can I just "mention" she is wearing the most adorable apron?... Yeah, I heard it was made by Pink Licorice. [and the crowd goes wild...WILD, I tell ya.]

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I promise I won't turn this into a "buy my apron" site but come on, when you're anonymously featured on the news, you gotta tell someone! :)

Mom, I like this girl...

For the second time this week, my 11-1/2 year old son has said to me, "Mom, I like this girl..." and then he goes on to ask me a question or two about "liking girls." While the Invisible Me DESPERATELY wants to squint my eyes and point my boney little finger in his face and demand he "keep it in his pants until he's got a legal Mrs.", I realize that is not at all necessary at this stage in the game. It's possible the Invisible Me overreacts from time to time.

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He just wants to know if it's okay to like her.

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Oh man, here we go. A new chapter in life. Close the one that starts "Someday you'll like girls and..." and open the one that begins, "Now that you're older..."

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I'll not share his side of the conversation. He's older now, and that's private.

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This morning at Bible Study, Robin mentioned how we read the word over and over and over and at the right time, the Spirit calls to mind the word we may need to share with someone else. That someone else is often one of my precious guys.

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I reminded him again that this girl he likes has already been picked out to be someone's wife. And most likely, given what I know about life, it may not be him. But she already belongs to someone. Likewise, I told him he already has a wife waiting to belong to him someday.

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I wish you could have seen his eyes light up at the realization that God already has the love of his life chosen - and that somewhere in this world, a mom and dad are praying for Kid One to love their daughter with all of his heart. I've told him before about his future wife but tonight he started to get it. I hope he remembers that for the rest of his life.

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So much more of that conversation I would love to share with you, but I can't. Bummer.

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He scurried off to bed and I just stood in the hallway and wiped my now-wet cheeks. I was reminded of the importance of praying for the wives of my sons. I haven't done that enough - and it's serious business.

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Do you pray for the spouses of your children? Do you pray with them for their future spouse? It matters. It matters big time.

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(Thanks for my mom and my mother in law for time spent praying for Chad and I.)

Kind of a BFF Sweat Shop

Before Christmas I caught the sewing bug and started making aprons...lots of them, thanks to some of you! Short ones, full ones, and ruffled ones. So much fun.

Natalie, being my BFF, came over to lend a hand in the makeshift sweat shop. (We don't really work that hard, mind you.) I wanted to show you how the operation went down.

First, Pastor JT dropped of his little Mrs. who brought me one of these. A good dose of caffeine got the creative juices going!

This is me drinking my little treat and probably bossing Natalie around while I work on a cute ruffly number.

This used to be my dining room which was transformed into the "shop." Kid Three also has his toys strung from one end of the house to the other...

This is Natalie's OFFICE. She was the most wonderful Chief Ironing Executive ever in the history of pressed fabric.

And among the finished products that day? These.

And thanks to all of you who participated in the giveaway and ordered aprons for Christmas, I launched this:

www.pinklicorice.net

:)

The pesky laundry hamper

I'm in the market for a new laundry hamper - a laundry hamper than can act right and be obedient - one that doesn't play dodgeball when you throw clothes into it.

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Yes I'm sure it's the hamper. It can't be my kids...

They're perfect. [insert mischievious grin]

I'm sure it's the hamper, moving side to side and closing its lid at precisely the moment dirty shirts are hurled into the air toward it.

I'm sure it's hamper, being only half full and yet coughing up jeans and jammies onto the floor so I'll have to bend down and scoop them up.

I'm sure it's the hamper, that venomous, cantakerous hamper.
It can't be my kids.

They would NEVER just throw their clothes on the floor when the laundry hamper is so close...so very, very close.

NEVER.

Battleship - Nuclear Twist

Seriously. Unless you're playing this game with someone who can no longer demonstrate their age using 2 hands, this game is going to be painfully slow. Distrubingly, painfully, ridiculously slow.

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Kid Two wanted to play a game with me tonight. Okay. I feel like kicking some minor hinnie in a friendly game of whatever. Yes, sounds good, Kid Two. I'll play.

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Battleship is the game of choice and I know what that means. He's better than he used to be but still, this game is destined to send one of us to the ledge.

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A-5 miss.

G-7 miss.

C-1 miss.

B-9 miss.

J-2 HIT!

Oh finally.

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And for the next too-many-turns we struggle to sink something, anything.

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My eyes are getting heavy and I'm tired of saying, "come on honey, it's your turn...no you guessed that one already...yes, it's still your turn..."

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And then I get an idea. A grinch like idea. And without any further thought I'm sure I can sell this one ane end my tour of duty on the plastic ocean.

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What this game needs are nuclear weapons. No one survives a nuclear weapon. No one.

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Kid Two, I've got an idea. Let's make up our own rules tonight. Each of us now has 3 nuclear weapons we can use at any time. If you choose to use a Nuke, you must announce it on your turn and if you hit ANYTHING you automatically win the game because you essentially blow up the whole ocean and everyone sinks...all.my.ships.included. (I no longer care if I win this game.)

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The crowd goes wild and he thinks I'm brilliant. The Invisible Me braces for DefCon level 10 and I cross my fingers, toes and eyes for good luck. This game will hopefully be over in less than 3 moves by one of us.

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Nuke, A-8 miss.

Nuke, H-10 miss.

Nuke, A-1 HIT! Game over.

,,,

He's right. I am brilliant.

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And there you have it. A sure-fire way to cut a grueling game of Battleship short and disguise your boredom.

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You're welcome.

:)

Who needs Dick Clark?

December 31.

New Year's Eve used to be oh-so-exciting when I was ten, and sixteen and even twenty-five. But now as a real, live grown up, it really isn't all that fantastic anymore. Know what I'm saying?

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We rolled in from Colorado around 5pm after a 12 hour drive starting at 4 in the A.M. The house was still spotless with sweeper marks in the carpet (because EVERYONE knows that's how you leave a house when you go on vacation - can I get an amen?!) and we were beyond grocery-less. There may have been a stale cracker or some furry green bread but not much more than that. We opted for Chinese food to get us through until the next day.

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Throughout the whole dinner all I could think of was how tired I was and how I couldn't wait to get home and do n.o.t.h.i.n.g. and maybe do it in front of the television all snuggled under my hot blanket. The thought of my Geriatric-Rockin-New-Year's-Eve-Party made me as excited as a teenager with a curfew extenstion on this once a year event.

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We raced home by 6.30, bathed baby and put him to beddy-bye an hour early. (He had it coming.) Then I treated myself to an almost-too-hot-to-handle bath. Bubbles and all.

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Once I was smellin all squeaky clean and pretty again, the Foxy Mr and I jumped into bed, watched a movie and fell asleep before 10pm. I'm not even sure we remembered to say good night or turn the light off. REM sleep before you could snap a finger. Bliss.

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I woke up surprised to find the new year made it's way to Oklahoma without the watchful eye of the Heineckes. The ball dropped, the couples kissed, some ate black-eyed peas while others helped themselves to a little too much nog. But us? We thumbed our noses at Mr. Dick Clark and his NYE celebration. And it was seriously the best New Year's Eve Party Un-Party ever.

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Happy New Year everyone! (5 days late, oh-well)

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For those of you who managed to remain faithful to my Favorites Party on Tuesdays, you are terrific. We left town, I left my computer and haven't touched Google reader in about 2 weeks...

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One more thing...my apron business took off before Christmas - I've got some new stuff for you (on another site later this week) - Stay close for Valentine's Day specials!