There's A Reason For Store Locators

Let's go back in time. It's a week ago. Friday. 5PM. David says he wants a good burger. He decides that we should head to Fuddrucker's. Don't know what that is? Fuddrucker's is a burger joint, and it's AWESOME! We used to go in Phoenix, but didn't know if they had any here. David said he knew of one. Did I want to go? I'm all, "REALLY?! Awesome burger AND I don't have to do dishes?! SIGN ME UP!" Before we leave, David says, "I'm not really sure where this location is." I say, "Want me to check the website really quick?" "No, we'll be good." I get everything for the kids together, we pile into the car, and off we go.

An hour later, we're driving through the town that David works in. He's pointing out gas stations he gets drinks at, neighborhoods he drives through and trees that Target is preserving. We get to the stretch of mall driveway we need to drive down, and we can't find it. We drive left. We drive right. We go back and forth. Nothing. I pull out the TomTom, type in Fuddrucker's and see that we are driving in the wrong direction on the wrong pathway. We head to where we're supposed to go. As we're turning onto the right pathway I ask, "When did you see this Fuddrucker's here?" He says, "Oh, a couple of years ago." WHAT?!! I totally know this place is closed. We get there, and guess what? IT'S CLOSED. There are big words reading CLOSED written on all the windows. David pulls up and we notice a letter hanging in the window. I hop out and give it a read. It says it's closed and lists the next three locations, St. Paul, Bloomington and Maple Grove. I get back in the car and tell him what is says. We look at the clock. 6:45PM. He decides to try St. Paul. We punch in St. Paul and Fuddrucker's. It's going to take us 30 minutes to get there. OK. We can deal with that. We head out. Fast forward 25 minutes. We pull off the freeway. We're hopeful we can get a great burger. We pull into the side street. We trek down a few minutes, and are greeted by a BIG, FAT, CLOSED SIGN!!! I mean, REALLY!?

So, here's the lesson. Always check the store locator before trusting your husband on such a quest. We ended up eating dinner at Applebee's at 9:30 later that evening. The upside to this crappy adventure? We found a Target that had some pretty great clearance deals and got Ethan the rest of this school wardrobe. He is now set for the 3rd grade.

Attack Of The.....

Fly! Yes, it seems my darling daughter has inherited her mother's irrational fear of bugs that can't harm you. Me..Crickets..Her..A fly.

I know, you are on the edge of your seat wondering, "How Chantel? How did you discover this?!" I'll tell you!

Sunday morning, we made our usual trip to the grocery store. Ethan wasn't with us. He'd stayed the night with my SIL to take a trip to the zoo, so it was just me, Claire and Grayson. Claire was fabulous in the store. Usually when I shop, I put Grayson in the stroller and Ethan pushes him while Claire sits in the cart. This time I let Claire walk. She stayed right next to me holding onto my pants. She smiled and said hello to everyone...Seriously, it was super. When we got to the checkout lane, I let her pick out a treat as a reward. She chose her favorite snack, rainbow colored goldfish crackers. She sat in the cart among our bags (reusable!) on our way back to the car. I buckled everyone in, opened up Claire's snack and home we went.

Now, I live about 30 minutes, 20 on a good day, away from the store. My drive is spent on long stretches of road with one stopping point. I pass one four way stop sign and a park and ride. Other than that, it's me, the occasional tractor and lots and lots of grazing cattle and cornfields. About 3 minutes after we pass the four way stop, Claire starts whining. I take a quick look in her general direction and notice she no longer has her cup. I assume this is the problem. She has a love for throwing it on the floor while I'm driving. I tell her that she's going to have to wait for me to stop driving to pick it up. And then...It happens.

Claire lets out the loudest scream I've ever heard in my life. You know those screams from horror movies? Yeah, that's what this scream was made of. I turn again to see what happened, and there is a fly buzzing around her. She's watching it. It lands on her knee. Again, she screams. I scan my surroundings, I look at the clock. I'm 4 minutes from the park and ride. She's crying. What else can I do? Three minutes to the park and ride. Why did this fly have to catch a ride in my car? She screams. Two minutes to the park and ride. Did I remember to buy lemons? She says mommy. One minute to the park and ride....And there is the park and ride. I pull in, run around the car, open her door and out goes the fly. She smiles. I smile. We are all good.

So, Claire...Not a fan of the housefly. Not at all. But, she'll probably grow out of it. Me? A cricket jumped on my foot the other day while I was digging the slip in slide out of the shed. I ran screaming...And then I cried.

Getting To Know You

1. Thong or Granny Panties?

Sorry friends, but this girl's panties are a secret.

2. If you see a guy with his fly down, do you tell him?

Um...No. Can you saw AWKWARD? Once, Ethan needed to be transported by Ambulance from an urgent care center to PCH (Phoenix Children's Hospital). The male paramedic had an open fly. I mentioned it to my MIL. We both found it funny, but neither of us said a thing. As I was pregnant, I had to ride in the front seat of the ambulance instead of the back with Ethan. He drove while his partner took care of Ethan. I kept my eyes glued to the front with a few quick glances Ethan's way. I wonder if he ever noticed his fly was down. Ethan's ambulance ride? He had pneumonia and needed oxygen treatments. The urgent care center was closing, and PCH was the place for us. The rest of the story......Ugh.....Don't get me started.

3. Spanx or no Spanx?

No spanx. Also, can I ask, why is that they have extremely skinny gals on their webpage sporting something to make them appear thinner? That doesn't make sense to me.

4. Do you sleep in your sheets?

That's what they're there for, right?

5. What is your favorite Disney character?

Tinkerbell...She counts, right?

6. Dream vacation spot?

Paris. Always has been Paris. Sometimes I look at rental apartments online overlooking the Eiffel Tower and dream about my Parisian vacations.

7. What is your dream job?

To be a teacher.

8. Who is your hero and why?

I have two heros. My mom, because after everything she's been through, she picked herself up, dusted herself off, held her head up high and got to where she is today. My aunt, because when my mom wasn't there, she became my surrogate. She gave me advice. She took me shopping. She was what I needed, and I love her for that.

Writer's Workshop: Loma Prieta Rocked My World...Literally!

Writer's Workshop...Ahhhh...It's feels like forever since I've done this. It's been a few weeks. So, here we are. If you want to take part, head on over to Mama Kat's, choose a prompt and link it up!

Today, I chose the prompt, Earthquake! Where were you when it happened? So, here it is!

We are living in Antioch, California. I am 6. It's October 17, 1989. I don't remember the day. I remember it is late afternoon. My brother is glued in front of Sesame Street. I am at the kitchen table doing homework. I am crying because I just saw my friend's walking to the playground that is in our apartment complex, and I want to go too. My mother tells me I need to finish my homework. I cry louder. This is ineffective.

I hear a loud buzzing noise. I look at the TV. Hmm...That's weird. It switches from snow to Big Bird and back to snow. Then, it happens. The snow comes back, and it's insanely loud. Then the floor rolls. It feels like I'm sitting on a water bed and someone has just jumped on the other end. My chair slides across the kitchen floor and slams into the wall, dropping me to the floor. Cabinets are opening and closing and dishes are rattling. Glasses fall off of the counter and shatter. My dad runs into the kitchen and grabs me from my chair, and I see my mom grabbing my brother. They shove themselves into the doorway of our apartment, their arms and bodies protectively covering our heads. My friend's mother comes flying out of her apartment screaming her name and running towards the playground...And it all happened in less than 20 seconds.

Our television was out until the next day, so we didn't see how much damage was really caused, but in walking around out apartment complex, there were cracks in the sidewalks and in the parking lot. The slide on the playground lost a couple of screws. When I went to school, there were cracks on the floor in our classroom and jars of art supplies were spilled across the floor. A can of paint had fallen and was spilled across several desks (one of them was mine) and across the floor. When we did watch the news, they showed the Oakland Bay Bridge with it's collapsed portion and the damage in San Francisco repeatedly. It was scary.

But, here I am, telling the tale. Now I live in Wisconsin, which is Earthquake free...And I enjoy that.

If you want to know more about the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 you can go here.

Anytown USA Exits..I've Been There..

It's my 200th post! Woo Hoo! So, I've decided to write about something that I think is pretty awesome. You might not think so.

When I was 13 or 14, my aunt and uncle started telling me about this camp called Anytown. They kept telling me, "When you're 17, you're going. When you're between your junior and senior year, you're going." I was all, "Ugh..Whatever.."

Summer of 2000 rolled around. I was 17. I was between my junior and senior year in high school. I boarded the bus with my back pack, my pillow and my insane nerves and rode 4 hours up north to the week that would help mold me into the person I am today.

The bus pulled into the pines and the dirt lot and was surrounded by a huge group of singing and happy men and women. They hugged us as we got off the buses. They didn't even know our names. We were assigned cabins. We nervously met bunkmates and exchanged names, jokes a and what we thought this was really all about. We really had no idea.

Describing what Anytown is all about would take too much time. Anytown fights against racism, bias and bigotry, but it's so much more than that. It's connections to people who you never thought you'd ever have a connection with. You open yourself to things you never thought you would. You push past your comfort zone to learn about yourself and other people. My week was spent with an open heart, an open mind and many tears. It was the best week I've ever had. It was the best camp I've ever been to. I think this camp should be required for everyone. EVERYONE.

While I don't think that prejudice can ever be truly wiped away, whenever I start to have a thought based on a split second look at someone, I always think twice about what it is I'm thinking. Do I really want to think this about this person without actually talking to them first? No, I don't. And my thoughts change.

I left camp a totally different person than when I got there. Anytown USA does exist. It's a place where souls open and are shared. One day, my kids will experience this too.

To learn more about the camp I attended, click here.

Wisconsin Weather Makes Me Want To Pee Myself

We had an eventful evening. A huge band of storms came across Minnesota, and headed to my little hole in the wall. Now, in case you don't know, I don't live in an actual house. I live in a trailer. If wind wanted to come and take my house, wind would win. No contest. House would wave the white flag in a second. We have no basement, so we have to go to the library. When severe weather pops up on my TV screen, you cannot peel me away from the news or weather.com. No way. It ain't happening.

Tonight, there were warnings all up and down the state. Tornados. Wind. Thunder. Insane lightning. In all honesty, I kinda didn't worry too much about it. Why? Because we get these things all the time, and nothing happens. We've gone to the shelter once, for 5 minutes. I watched the news, and I put Claire and Grayson down at their normal bedtime, 8PM. I came back out to the living room, pulled up weather and flipped on the news and BAM..A huge clap of thunder. I look up to see that there is a major storm headed right for us. It's carrying wind gusts 0f 50 MPH. There was a funnel cloud sighted in a town about 15 minutes away from me. I told Ethan to get dressed, I threw everything I would need into the diaper bag and watched. At 9PM, the sirens started blaring. Here I am, alone, with three kids. Two of whom are sleeping. Super. I had to wake Grayson and get him in his carseat. I had to wake Claire. I had to put the dog on his leash. I carried Claire and Grayson and Ethan held the leash and carried the diaper bag. We ran through the pouring rain, to the car. We drove to the library. There were tons of people there. The dog goes nuts. Grayson cries because he's supposed to be in bed. Claire is red faced and shaking because I woke her up out of a deep sleep. Ethan is asking about a million questions about wind, thunder and tornadoes. We were there for 45 minutes before the weather cleared. As I type the thunder is still rumbling and they are saying we may be in for a round 2. I hope round 2 fizzles out, because I really don't want to repeat this.

Every time that siren sounds, I want to pee myself. You know what we had in Arizona? Thunder. Rain. Dust storms. Not big walls of wind that could rip my house apart. Wisconsin weather is not my favorite. The thunder and lightning and rain I can deal with. But tornadoes? HELL NO!

Awesome Things

Sunday. Dinner time. Pasta. We're at the dinner table, minus David, who is at work. Ethan and Claire are giggling, and Grayson is spitting out in a raspberry whatever I put into it. Let me tell you, carrots and spit are pretty awesome in a spray of slobbery goodness. About 4 minutes into the meal, Claire gets down from her chair, walks around to my side of the table and starts chanting, "Up!" I go ahead and set her in my lap and bring her plate over to my side of the table and continue feeding Grayson while taking a bite here and there of my dinner. Claire says, "Water peas" so I give her her cup. She take a great big mouthful, chokes and spits all her water all over my dinner. I'd only taken maybe 4 bites. Now it's covered in water and toddler spit. Yum. Claire and Ethan find this hysterical, of course. I'm a little less amused. Cold cereal and I have a date later that night.

Monday. Kids are in bed. Score! Time for a nice hot shower. I gather all of my essentials. I get in the shower. I actually get to shave my legs. I start washing my hair. As I'm scrubbing my scalp, I hear it. A little, "I'm hungry" cry coming from Grayson. Me, soap in my hair. Him, hungry. I have to get out of this tub. I rush to rinse. As soon as I turn to get under the water, I get sprayed just the right way that soap runs down the front of my face and into my eyes. Now my eyes are on fire, there's soap in my hair and my hungry baby is now DEMANDING a feeding. I curse my way through the fastest rinse ever and hop out, dry and get dressed only to find him fast asleep again. What?! I don't even bother to get back in to condition.

Am I the only one confused by Target's new ads? It's college students talking about room mates. Sometimes they're wearing wigs and talking about crazy things they did, and at the end iy says a little something about college and then shows the Target symbol. I did not get at any point until the commercial ended that it was for Target. What's the commercial selling? I love Target, but I hate these commercials.

Also, where the heck did Playhouse Disney go? I flipped on Disney today ready for some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Imagination Mover goodness only to be greeted by Phineas And Ferb at 8am. WHAT?! I checked the guide and Playhouse Disney starts at 4AM!!! My kids are not up at 4AM. Claire was not happy this morning. I don't understand. Why is it on at that time?

And those are my awesome things.

Getting To Know You

1. What is YOUR definition of sexy?

I don't think I have a definition anymore. I barely get a chance to shower. My hair is almost never brushed. I don't shave my legs. My eyebrows are in serious need of a shape and wax. I live in sweats, old shirts and spit up. My husband tells me I look nice, but I tell him he's full of it.

2. Would you rather clean up puke or change a poopy diaper?

I'd take the vomit. The poop makes me want to vomit anyway.

3. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Can I be a little of both. I really love to be outgoing, but I'm usually pretty quiet when I first meet someone, which makes everyone think I am a royal bitch.

4. If you had to give up one of your 5 senses for a year..which one would you give up?

Sense of smell. See question 2 for why.

5. Cake or Pie?

Pie. Cherry pie. With whipped cream.

6. If you could play any character on TV (old or current) who would you play?

Rachel Green on Friends. I love her.

7. My favorite website is.....?

Google. You can find anything!

8. The highlight of my day is....?

Just before bed when all the kids climb on the couch with me and cuddle quietly. Well, Grayson is always in my lap, but Claire and Ethan climb up and we all sit quietly together for awhile. I love it. A big blanket of my babies.

On The Mend

I do believe Grayson is feeling much better. We've stopped the Tylenol, but he's still on antibiotics for the next 3 days. The lumps on the back of his head have gone away. It's not longer swollen, and he doesn't care if I touch them. I'm still keeping an eye on it though. If they come back once the antibiotics are done I'll be taking him back to the doctor. In the meantime, he is a happy guy. He's been playing and laughing more. He's actually enjoying time in his jumperoo as opposed to crying as soon as I put him down. Naps are still off kilter. Bedtime is back to normal. We're back to one feeding a night, which is good for me, because living on two hours of sleep and having to chase a toddler while struggling with a crying baby just wasn't working out for me. Nap times were the only time I had to get anything done around the house, so I couldn't nap when Grayson actually did nap. Yeah for sleep!!!

In other news, the Potty Train has pulled up to our house. We bought Claire some big girl underpants. She has started fighting me during diaper changes. We bought pull ups in hopes that it would make her stop fighting. It didn't. Whenever I change her diaper she starts screaming, "Potty! Potty! Potty!" I tell her she can use the potty. Instead of walking over and sitting on the potty, she strips naked an runs around the house. I've been lucky. She only peed on the floor once. So far, no pee in the potty, but we're working on it. David's put some movies and games that she likes onto his ipod touch, so we're going to start setting a timer for every 90 minutes or so. We'll take her to the potty and let her sit and play with the ipod for a bit. I've also been taking her into the bathroom with me whenever I go, but when we do that, she's more interested in trying to grab stuff off the counters when I can't immediately grab her. Good times.

And now, folks, I'm headed to bed! Oh, and, if you follow my 365 blog, so sorry for the lack of photos. The batteries in our camera died and we kept forgetting to get more. My SIL took some pictures of Ethan when he stayed with her. I'll be uploading them soon!

I Saw A Movie...And Then Reality Came Crashing Back!

Can you say Eclipse? I saw it. The movie I was DYING to see. David forced me out of the house for a "play date" as he called it. He asked if I wanted to see it. I did. Badly. But with Grayson and the crying and his hatred of bottles, I didn't think it would doable. So, he took matters into his own hands. He called my friend, Jamie, told her I wanted to see it, and BAM, there we were two weeks later watching it, and it was AWESOME! I loved it. I cannot wait for Breaking Dawn. November 2011 can't come fast enough.

All throughout my time away from home though, I was constantly thinking about Grayson. He still wasn't feeling the greatest. When I got home though, David told me he slept the entire time I was gone. He'd only just woken up twenty minutes before I got home. But, he still was very unhappy, so I loaded him up in the car and we made a trip to Urgent Care. Turns out that nasty red and swollen throat he had has migrated to his ears. Double ear infection goodness. So, he is now taking Tylenol and antibiotics. Super. He doesn't mine the meds though. We fought a bit the first day, but now he takes it like a champ.

Something new popped up though. He has these pea sized lumps on the back left of his head. He doesn't like me touching them. He grabs my hand when I put my hand on the back of his head. I did a quick search and read that it may be swollen lymph nodes. I had no idea they could get swollen like that. I also read that they could go away whenever the illness that they are associated with goes away. So, if they aren't gone by the time the antibiotics are, back to the doctor we go. I'm also hoping with the illness, the tears go too. We got a great nap schedule going. We had a perfect bedtime routine. But, ever since all this started, he just isn't sleeping well at all. Friday night he was up almost every 3 hours. Last night it was even worse. Naps are slowly getting off kilter. The crying has been cranked up a notch. I just don't know what else to do for him that I haven't already done. Claire cried with the best of them, but Grayson is crying like he's practicing for the Olympics. This, right here, is the first quiet today. He cried through grocery shopping, he cried driving to and from the store. He cried during meals. He cried at the breast...You get the idea. I'm exhausted, and I don't know what else to do. I'm at a loss.