There has been two big annoying house problems as of late...and to find out...one source.
We had been getting an occasional smell of mustiness...sometimes strong and sometimes non-exsistant. I was sniffing around trying to figure out if jack had spilled water on one of the couches and it started to smell. I made kevin go down to the basement to see if it was down there. I mean it was really starting to drive me nuts...and bother my sinuses on top of it all.
There had also been a bunch of little visitors. At first I thought it was mouse droppings in the corner, but I went to sweep it up and they started to move. Then someone said they were snow fleas. Kevin googled how to deal with them and what they looked like...and declared we needed to use vinegar. So, i tried vinegar in the corners they liked to huddle...to no avail. Kevin pulled out the big guns...bug killer...and it seemed to help. They had been bugging the crap out of me...everytime I swept up the kitchen there were more. Thankfully that's basically where they stayed.
So Tuesday I was in cleaning mode. I had taken out a Mary Higgins Clark book on CD so I put that in and started in on the kitchen. I tackled the "I'll get to it someday" stuff...you know, cleaning the front of the cupboards and the cupboard shelves, the inside of the microwave...and then the pantry.
Our pantry is a wonderful place for extra storage. I am very thankful for it. Also, because we take our garbage to the dump and pay by the pound, we try to recycle not only plastic, etc. but paper as well...so I have boxes for all the recycling as well. The problem is...there tends to be pantry build up sometimes. It becomes too easy to stack everything in there...the cooler, large boxes to burn, things to go to the basement, tools...you get the idea. So I decided to tackle all the misc. stuff that has accumulated and organize it.
As I began to pull things out and move things out...I again caught a whiff of the musty smell. I then discovered this kind of sawdust stuff on the floor and more bugs of course. I cleaned up the floor and then grabbed the bag of bird seed Kevin had been keeping...that had been sitting on the stool. I caught a definite whiff of the dreaded smell. I looked down in and discovered it teeming with bugs. Yep, our bag of birdseed was the source of both scourges. I don't remember how long we have had it...and it sort of just sat there for being overlooked. However, it was busy decaying....it still makes my skin crawl and at the same time annoys me that I didn't discover it earlier. Kevin chucked it outside and I haven't smelled the nastiness since....I just get grossed out when I think about it.
On a lighter note...yesterday Kevin was trying to fix his recliner and Jack decided to help by playing with some of daddy's tools and stuck them in one of his favorite hiding places. Kevin was stressing and told Jack, "Help daddy find his tools". Jack, hearing the word tools, immediantly replies "Manny"...His favorite cartoon is Handy Manny and Manny has his talking tools...so that's what Jack thought of. Daddy didn't think it was funny.
Oh...question for Moms...what are some suggestions on what to do with a 16 month old who flops on the floor when he is mad about things...getting something taken away because he shouldn't have it, not wanting to go when we ask him too, etc. We are really trying to have wisdom and not constantly resort to yelling or spanking. A lot of times I just walk away. But I also don't want to allow him to be rebellious...i guess for me it's hard to know what he does or doesn't understand.
And thanks to Sara for her diet suggestion. I am trying to count calories and stay at 1200 a day. We'll see how it goes...I also discovered our netflix has exercise dvd's I can watch instantly...bonus!
I am someone who has been molded and shaped through the many paths and places I have walked...I have seen little and much...I believe but struggle to have faith...I desire to know God but still at times run from him...I desire life but at times lack the bravery to chase after it...I am me but all that that entails is still a mystery.
5 comments:
My 3 year old still screams and throws himself on the floor or bites himself when told no, etc. Most of the time, especially when he was younger, I put him in his bed until he was happy again. Now that he is older, I hold him and talk to him calmly. Another thing I tried that I read in a Parents magazine was to yell back "I'm mad, I'm mad, I wanted to . . ." to show them that you get that they are upset and show them what words they need to use to show it. It actually worked. I think it makes them stop to see what you are doing. As for the weight thing, we are all always trying to lose a few pounds. I get Good Housekeeping, and one of the writers in there gives seminars on the idea of slowing down and tasting our food. She says that we shouldn't be doing 50 other things when eating because then we don't taste our food and can't feel when we are full. As a Mom, it is so easy to do other things when eating, but I have found that it does work if I make an effort to do it. My stomach also feels better because I take more time to chew my food so that I can taste it better.
Vinny was a big screamer. He used to lie on the floor at church and bang his head against it, he would get so mad.
I let him do it. It improved a lot when he could talk. But it also became clear that I was not the slightest bit moved by his tantrum. He'll have to learn that screaming won't get him anything. When he was a little bigger, I started to give him "choices." They were both choices that I could live with, but it made him feel like he had control over SOMETHING in his life. That helped a lot too.
Of course, he's going to totally embarrass you at some point...probably with a cart full of groceries or something equally annoying. We've ALL been there. Sometimes you pass the test and sometimes you just fail miserably. It's all part of the deal
:)
Amy, anyone who has children who breathe has to deal with the tantrums. I am totally with you on the not wanting to spank all the time issue. That challenge led us to assigning a "designated spot" where I send the boys if they are pouting, throwing a fit, etc. It is the ONLY place where they are allowed to be upset. When they were younger, I had an area rug in the dining room where they had to sit. Now that they are older, they have to go to their beds when they throw any sort of a fit. At first, it was hard to instill, and I admit it took a few spankings to get them to stay on the rug. But they soon learned that the consequences of leaving the rug before they were happy!
We used to laugh at our Jack because he would often send himself to the rug so that he could be upset about something! :-)
Also, as your Jack gets older, it will be easier to help him understand that he has a choice to make with his attitude. I am a firm believer in helping children understand at a young age that every decision they make carries a choice. It seems to really help lead them to understand that they also have spiritual choices to make.
Hang in there, and realize that we are all in the same boat as moms!
thanks to all!!
yeah let me know if it helps with the getting pregnant thing...
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