We must be doing something right after all.

Saturday night was one of those nights that a mother dreads. I was home alone with the kids and they were sleeping soundly in their beds. At 11:30pm I decided I should probably head to bed myself and around 12:10am I was finally beginning to drift off. At 12:13am Peter started to scream. I ran into his room and he told me through tears that his head hurt right above his ear.

Did he just say ear? I got weak in the knees and I started to tremble. Here we go. Sarah suffered an ear infection two weeks earlier. We didn't get much sleep the night it presented itself and I knew we were in for it again. (Why do these things only happen at night?)

"Is the pain in your ear or in is it in your head?" I wasn't trying to be funny. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, all he had was a headache. Silly me.

"It's in my head at my ear," he cried. Hmmm. That didn't really narrow it down for me so I ran to get get him some cough medicine. He's had a bad cough for a couple of weeks and I was hoping that maybe that would calm him down so he could sleep.

I gave him the cough medicine and crawled back in my bed and about 2 minutes later the crying started up again. We discussed the pain again and I decided that it was indeed the dreaded ear infection. I trudged to the medicine box and got out the Ibuprofen. He was crying the whole time and complaining about the ear pain. After I gave him the medicine he said, "Mommy? Can you pray to God for me?"

"Of course I can pray to God for you sweetheart. Actually, I already have been," I said.

I smiled as I thought to myself, we must be doing something right after all.

I guess I really need to start working out.

This morning my sweet daughter asked me, "Mommy, why are your butt cheeks so big?"

Hmmm...could it be excessive consumption of ranch dip, meatballs and spinach and artichoke dip? Or perhaps my need to eat all of the Halloween candy before the kids do, my love of TV and my DVR or perhaps my disdain for exercise? There are just too many reasons to pinpoint the exact cause.....

Please don't comment on the size of my side saddles!

My husband and I have dined at Texas Ranch and Cattle several times. If you've never been I think you should try it out. It's your typical steak house with wooden floors, dark paneling, paintings of wildlife and dead animal heads hanging on the wall. You get the drift. Their signature dish is a smoked sirloin and it's delish.

The first time we went, we placed our order for the smoke sirloin and the waitress said, "What side saddle would you like with that?" Dan and I looked at one another and snickered.

Dan said, "Side saddle? Um what's um a ....side saddle?" He had a hard time getting it out. Of course a side saddle would be a side item like baked potato, mashed potato, french fries, etc. We hate it when restaurants try to get cutesy with their menus. It's so unnecessary.

We made sure to give our waitress a little extra in the tip for having to say such a silly thing.
Side saddle...puh-lease!

Anyway, we continue to snicker and joke about the side saddles and even several months later are still laughing about it. Dan looked at me last weekend and said, "Your side saddles are getting pretty big."

We won't be talking about side saddles any more.

Note - If you ever go to Texas Land and Cattle, don't get the fried pickles. I love me some fried pickles but theirs were no good. They used spears and I prefer chips when frying pickles. Why do you think I purchased a Fry Daddy in the first place?

I have a problem.

I am an addict and I am ready to admit that I have a problem.

Many of you are probably already aware of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. If you have never been there, you should visit. It is a wonderful blog and I highly recommend it. She has hundreds of commenters a day from which I can only conclude that she has thousands of readers.

She also has another blog, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. This blog too, is wonderful. She posts pictures of each step of each recipe. And her pictures of the food are gorgeous. At times, I find myself wanting to lick my computer screen. I said I had a problem but believe it or not, that isn't it.

The Pioneer Woman has a recipe for Buffalo Wings which I have never actually made but I will. Some day. I can actually taste these wings when I look at the pictures. But alas, I am very lazy and the thought of getting out the frying pan, and heating up a bunch of oil just seems like soooooo much work to me. (I am now kicking myself for selling my Fry Daddy at a yard sale. And I'm sure if my husband is reading this he is thinking I told you so, I told you so, nah, nah, nah, boo, boo! )

While I was salivating over her wings, I saw her recipe for ranch wing dip. Ahhh, now this is a recipe for me...no frying involved....just a little bit of mixing. That's something I can handle. And handle I did! Let's just say that after a mere two weeks, I am now on my fourth batch of this ranch dip.

I love ranch dressing. I'm not exactly sure when I first had it. The dressings I remember from my childhood are Thousand Island, Green Goddess, Roquefort and Miracle Whip...yes, we actually used Miracle Whip as a salad dressing...I shudder at the mere thought of that now. Once I had ranch dressing I never looked back. Every now and then I will try some newfangled fancy dressing but I always go back to ranch. Always. So I decided that if I was too lazy to make the Pioneer Woman's Buffalo Wings I could at least make her ranch dip.

And make it I did! I started out dipping broccoli. Delicious. And then carrot sticks. Delicious, too. This dip made raw vegetables taste delectable. And I even felt good about myself, because after all, I was dipping vegetables.

Then one night, while watching TV, this dip called to me from the refrigerator. At the same time some tortilla chips called to me from the pantry.

Rescue us. We need to be together. Save us. You neeeeeeed us. Help........

I paused The Office, threw down the remote control, jumped off the couch and ran to them. I had to free them from their prisons. They deserved to be together. Why hadn't I thought of that before?

After I had rescued them, I situated myself back on the couch with the bag of chips in one hand and the bowl of dip in the other and began dipping and eating and dipping and eating and I have not stopped. Why had I been wasting this wonderful dip on vegetables? I wouldn't be making that mistake again.

Four batches of dip and many bags of tortilla chips later, I am wondering why my jeans are too tight and why my muffin top is even fluffier than normal. And is that back fat hanging over my bra? It must be all the dip and chips. Sigh.

They say the first step to beating an addiction is admitting you have a problem. So, I am here today, admitting to the world that I a problem.

Hello. My name is Beth. I am a ranchoholic.

Works For Me Wednesday - Help! My Tile Floors Are Dirty and I Can't Clean Them Up!

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a BACKWARDS Works For Me Wednesday today. Normally you would post an idea about something that has worked for you that might be helpful for others. I think I did the Internet a mighty fine service when I posted this little helpful hint.

Today, however, we are doing things a little differently. Shannon wants people to post dilemmas in the hopes that others might provide helpful answers. So, without further ado...

I want to know the best way to clean tile floors.

We have beautiful tile floors in our kitchen and breakfast area. I decided to go with tile instead of hardwood in our new house because if dropping forks, plates, cups, and bowls were an Olympic sport my kids would have shelves full of gold! I have had hardwood in the kitchen in our old house and as beautiful as they were I could not keep them clean.

Overall,for everyday maintenance the tiles are very easy to clean. If one of the kids spills something...no problem. I can clean it up with a sponge and that's it. Problem solved. Then I can move on to something more exciting. Like the laundry. Or cooking dinner.

I need help with my major weekly cleaning. Currently, I vacuum the tile and then I use a Swiffer with one of those wet pads. Unfortunately, the Swiffer doesn't seem to get the stickier stains off the floor and I end up on my hands and knees with one of the Swiffer wet pads cleaning the floor. Had I known I would be doing this I probably would have just gone with the hardwood floor.

Help! If anyone has tiles in their kitchen and has an easier, more effective way of getting them squeaky clean, please let me know What Works for You. It is Wednesday after all!

Opinions welcomed!

I need your opinion. My husband told me that the look of my blog was boring and why couldn't I make it spiffier looking. I sort of liked the plain clean lines. Plus, there aren't many templates to choose from on Blogger.

As you can see, I have been messing around with the colors and went from white and purple to pale yellow and camouflage green. I don't think I will be able to look at these colors for long...not sure why but even though they are muted I find them annoying to look at and very bland, which sort of defeats the purpose of the change.

What do you guys think? And I would like everyone to comment on this. I know (I hope) I have more readers than just Jennifer, Pam and Megan so come on people...help a design-challenged, color-uncoordinated sister out!

Ahoy there matey!

My son's fifth birthday is in a couple of weeks! Even though he will be turning five this will be his first birthday party with friends. So far, every year we have celebrated with whatever set of grandparents and aunts and uncles were available. I would cook a nice dinner and we would have cake, ice cream and of course, presents. Peter and Sarah always had a great time and never once asked for a party with friends.

My husband isn't big on celebrating birthdays...he thinks it's a waste of money and that it should be treated just like any other day. (That might be true for a 41 year old male who doesn't like to spend money but not so true for a 5 year old.) And I always felt like the kids should ask for a party with friends before we went to all that trouble. Well, several weeks ago Peter asked, "When do I get to have all of my friends over for a birthday party?" The mere question made my knees tremble and perspiration break out over my brow.

The thought of having a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds over for a party made me weak. And I'm not exactly sure, but I think this would also mean their parents would be coming as well since most people aren't comfortable dropping their four year old off somewhere with someone they didn't know really well. That's too many people for my house (and my wallet!) so I started thinking about other options. I went through them all in my head...

our house - too small for lots of kids and parents

the local inflatable place - too expensive

the skating rink - too expensive and Peter doesn't know how to skate

the park - November could potentially be too cold


After deciding against all of those options I went with a sleepover. I told Peter he could have his two best friends over to spend the night and he was thrilled! I did have to reiterate that this would be the actual party so that he wouldn't be expecting a big bash later with lots of kids and lots of presents. I think I got that through to him and he is still very excited! He just had his very first sleepover at his friend Colton's house. It was Colton's brother's birthday sleepover and my friend Jennifer, who is a crazy woman (she even named her blog that!) decided that all of her children should have kids sleeping over! Peter was so excited by that sleepover that I knew his own sleepover would be good enough.

So we are set for a sleepover and we are doing a pirate theme. Peter is fresh from Halloween as a pirate so he is excited about that. I am making a pirate ship cake (there may or may not be pictures of that later depending on how well it turns out!) and Dan and I will be doing a treasure hunt for the boys. I decided since I was only having two kids over I should at least try to get creative with the invitations. So, I made them look like old messages in bottles.

Here is the actual invitation....

I tried to age it by soaking it in tea and then burning the edges. I think it turned out pretty cool. Then we rolled it up and put it in a root beer bottle filled with sand to make it look like it has washed up on the shore. Here is my son pretending to be an evil pirate while holding the bottles. If only I had the invitations completed in time to take the pictures while he was wearing his Halloween costume he might actually look like a spooky pirate instead of a crazed four year old!

I think the invitations are cute and I hope the little boys that receive them will like them. Although, knowing kids they won't care and will just end up spilling the sand all over their bedrooms.

Sorry Page. Sorry Jennifer. I hope you will let your boys come to the party anyway!

I am loved.

Most weekday mornings start the same for us. At 7:15 am my husband and I go upstairs to get the kids out of bed. At 7:19 am he goes to work and the whining, moaning and yelling begins...and those are just the sounds coming out of me.

I have one hour from the time we get the kids out of bed until we need to be in the car heading for preschool. That hour is spent with a lot of conversations that go like this:

Me: What do you want for breakfast?

Silence

Me: What do you want for breakfast?

Silence

Me: What do you want for breakfast?

Silence

Me: What do you want for breakfast?

Her: I want toast with jelly.

Him: I want oatmeal.

Me: Mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble. O.k. here you go! I hope you enjoy!

Him: I changed my mind! I want cereal!

Her: I don't want this! I want a pancake!

After the breakfast scramble, the process of getting dressed begins. It is a mixture of me threatening, demanding and struggling. Usually it is a pretty quick process but I am always left wondering WHY CAN'T THEY JUST DO WHAT I ASK THE VERY FIRST TIME?! And then I remember that I am dealing with a three and four (almost five!) year old. Although, this shouldn't be an excuse because WE GO THROUGH THIS SAME ROUTINE EVERY MORNING! Even a dog or one of those cute little lab rats would have this process down pat by now.

Then we get in the car and head to preschool. We usually listen to "their songs" because that's what keeps them calm and I am all about some peace and quiet after the previous hour of unpeace and unquiet. After exactly 9 minutes in the care we pull into the preschool for drop-off. Our preschool has drop-off and pick-up and I think this is a wonderful feature. I can pull under a covered shelter, the director will get them out of the car and I can wave and blow kisses as I am driving away. At least that's how it was described in the preschool brochure.

My kids however, have something a little different in mind. The director will open the car door and give them a cheery hello and my kids, who previously would not shut up, quickly become mute. Is it my imagination or are they even starting to drool a little. I often wonder if the director thinks my kids might be a little "slow". Then they start hanging on me. Keep in mind, I am in the front seat and they are in the back. By this point I am starting to sweat a little. Um, make that sweat more because I am usually sweating before now from the previous hour of fun.

Then the rounds of "I love you, Mommy!" and "I'll miss you, Mommy!" interspersed with lots of hugs and kisses (all given over the back seat, of course) commence. This goes on for what feels like an eternity. It is usually at this point that I check out my rear view mirror to confirm that the drop off line is starting to back up. The beads of sweat pop out on my forehead as I am imagining all the choice words the other parents have for me. Why can't my kids just hop out of the car and give me a quick wave like all the other kids do? Why?

Yesterday as we were going through our little routine, the director looked at me and smiled and said, "I guess you know you are loved."

This statement made me pause. Had I been walking, I think I would have literally stopped in my tracks. All the craziness of getting them ready for school each morning doesn't leave much time for hugs and kisses and all of my yelling and cajoling and all of their stubbornness doesn't make for many warm fuzzy moments between mother and child. But for the rest of the morning her words echoed in my head and I thought, Yes. I know I am loved.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. We had a great day here! The kids had parties at their schools and came home wired on sugar and ready to Trick-or-Treat. We had some neighbors over for a play date and that helped burn off some of their energy.

Before we headed out to Trick-or-Treat I made these cute little mummy pizzas for dinner. The kids scarfed them up. I was quite impressed with myself and feel at least I am attempting to keep up with my fun mom friend Jennifer. (Check out her site, she's already doing cool things for Thanksgiving. No wonder, once again last night, my son asked to live at her house.)

I got the kids dressed in the costumes and here is what they looked like:

I was very excited this year. Sarah went as a beautiful ballerina. The cost of her costume for me was...nothing! My mom got her the darling little ballerina tutu dress as a dress-up item for her birthday in June.

Peter's costume cost us a total of $6. The shirt, t-shirt and sweat pants were items we already had or were recently purchased and will be used as regular clothing many times. I got the hat, the eye patch, the ear ring (which he wouldn't wear), the sword, and the vest at the dollar store.

I also got three red bandannas with cool skulls on them from Wal-Mart...they weren't even in the Halloween section...they were in with the ladies belts and scarves. I swear you can get anything at Wal-Mart. Total for all the items for his costume was only $6! I was so excited! This is the first year that I haven't gone overboard and spent hours and hours pouring over websites trying to find just the right costume and spending way too much money! Dave Ramsey would be so proud!

Here are all the neighbors and friends we Trick-or-Treated with last night. We had a great time cruising the neighborhood for candy with them!