Category Archives: What I Learned This Week

What I Learned This Week – 6/9/13

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Photo: YouTube.com

Photo: YouTube.com

This week I learned that while my husband and I are both working for the first time since our son, M, was born 2 1/2 years ago, our living conditions at home are deteriorating.

Thursday from 10PM on played out like a painful sitcom episode. My husband and I both arrived at our wonderful babysitter’s house, having both worked for 8 hours. This was a miscommunication, because my husband’s job is 10 minutes from the sitter. My job? An hour. We were all starving (I assure you, the babysitter did feed my child. But his schedule is so far out of whack, that he now eats fourth meal on a regular basis.). So, I sent the husband home with the kid and to let the dogs out (who had been left an hour beyond their expected bathroom limits), while I headed off to the McDonald’s all-night drive through to buy a randomly-selected number of double cheeseburgers.

I arrived home, walked in the back door, and felt something stuck to the bottom of my shoe. I looked to discover it was dog poop. I cursed the dogs for pooping right outside the back door (I had not walked through the yard). I continued further into the kitchen for paper towels, only to discover that I had poop on both my shoes. And that is was actually diarrhea inside the back door on the laundry room floor.

My husband left my unhappy, thirsty, hungry son on the couch while we worked to get the mess cleaned up and the starving dogs fed (A rug was completely discarded in the process). We did manage to eat our dinner, although my son kept dropping chunks of burger on the couch, much to the non-diarrhea dog’s delight. I changed my son’s diaper one more time, gave the sick dog some Pepto-Bismol, and forgot to brush his teeth (the boy, not the dog). I went out and wiped down the floor a second time, which seemed to finally rid us of the doggy diarrhea odor.

The following night, on the same time table, seemed to go smoother. Only one parent showed up to claim the child (still me), we had dinner that wasn’t fast food, and no one pooped on the floor! Ya! Maybe this 2 jobs thing just requires practice.

I also learned that I have trouble working AND keeping up with my blog. But I assure you, I have many completed posts in my cue and the next three days off. Just let me catch up:)

What I Learned This Week – 6/2/13

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This week I learned that:

1.  Green Skittles are now green apple flavored, rather than lime.  Both are gross.

2.  It is supremely rude to type a phone number into your phone as I am on the phone giving it to you. IT IS LOUD on my end!

3.  I think I might need to eat a Mrs. Field’s cookie every day for my entire life.

4.  Eating Egg McMuffins at 12:15AM are not a good idea.  (Wait, I already knew that, but did it anyway…)

5.  Back to the Future is very unrealistic. There is no way they could know exactly what millisecond that lightning would strike.*

6.  That my dog may be more closely related to dingos than I at first thought.  See for yourself.

My Dog Dave

Dingos at the Toledo Zoo

*  The time travel, flux capicitor, and the DeLorean becoming one of the most iconic movie cars of the decade are totally possible and believable.

What I Learned This Week – 5/26/13

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This week I learned that showing your kid how to theoretically wipe his butt as part of potty-training, should he ever decided to actually go in the potty, will provide you with endless LOL.  I thought my son was going to wipe the skin right off his butt!

I also learned that if I leave my son in the care of others, he will survive.

He won’t be HAPPY about it…

And I will feel justified in mildly speeding on my drive home to pick him up faster.

Stupid Sandy.  Always out of order:(

Stupid Sandy. Always out of order:(

What I Learned This Week – 5/19/13

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This week I learned that my son finds it very amusing when my mother swears.

WEEK-swear

Now, just to fill everyone in, I learned after the birth of my son, M, that if I took him with us when I took my mom for her weekly shopping, we would both stay in a better mood.

I had to take my mom shopping on Thursday night. I had worked all day and had a rough time completing my shift end paperwork, so I was in a very foul mood. My mom was in her usual “all negative” mood.

I took her shopping at Walmart, which is usually not her regular store. So, she had no idea where anything was. I hadn’t planned on buying anything, but I did pick up some large items, such as dog food and a multi-pack of papertowels.

When we loaded up my Pontiac Aztek, my mother complained, as she often does, that my car is not big enough. Now, mind you, this a car that I once used to transport items for my first-ever garage sale. I had the first 25 years of my life stacked floor to ceiling in the Aztek, and it all fit. Now, with the back seats in, there is less space. And a child seat takes up half the backseat. But, trust me, there is still oodles of space in that car. And there should be totally sufficient space for her WEEKLY shopping. That woman buys more in a week for herself than we do for a family of three.

At this time, since it was after I got out of work, it was very late and M was now in a bad/tired mood as well.

When my mom was trying to get the last of her stuff out of my backseat, the plastic bag ripped and she had trouble trying to catch her 2-liter pop bottles as they rolled under the seat. She started to swear up a blue streak. She was sooo p*ssed off.

Then M, who had been crying and whining up to this point, started to giggle at her. And he has a totally adorable 2 1/2 year old giggle. This, in turn, made my mother laugh.

It was very amusing that he found her hissy fit so entertaining.

It also reminded me why we take him along with us.

And maybe why she is still around when the doctor told her she should be dead in 2007.  For moments like that.

What I Learned This Week – 5/12/13

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This week I learned that the Disney “classic” Peter Pan is really rather sexist. It premiered in 1953. Had it come out after women’s liberation, it would probably be written differently.

Tinkerbell is portrayed as a female with a hot-temper and a large ass. Wendy is treated badly by everyone, including Tinkerbell. Wendy is expected to “mother” her own siblings, and then the lost boys and Peter Pan as well. If a flying boy comes to my window and asks me to come be his mother–I would quickly decline!

I also learned this week that you can buy pre-made Puppy Chow! You know, Puppy Chow for humans…

It is a confection made with Chex cereal, melted chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. I can’t make a batch because I will totally eat the whole thing myself.

But while at Family Video this week, I found a bag of it ready-made, under the name “flixMix“.

flixMix by Imaginings 3

flixMix by Imaginings 3

It was sooo good! It was rice cereal drenched in peanut butter and chocolate, just like how you would make it at home. Every piece was flavorful and worth the calories in every bite.

My family devoured that bag instantly. Being at Meijer a few days later, I looked for the same brand there, but could not find it. I did find Chex Mix brand Muddy Buddies. Seemed to be the same thing, so I gave it a try.

Muddy Buddies by Chex Mix

Muddy Buddies by Chex Mix

Muddy Buddies were NOT the same. They were made with corn cereal. (C’mon Chex! You have all your various flavors at your disposal and you pick CORN?!) The strong corn taste, combined with a very inferiorly light coating of chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar, made the Chex Mix brand ones not worth the effort to chew them.

Here is a comparison of the two products:

flixMix                              
by Imaginings 3
$2.99/4.5oz
Serving Size 1/3 Cup
Calories 200
Calories from Fat 90
Total Fat 15% DV
Saturated Fat 35%
Total Carbohydrates 9%

Muddy Buddies
by Chex Mix
$3.19/10.5oz
Serving Size 1/3 Cup
Calories 130
Calories from Fat 40
Total Fat 7% DV
Saturated Fat 13%
Total Carbohydrates 7%

The proof of good taste is in the Fat and Calories!

FYI–I can’t resist mentioning that I CANNOT WAIT for the season finale of Once Upon a Time tonight on ABC. And I really hope we see what has become of Neal (There is NO FRICKIN’ WAY he is dead!). And hopefully I will have a longer post about actor Michael Raymond-James on here next week.