Girls Room: Painted Curtains -- Done!

I have been working on my daughters' bedroom since we moved in (you can read about all my plans here), thinking it would be best to have them settled first.  Well it's been a LONG process.  Much longer than I expected or would have liked.  But...it's finally coming together.  About a month ago, I decided to take some curtains from the basement and put them in the girls' room.  The basement curtains weren't making a big splash down there, and they would match my girls' room much better than the tan ones that were in there.  White seems so boring though! So I decided to paint them.

I thought about doing a chevron pattern, since that's so popular these days, but that's exactly why I decided against it.  It's a fad, and I didn't want to have to redo the curtains once chevron patterns went out of style. After seeing this blog post with photos from a magazine about painting a pattern on the curtains, I decided to go that route.

A nice Fleur-de-lis pattern had a Paris-y feel, which I love, and seemed simple enough.  I bought a sample-sized paint jar from Home Depot, printed the pattern as big as I could on a regular sized piece of paper, and went to work.

Here is the end product:

I like that the pattern brings the pink I wanted into the room without being in-your-face. What do you think?

German Heritage Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

I posted the other day that I wanted to make cabbage rolls.  In the end I was too lazy to get out my phone or computer to look at the recipe when I made them, so I just winged it from what I remembered from the recipe, and then called my mom.  They turned out pretty tasty, so I decided to share the recipe here.

I called it a German heritage recipe because my mom and grandmother made these all growing up (of course, I hated them then!) and my grandmother learned to make them from her mother who was a German-from-Russia.  From what I've heard, Germans-from-Russia recipes are not the same as German recipes, at least not all the time.  So I think this is a German recipe, but it could be a Russian recipe, or a mix, so take it for what you may.  If anyone knows for sure, let me know and I will update the post.  Thanks!

Cabbage Rolls
Makes 16-20 cabbage rolls (about 6 servings)

Ingredients:
2 cans tomato sauce
8-10 large cabbage leaves
1 1/2 cups rice
1 medium onion
2 lbs ground beef
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1+ cups water

Directions:
About a 1/2 an hour before starting put the rice in a small bowl and cover with water.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour about a 1/2 can of tomato sauce in a dutch oven,  swishing it around if necessary to cover the bottom.  Set aside.  Put cabbage leaves in a medium pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil until tender, about 8 minutes.  Meanwhile, drain water off rice and put in a large mixing bowl.  Grate the onion over the rice, then add the rest of the ingredients except the water.  Using your hands mix the beef with the other ingredients until well-blended.  The more you mix, the tougher your meat will be and the better it will stick together.  If you like soft cabbage rolls that crumble when you cut into them, like me, don't mix for a long time.  If you like them to hold their shape, mix longer.

When the cabbage is soft, drain the water and let it cool enough to hold the leaves in your hand.  Cut them in half along the center vein.  Holding the half-leaf in your palm, scoop some of the meat mixture onto the leaf.  The amount will depend on how large your leaf is.  Form an egg-like ball and wrap the ends of the leaf over the meat.  Place seam-side down in the dutch oven.  Once all the cabbage rolls are in, pour the remaining tomato sauce over them, then add enough water to almost cover the cabbage rolls.

Put the cover on the dutch oven and bake for one hour.

Enjoy!

first attempts at newborn photos

I've been doing photography for a while, but have been in the mood to try something new for the last year or so. I've done mostly weddings and families in the past, but seeing all the adorable newborn photos, I decided to try it out. A couple of my friends are having babies this month, so I asked if I could take some shots of their babies. They graciously agreed. One of them had her baby a couple weeks ago, so last Saturday, I hauled all my stuff to her house and set up shop. Newborn photography takes a lot of work. (Perhaps it feels like more than it really is because you have a space heater on the whole time and are sweating profusely by the time you're done.) But they sure are adorable. I haven't finished processing all the photos yet, but here are a couple I really like:

I hope my friends will be happy with the results!  If not, it was free, so they're only out a couple hours of their time.  What do you think of the photos?

guilt writing

As I was making dinner tonight, I was thinking, "Wow, I really want to work on my book tonight."  So all evening I was looking forward to doing it after I got the girls to bed.

Then I sat down at the computer.

First thing that came up was a blog post I had been working on.  "I have to finish that," I thought.  So I did.  And then it was an hour later and I no longer felt like working on my book.  But it was such a good intention! So I opened my document anyway and found my spot.

Still didn't want to work.

What did I do, you wonder?  Opened Firefox and started checking out Pinterest.  Of course.  Isn't that what any sane woman would do in my position? 

Then comes the guilt.  I hadn't scrolled more than twice before I heard my husband coming up the stairs.  He thinks Pinterest is about as good of a use of my time as I think his scrolling sports message  boards is.  So in order to avoid "the look," I switch back over to my book before he can come into eye-shot of my computer screen.

And VOILA! I am suddenly okay with doing some revisions; suddenly, it works.

So there you go.  I got some revisions done tonight.  Not because of my good intentions.  Because of guilt.  But--hey--I'll take it.  Revisions is revisions, right?

Have you ever done that?  Started working on your writing because you didn't want someone to see that you were piddling away your time on some other use of the computer? I'd love to hear I'm not the only one. :)

Girls' Room Update

My plan since I found out I was expecting our third child was to put the two older girls in a room together.  My first thought was to put them on two twin beds in the bedroom downstairs.  But...then I got to thinking about it and decided that they are way too young to be so far away.  My husband thinks I'm a crazy paranoid person for thinking that someone could break into their window and steal them without me even knowing about it, but that's my fear!

So the new plan is to have them in bunk beds in the room next to ours.  I totally forgot to take a picture before I painted the room, but it was the same brown color as the living room (you can see a little bit in the hallway in the picture below).  Miss E was vying for a pink painted bedroom, but I just couldn't bring myself to paint a whole room pink.  Especially when she is going to be sharing it with Miss M who has yet to pick a favorite color.  If I had to take a guess, I would probably say Miss M is going to be partial to blue (she always wants to wear her blue coat instead of her green one, and it's the color she gets right the most often).

So Miss E and I compromised on green walls, but pink lots of places around the room.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the room done as fast as I would have liked (does that ever happen?), so the only pink thing in the room is the quilt I threw over her comforter.  She hasn't complained, so I guess that suffices for now.

Here are the plans in the works:

White bunk beds.  I bought a set from DI (local thrift store) for $40! They have been in the process of being sanded and painted for three weeks now, but they are finally close to completion.  I'll do another post when they're finished.

New curtains.  The ones that are in there are the ones left by the previous owners of our house (below).  It was weird.  They left all of the window coverings, every hanging shelf, some pictures, shower curtains, etc.  Not that I mind that I didn't have to cover that expense right away, but I've never heard of people doing that before.  So anyway...they left the curtains that are in there and they aren't ugly, but they're a light brown and don't match at all.  The curtains they left downstairs were white, which totally matches, but it's a little boring.  I decided I'm going to paint a pattern on them.  More on that later.  The window will probably need blinds or light-blocking backed curtains once Mira moves in there, too.

Paint the dresser (above).  We have all of my Dear Mr. S's bedroom furniture from growing up.  Which is nice, it's just 30 years old and looking dated.  It's not real wood--it's laminate, so I've been hesitant to do it.  But I dislike it enough and have read enough how-to's that I think I'm going to take the plunge and see how it turns out.

Wall hanging.  I found this picture on Pinterest, realized I had beadboard in my bedroom that I wasn't going to keep on the wall, and thought, "Wow! Free, large, wall-hanging."  In the process of making that one.  I'm changing it up, though.  No letters.  I'm experimenting.  Watch out!

Pictures.  I already made a couple of "saying" pictures to be framed. Some of them are pictured below.  I haven't decided which ones to have printed yet.  I'm waiting for the rest of the room to come together, so I can decide exactly where I want to put pictures before I pick the ones to print.

Night stand.  The rest of the room is going to be rather boxy: bunk beds, dresser, wooden kitchen, framed pictures, etc.  So I want to get a little table to go next to their bed that's (sturdy and) round.  I've found a couple on KSL, but I am again waiting until the bed is in to see how high I want the table to be.

Bedding.  I for sure want to do matching throw pillows for both beds (in pink, of course), and perhaps matching blankets for the ends of the beds.  The pink quilt is perfect, but we only have one, which was hand-made by my Gramma, so that's not going to work for a matching look.

Of course, if my budget was more than $100 for the whole project, I probably would do things differently, but my budget is around $100 and I've already spent $60 on bunk beds and paint for the curtains.  I'm a die-hard DIY-er, but I tend to be lazy (or perhaps in too much of a hurry would be more accurate), so we'll see how it all comes together.  Stay tuned!

Vegetable Ventures

I got a Bountiful Baskets last week and have been totally overwhelmed with the produce.  It doesn't help that I swamped myself with last-minute Valentines Day stuff and often didn't have time to make a big meal at the end of the day.

I decided today that I needed to look up some recipes to use a few of the veggies that I don't usually buy for myself--such as cabbage and eggplant.

Here is what I found:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Classic-Cabbage-Rolls

I think I'll simplify the sauce, since my grandmother's recipe only calls for tomato sauce, and I've never thought they were bland (well...as an adult anyway).

Update: I made them using a different recipe and they turned out tasty! Find the recipe I used here.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-eggplant-tomato-and-goat-cheese/detail.aspx

I have fresh basil from Bountiful Baskets as well, so I'll add that, like some of the commenters suggested, and I'm not going to make a sandwich.  I'll just grill the pieces of eggplant with our steak tonight and then broil them to melt the cheese.

Also--determined to take a better picture of it.  The one on AllRecipes is dark and not very appetizing-looking.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cabbage-carrot-casserole/detail.aspx

The cabbage rolls won't use up the huge head of cabbage I got, so I'm going to halve this recipe and try it out.  Looks flavorful and relatively healthy and uses a lot of cabbage!

I'm also going to make my very own fajitas recipe to use up the three red peppers I got. I'll post that soon.

I'll update after I make them and let you know how it goes (and add pictures!).

Quick and Easy Breadstick Recipe

I got this recipe at a recipe exchange a few years ago and was impressed with how easy they are to make, and tasty, too!  I've made these a couple times in the last two weeks, and everyone I've served them to has asked for the recipe, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

So without further ado, here it is!

Quick and Easy Breadsticks
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1-2 Tbsp butter, melted

Mix all ingredients together except butter.  Cover and let rise for 15-20 minutes (I turn on my oven to preheat and set the bowl on the stove, so it's got a warm place to rise).  Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and dust the top of it with flour so the rolling pin won't stick to it.  Roll out to the size of your cookie sheet or cake pan.  Cut into sticks with a pizza cutter and place in pan or on sheet.  Baste with butter.

You can leave the breadsticks like this, or you can season them.  I like to season them with a seasoning mixture I got from my sister-in-law's mother-in-law (I know, complicated, huh?).  It's a lot like this stuff you can get from Walmart or any grocery store .  Then I sprinkle the sticks with Parmesan cheese and throw them in the oven.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until slightly golden on top.

Enjoy with your favorite soup or pasta!

My Little Pony Spa Day (a.k.a. de-frizzing and re-curling ponies' hair)

Yesterday was a stay-at-home-all-day day.  After Wednesday, I didn't want to risk it (I'm kidding...mostly), plus I was still feeling a touch under-the-weather.  So I thought to myself this morning, "What can I do with the girls on the cold, wintery, day to keep us all occupied for a few hours?"  Then I remembered this pin from a while back about fixing frizzy doll hair.  I wondered if it would work the same on My Little Pony Hair.  After a quick google search, I found a page about restoring My Little Ponies.  Perfect.

Miss E has more than a small obsession with them (no--we haven't seen every episode on Netflix 7-8 times--I have no idea what you're talking about), and Miss M is picking up on it.  I love how she says "Wywight" for Twilight Sparkle, and can perfectly pronounce "Pinkie Pie!"

Miss E got the idea from her cousins, not long after starting her My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic collection, that it would be great fun to bring her ponies into the tub with her.  Which is fine.  But after the 50th bath and a lot of pulling and rubbing and general messing-with their hair got, it was looking a little sad.  With some of her newer ponies, she wised up and stopped taking them in the tub.  Their hair has stayed a lot nicer.

An example of pony hair that has seen better days (Rainbow Dash):

Since fixing their hair would involve playing in water and playing with ponies, I knew both my girls would not only be up for it, they would LOVE it.  Of course, I didn't call it "fixing the ponys' hair."  I told Miss E we could do a "My Little Pony Spa Day."  (Being a sly mom, I also told her we couldn't do it until we cleaned the house.  I thought she would go for it, but she was my enthusiastic helper for a couple hours! She was SO exited for the ponies to have their spa day--it was wonderful!)

After all the cleaning, this kinda-sick momma needed a short rest, so the girls got to watch an episode of My Little Ponies.  This was totally appropriate, I thought, because there are several episodes where the ponies go to the spa. In Season 1, Episode 20: "Green Isn't Your Color," Rarity and Fluttershy go to the spa several times.  The ponies also go to the spa at the end of Season 1, Episode 9: "Bridle Gossip" when they need to soak in a poison joke remedy.  The season 2 finale, A Canterlot Wedding: Parts 1 & 2, might be good, too.  Miss E seems to think that in order to get ready for a wedding, one must have a spa day.  She might be right.

Finally all of Miss E's (mostly) patient waiting paid off and we were ready for our My Little Pony Spa Day. We set up on the kitchen table, so we had plenty of room:

If you are doing this yourself, here are the things you will need:

• conditioner
• a fine-toothed comb or a pony or barbie comb (I thought the fine-toothed comb worked the best for pulling the hair really straight.)
• towels
• plastic straws
• scissors (to cut the straws, or the pony hair if the ends are unrepairable)
• bobby pins
• a flat iron or curling iron
• elastic hair ties or scrunchies (if you have them--I haven't owned one for many a moon)
• boiling water
• a large bowl

We started out bathing them all in soapy water and then rinsing them.  Honestly, unless you found your ponies at the local thrift store and they are gross, you can probably skip this step.  It was, however, Miss M's favorite part, so it was probably good we had the tubs for her to get soaked in.

1.  If you are just dealing with the hair, the first step is to decide how much work the hair needs.  If it is still soft and smooth, just not curling nicely anymore, you probably only need to get it wet before moving onto step 5.  If the hair is tangled, hard to work with, or frizzy, it will probably benefit from some conditioner after getting it wet.  I just put some on my fingers and rubbed it in.

2.  With the conditioner still in, comb through the hair as best you can.  Then rinse.  I tried rinsing it in a big bowl of water on the table, but the water got slimy pretty fast, so I ended up just taking them over to the sink and rinsing them under the running water.  Miss E enjoyed doing this for me, too.

3.  Once the hair is combed and rinsed, dry it with a towel.

4.  Then you have to decide if you want the pony's hair straight or curly.  Miss E wanted Rainbow Dash's hair straight, but all the rest got a curl treatment of one sort or another.  The ones whose hair was REALLY frizzy, like our dear friend Rainbow, got the next step: the straightening iron.

You can do this dry or wet--it seemed to do the same thing either way--but I thought it was easier to melt the hair if it was dry when I put it in the straightening iron.  Yes, I melted the ends of some.  It still ended up looking better than the frizzy mess that it had been before straightening, so I think it was worth the risk.  I had my straightening iron at 330 degrees.

Here is Rainbow Dash's before and after:

4.  After it was de-frizzed, it was time to curl it.  I decided to heat up the hair (as suggested in the Barbie hair tutorial).  It made sense that heating it up would make it more susceptible to being re-molded.  You can either dunk the hair in the boiling water and then put it in curlers, or you can put it in curlers and then dunk it in the water.  I think they each have advantages.  If you dunk first, you can towel dry and it will take a lot less time to dry after putting in the curlers, but it won't be as hot when the curlers go in.  The opposite is true of the dunk after method: hair is wet longer, but really hot when curled.  Either way, you should only have it in the boiling water for about 15 seconds.  You don't want it to melt to itself.

We tried a number of different methods of curling.  Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy got plastic straw curlers.  Pinkie Pie's hair was actually still in really good condition, but on the show, it is extremely curly, and when we got her, her hair was mostly straight except for some curl at the ends, just like all the other ponies.  Since we were going through the process anyway, we decided to give her hair some extra pizzazz.  If you know Pinkie Pie, you'll know how appropriate that is. :)

To make the straw curlers, I just cut the straw into appropriately short lengths, wrapped the hair around it in the direction I wanted it to go, and slipped a bobby pin on both ends.  One bobby pin should keep the straw from untwisting (at the top) and one should keep the ends of the hair secured to the straw (at the bottom).  Make sure you put the flat part of the bobby pin on the outside against the hair, and the bumpy part on the inside, so you don't leave indentations on the hair.

Rarity, Princess Cadence, and Princess Luna got Crayola markers instead of straws because I wanted their curls to be larger.  I secured these with elastic ponytail holders.  I used one to secure the hair to the marker and one to secure the marker to the pony, so it wouldn't move.

For the rest, I just wrapped the hair around the pony itself and secured it with an elastic.  For the main, I wrapped it around the front legs, for the tail, I either wrapped it around the rear legs or around a front leg, depending on how long it was.  The Cutie Mark Crusaders (Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle), Plumette, the light-up wings Rainbow Dash, and a G3 Starsong got this treatment.

5.  Then we set them all on a towel and waited for the hair to dry.  This could take some time.  I warned Miss E that she wouldn't be able to play with the ponies for the rest of the day, and she was fine with that.  She informed me she liked playing with her Merliah (Barbie in a Mermaid Tale) better anyway.  Fine with me.

6. Take the curlers and ponytail holders out and admire the results.

Some notes: 

• After taking Pinkie Pie's hair out, I decided to redo it more like Rarity's.  The curl was perfect for Pinkie Pie, but not so perfect for little girls to play with.  It would have been a frizzy mess in no time.
• I don't think it's necessary to boil the hair.  It seems to work just as well to get it wet in warm water from the tap.
• Straightening and curling the hair makes it look better, but it won't repair damage.  Rainbow Dash's hair looks SO much better, but it's still not soft and smooth.  The treatments worked better on some of the other ponies, but it's probably better to just not let them get that bad in the first place.

Pinterest Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins Fail

I decided, this morning, that I had time to make these really yummy-looking muffins for breakfast that I had pinned a while back.

Here is the picture posted with the recipe on the blog:

Here is how mine turned out:

Can you say FAIL? Ahh-hahaha-ha-ha!

I don't know if it's the recipe or the cook, but mine look like a clunky mess compared to the blogger's picture.  They still tasted pretty good.  Nothing amazing, but certainly worth eating.  I might try again using this recipe, just because it is pretty nutritious.  But maybe not.  We'll see. :)

morning madness

Sometimes I wish I was funny.  I'm really not.  Most of the time when I get laughs it's because I don't realize that I'm totally bonkers and actually say--out loud--the stuff that pops into my head.  But sometimes a story can just be funny in and of itself.  I'm not sure I think so yet, but I'm pretty sure in a few hours or days I'll be able to laugh about what happened.  So here is a little story about how my day started.

I had a terrible morning.

I woke up with a sore throat.  I told my husband that I wasn't going to get much done today and fully intended to keep that promise.  Then I realized that my daughter had preschool, and I had a doctor appointment, which both started at the same time.  No biggie, though, Miss E gets bussed to preschool (can I say that bussing is stinking awesome?), so as long as I have Miss M and myself ready when Miss E gets picked up, we can all make it on time.

So now I have a sore throat, and I have to get two girls, plus myself, ready for the day.  You wouldn't think that would be hard, would you?  Except Miss M has decided that changing clothes is the worst thing that a parent could do to their child EVER.  So, twice a day, I have to try to avoid the complete and utter meltdown that usually follows me asking Miss M to put on something other than what she is already wearing.  I manage to get her out of her PJs and into real clothes in less than 20 minutes with minimal screaming only because she asks for fruit snacks and I tell her the only way she is getting them is if she is dressed.

Of course, Miss E also picks today to decide that preschool is SO boring that she can't possibly make herself get ready.  This is only because she is in the middle of a really good My Little Pony play session and doesn't want to quit when I tell her it's time to get ready.  Finally, I tell her that if she misses the bus, I'm taking away her ponies for the rest of the day.  This motivates her to get her shoes and socks on just as the bus is pulling up to our house.

Miss M and I aren't ready to go because I've been fighting with Miss E to get ready for the past 10 minutes, while trying to pack her lunch.  Luckily, I have a new sweater to wear so I didn't have to try on twelve outfits before feeling like I've appropriately covered my pregnant belly, and was therefore able to get my hair and make-up done before the shouting match with Miss E.

As we're leaving, Miss M spots the leftover pizza, part of which was put into Miss E's lunch.  She wants some, so I grab a piece and throw everything in the car.  This means that when we arrive at the doctor's office, Miss M has pizza sauce all over her face, ringing both sides of her coat collar, down her sleeve, in a big spot on the front of her jacket, along the inside of her pant leg, all over her hands, and in her hair.  Even though I'm already 10 minutes late for my appointment, I hurriedly grab a wipe from my purse and try to get the biggest chunks off, if for no other reason than to keep my clothes clean when she insists that I "youee you!" (meaning "Carry you!" or in other words, "Carry me, mom!").

At the appointment, it all goes pretty well, except I find out that I have both a yeast and a bacterial infection, for which, I'll have to take antibiotics for "only 7 days twice a day" which is likely to upset my stomach and give me a "metallic taste" in my mouth and use a topical ointment.  Oh goody.

I have my doctor call in the prescription to Walgreens because I figure I can go to the drive thru and not have to get Miss M out of the car again.  Anyone with a one year old knows how difficult it can be to get them back in if they are done riding in the car, and since it was going to be her nap time soon, that was likely to happen.

I get to Walgreens and the prescription is ready and it's only $15.  That is wonderful, right?  Well, it could have been, and looking back, I should have just paid the money and run.  However, I finally have an ID number for my insurance that was supposed to be effective over a month ago, and I think I have prescription coverage, so I might as well use it.  I give the pharmacy tech the member number and the group number.  She says she can't run it without a BIN and a PCN.  Since my healthcare has such good customer service (they really do--I'm being serious), I decide to pull forward and call them for the info.  Which I do.  I then pull back around to the window and another pharmacy tech comes to the window.  I tell him I have the info and he puts it into the computer.  He then tells me that the BIN doesn't match the PCN, so it won't go through.

Like I said, I should have just paid the $15 and moved on, especially since little M was getting cranky and hot in the back seat.  But I had put this much time into it, I couldn't just go home now.  So I pull forward again and call the health insurance back.  The girl in customer service calls their pharmacy department for me and finds out that for some reason, our pharmacy benefits are billed through a third party company and that company won't give her the billing information, they are insisting that the pharmacy call them to get it.

So I drive back around to the window and tell them they have to call to get the billing information.
The kind tech tells me, "No.  That isn't right.  I've never had to do that before.  Your insurance should just give you the info if you call them."
"I have them on the phone right now," I tell him, "and she is saying you have to call them."
"You're paying for insurance, they should let you have it," he says.  Well thank you for that gem of wisdom.
The customer service lady who I still have on the phone says that the third party billing company won't give me the info either.  Great.
I'm so frustrated at this point, I tell the pharmacy tech, "Look, I've been to this window four times now.  This isn't great customer service.  Can you just call them?"
He says, "Fine, give me the number.  If you come in, I can call right away, or if you want to come back, I can probably do it in a half an hour."
So I either have to get my tired, cranky one-year-old out of the car and then back in again, or I have to come back in a 1/2 hour?  Not great choices, really, but I decided to grab some fruit from the grocery store that we need and come back.

Off I head to the grocery across the street where I get Miss M out of the car.  She says she wants water, so as soon as we get in the store, I ask where the water fountain is.  All the way at the back of the store, the clerk tells me.  So off we trudge to the back, where Miss M sticks her face in the water for 5 minutes only to soak the front of her coat and not get much down her throat.  At this point I decide that it's not worth it to drive back over to Walgreens, I'll just call my doctor's office and have them call the prescription into the pharmacy at the grocery store.  Why I didn't think of that earlier, I'll never know.  But of course, the card with the insurance info and the doctor's phone number is sitting on the passenger seat of my car.  Pulling Miss M away from the fountain to head back out to the car, she throws a screaming fit which ends in her literally kicking her feet and pounding her fists face down on the filthy linoleum floor.

Physically dragging her out to the car, I remember we have an empty water bottle in the back seat.  I saw it there earlier while I was trying to entertain her in line at the pharmacy drive up.  She calms down a little when I tell her we'll get her some water in a bottle when we come back in.

I grab the water bottle and the cards from the front seat, and try to dial the office number while holding little M's hand walking back into the store.  The number on the card is no longer in service.  Are you kidding me?  The appointment reminder card that I got today has an invalid number on it?  Lovely, just lovely.  So I google the doctor's name on my phone and get another number for the clinic, which I dial.  A nice nurse answers and I tell her I need to have my prescription called into another pharmacy.  She asks me my name just in time for my service to cut out, since I'm now half-way to the back of the store to fill up a water bottle.

I fill up the water bottle, and take out my phone to call the doctor's office back.  It is then that I realize that Miss E will be dropped off by the bus in about four minutes because this quick doctor visit has turned into a 2-hour ordeal.  Grabbing Miss M, who is screaming again because I won't give her the water bottle, I hurry as fast as my aching hips will let me, out to the car, where Miss M only lets me put her back in because I promise to give her the water bottle.

I make a quick exit of the parking lot, making M spill water all over herself, and drive the 5 minute drive home to find the bus waiting in front of my driveway. Trying to show my embarrassment at being late, I thank the bus driver and the three of us head inside.

Miss M is so tired by this point that pretty much anything is making her cry, and I'm pregnant and it's 1:45 in the afternoon and I haven't eaten anything since breakfast.  We are a happy lot.

I finally get Miss M changed into a dry shirt and into bed for her nap, turn on Tangled for Miss E, then eat some lunch, and sit down to decompress and write this post.

Phew!  Quite the morning, huh?  The afternoon is looking better.  I hope none of you can top my lovely morning escapade, but I'd love to hear some of your horror stories, if you have them.  It's always nice to know you're not alone, right?