I feel like I have so much to tell you! And yet, so much of it is kind of boring!
For example: I’ve started taking B-Complex, as an experiment. We’ll see if it improves mood/energy/metabolism. I’m guessing I should take it in the morning, instead of in the evening with the rest of my vitamins.
Also: Paul purchased and installed a new toilet seat. The old one was worn down to the wood in places from the potty-training seat we’ve had installed since 2001. It is so nice to have a brand-new shiny white seat. I think the screws need to be loosened, though, because when I put down the toilet seat the lid came slamming down with it.
And: I gave Henry his first haircut. (My left hand is curled oddly because I’m collecting hair for the baby book.)
We put TV on to distract him, can you tell? I think I cut his hair too short, but Paul likes it.
I also gave haircuts to all the other boys, including Paul. I don’t like to cut hair but I CAN, and it saved us $60 plus tip, not to mention the tremendous hassle of bringing everyone in carefully-planned shifts to the barber shop. I plan to siphon that $60 out of the budget without mentioning it to anyone, so let me know if you think of any good little luxury products to spend it on.
Now who is going to cut MY hair? It needs it badly. You know how some cuts grow out into a series of different styles, and other cuts grow out into something that looks like you haven’t had a haircut since high school? My last cut was the latter.
I bought some Tide with Febreze. It cost more than any laundry detergent I’ve ever bought, so all I can say is it better be GREAT. I’m still not happy with the way our laundry smells, even though Paul cleaned the drain pipe on the washer and said in a nauseated tone of voice that that DID appear to be the source of the problem. I suspect there’s lingering scent residue on the clothes.
And I bought a refill for the long-empty Glade Plug-in, because our house is really smelling like Cat, and that’s not a situation likely to change in, er, natural ways for a few more years. I know some of you are all ANTI-TOXINS and so forth, but it sure smells nicer now. Like toxin lavender instead of like toxin cat.
I found Elizabeth some dinosaur sheets. They’re really cute. I bought them at the same place where I didn’t buy the $300 dollhouse headboard, and at $11 they were an easier decision to make. I’ve looked at dinosaur sheets for her before, but they always look kind of….um, ugly. These sheets are nicer: an antiquey/vintage look, and the dinosaurs are more like pastel watercolor sketches. I wish I could find a photo online, because that doesn’t sound very pretty. Oh! I know! They’re like “classic Pooh” as opposed to “Disney Pooh.”
I tried Newman’s Ginger-Os, which are like Oreos made out of ginger snaps. Report: pretty good, but not causing cravings for more.
I replaced our old white-vinyl-coated shower caddy: the white vinyl had cracked and the metal underneath had rusted. It’s been like that for, um….several years. I love it so much. I feel like it single-handedly remodeled our bathroom. It’s just like this one, except brushed metal instead of shiny:
And Paul purchased and installed two new windowshades to replace the ones in the nursery we’ve been planning to replace for SEVEN YEARS. I hope it doesn’t lower us in your esteem to find out what terrible, terrible procrastinators we are. This isn’t some kind of isolated incident: we’re like this about EVERYTHING. For example, right now I have a rear windshield wiper replacement blade sitting in the car, and I feel like I am doing really well to have already bought it, even though the rear windshield wiper blade broke only last winter when I was scraping ice. I’ll get around to installing it, I WILL.
I’m just impressed that your fifth child has a baby book. I’m having a hard time getting my crap together for my second baby and he’s only 7 weeks old.
AndreAnna- Well, not a classic baby book—none of the kids have like A Baby Book with the little lines for My First Word and My First Smile. But I have a journal I keep on all the kids together, and it’s where I write down the first words and glue the baggies of snipped hair.
we have the same caddy in our shower – we’re like, totally twins.
(how cute is growing-up-getting-a-haircut henry? real cute.)
Not to be all, “Me too!” but I wrote a random post today, too! And we procrastinate, too! I am just now staining the deck after we’ve left it peeling and ugly for almost FIVE years! I rock!
I think we must be related…
We are definitely house procrastinators too. Usually, I go around and fix as much as possible (replace light bulbs, recycle all the cardboard in our garage) the day before my mother comes to visit. One of the benefits to having a mom who lives far away, I guess.
I think everyone is a procrastinator? Because honestly, I’m over here thinking, “Seven years isn’t THAT long…”
I’m with everyone here. It’s not procrastination. Nope. (And here I thought we were bad for buying a new medicine cabinet for the bathroom a month ago and not hanging it up yet. (Although we need to get a stud finder to hang it properly. And then ask me if on any one of a dozen trips to either Home Despot or Lowes did the husband buy said stud finder, and I would have to tell you no. Methinks the procrastinator around here isn’t me.)
I want a picture of the finished Henry!!
Secondly, we, too, are horrible procrastinators. The problem is, periodically, one of us gets really frustrated and HATES that we’re both that way. (see: Unfinished Kitchen Remodel, No Curtains anywhere, No Paint in Bedrooms, ETC.)
I think that the Ideal Team Marital Unit is comprised of 1 procrastinator and 1 get-right-on-iter. My sister and her husband are like that and it seems to work much better, with a little less self-loathing.
Umm, I think you should spend the $60 on a hair cut and style from yourself at a swanky salon.
“FOR” yourself, I meant, of course.
I’m so with you on the procrastinating. I get it part way done, and then nothing happens for YEARS. Take that curtain rod just propped against the wall in the family room. It has been there for a year. I don’t even notice it anymore. In fact, the other day my friend asked “What is that curtain rod for?” as we sat in that room. “What curtain rod?” I answered. I’m SO bad!
Wow. You guys are MOTORING over there. Little Henry is looking SO much like Edward.
My husband and I procrastinate like that. It’s a wonder ANY home improvement EVER gets done.
OH and keep us posted on how the b-vitamin thing goes. i’m taking one too and so far, so good. i do notice a difference in my energy level but surprisingly, it’s not every day.
i’m taking it in combination with vit E and my regular prenatal (still, even though deven is 14 mos old.) per a recommendation from moxie.
anyway, keep us posted. :)
(re: katie’s curtain rod above: when we moved out of our old place after 4+ years, i packed a spring rod from the hallway corner that had been waiting to be used since we moved in. yeah. i rock.)
I always seem to get things all done at once too.
Henry is so cute, but please a finished product picture?
Isn’t it amazing how one little thing can change everything. A new shower caddy makes the whole bathroom better!
And, I agree, Henry is looking a lot like Edward. So cute!
Have you tried washing your washing machine? Seriously. Run the washer empty with 1.5 cups bleach and hot water. Sometimes yucky stuff gets left behind in the washer parts and can make it smell.
Oh, and walmart installs windshield wipers at their auto area. That is how mine get changed. :)
I cannot believe it is time for Henry’s first haircut!
Oh! You cut hair!
I am REALLY wanting to learn because it is so so expensive to have my boys’ hair cut. Think I could? I don’t really like buzz cuts and am afraid that is all I would be able to do.
I think it’s obvious that you deserve a nice $60 haircut for yourself! Instant karma: you saved $60 by cutting the boys’ hair, and now you get to have yours done up nice.
GAH – I am the procrastinator QUEEN! I kid you not, I have boxes that are unpacked from when I moved into my apartment EIGHT YEARS AGO!
I too want to see finished product. And I vote that the $60 goes to your new haircut. Unless you have a friend who would like something cooked for them who knows how to cut hair of course!
yaaaay for procrastination! i’m with you on the stages.. if i get Step One of a task accomplished, i bask in that glory for ages before ever, say, COMPLETING the task. like… weeks. or years.
Also requesting a picture of young Henry post haircut.
Vitamin B is a lifesaver. I need to remember to start taking it again. I used to take one before bed every night and it improved my moods/energy significantly.
Second — I recently stumbled across this product. I have one INDOOR cat and one small apartment..and the cat smell was not making me happy. I bought the deodorizer on a whim, and it is a miracle in a box. Cheap, too!!
And third–your children are absolutely adorable :)
I always cut my hubby’s hair, for the last 5 years or so. He’s going bald so it is very easy. I’ve braved cutting my son’s hair a few times but it is usually too traumatic to be worth the money saved. GAH. Kudos to you!!
We are TOTAL house procrastinators. There are all sorts of things we’ve been meaning to do since we bought the house two years ago but I don’t think we’ve done any of them. You are not alone!!
Okay, okay! He’s napping, but when he’s awake I’ll try to remember to get a picture of Mr. Haircut!
Jodi- Paul ran a hot/bleach load after cleaning the drain pipe, because he was so grossed out. Something about his tone of voice alerted me, and I said, “…How MUCH bleach?” and he said, “…Lots.” I said, “…Do we have any bleach left?” (we’d had a full gallon), and he said, “Some.”
This is what I love about reading blogs..finding out that I am not alone in my sea of idiosyncracies. We have a garage door opener that has been sitting in a box in our garage for 4 years (full disclosue, we actually have to do some pretty invasive garage work to get *&%$ thing installed which is a major contributor to the procrastination.) It took us two years to install the ceiling fan that we bought before we moved in to the house. That is just a few of our dirty little procrastination secrets!
Henry is so cute with his new cut! I cut my boys hair too, I cheat and just use #2 clip on the clippers. Easy!!! Dh always teases me about them looking like they are in the military, but you know what? I don’t have to comb their hair before we go anywhere! (I cut about every 6weeks-2 months)
Oh and about the tide with febreeze. I LOVE it! Its my one spurge that I cannot give up! The clothes always smell so good, even on dh who has worked hard all day. Plus the stains always come out. I’m sold! Watch for sales and coupons. Thats how I buy it!
I, too, vote that you use the $60 on yourself for something spa-like and wonderful. :)
It’s funny… I was pretty much bald until I was almost 3 years old. Then I finally grew a lock of hair and my mother immediately hacked it off for my baby book.
Later on, when I had decent amounts of hair, it was bowl cuts all the way, baby.
I give my boys haircuts as well…actually I also cut my male friends hair. They will call and make an appointment and bribe me with copious amounts of diet coke :)
I’ve probably saved them all lots of money. I should start charging shouldn’t I?
And I totally allow myself to go get an expensive cut and color :)
We procrastinate over the dumbest things. For example: I ordered custom made blackout blinds for the home theater room and they have been sitting in the box for 4 months. By goodness I hope they are right! As well Stewart (the romantic he is) bought me a towel holder and a shower bar for my birthday – 10 months ago – they still are not up.
We are so bad about not finishing projects. The medicine cabinet is put together, sitting in the bathroom. There is a part for the toilet sitting on the back of the toilet. The valences for both bedrooms are stuck in the corners on the floor. The list goes on. One day it will all get done! I’m glad to know we’re not the only ones who take years to get things done!!
Our shower caddy is also quite rusty and I heart yours. Love all the hanging options. We’re a half procrastinator house, the half being ME. Hubs just says “Had a rough day, did we?” when another day goes by, to do list no shorter than before.
It’s the little things that make life interesting.
I do the same thing, put things off, and then all of a sudden I take care of the tiny leftovers that really only take minutes but I have been too lazy to do anyway, like painting trim or washing the fingerprints off of a doorframe, and it’s AMAZING the difference those little things make!!!! It’s so uplifting!!!! I usually end up on a tear of ‘doing little things’ for about a week… before slipping quietly back into the fog of oblivion.
I am forever putting stuff off until I’m in the mood for it. It drives my husband mostly crazy, since he does stuff the second he knows he needs to do it.
Wow. I gave up on the haircuts thing. We tried with Mister Man until divots were left in his head. My mom tried and has been banned from cutting his hair (he’s now trained to say “wait, we need to call Mommy first” if she gets out the clippers or scissors). But I did pay only $6.99 at Great Clips yesterday for his haircut. Two children vs five makes a huge difference though.
Oh, and I get my haircut at the local aesthetician’s school. $8 for a haircut and style with people primping and preening over you. Not a bad deal, really.
What is it about a NEW toilet seat that makes the whole world seem just shiny and beautiful? That was the first thing we bought when we moved in to our house: new toilet seats for the bathrooms.
It was a little weird to be shopping for toilet seats. Who knew they had so many kinds? And WHO buys the natural wood seats? Someone with a desire for SPLINTERS? I want to know.
I also recommend finding a local school that will cut your hair on the cheap. It’s obviously best for un-complicated cuts, like a straight-forward bob, but the instructors are usually right there overseeing things. We have an Aveda Institute here that cuts hair for $18. (probably more than a hair cuttery or whatever, but definitely less than the $60ish it would cost me in a salon)
Michelle & Jill- I think that’s such a good idea about hair schools. I would totally do that, especially because I don’t usually have anything specific in mind and don’t mind letting people try out something. But we don’t have any hair schools near us.
The cheapest place in our area charges $11 for a kid cut, $14 for an adult cut—and that’s the barber shop, where you can go if you’re female but only if you want a man’s haircut.
Hi Swistle. My favorite part of the post is how you mentioned twice that Paul “purchased” then installed items. Cuz if you hadn’t said that, I’d probably think he went out and stole that toilet seat and those curtains! Okay, that’s just icky right? -Monica
P.S. That Henry is TOO CUTE!
So the hair thing. . . I buzz Matt’s hair at his request but I insist on doing it in the garage because of all that gross hair everywhere – yuck! I feel like it is impossible to get it all cleaned up.
Does the drape thing really catch it all?
Misty- Clipper cuts are definitely easiest, but I do scissors cuts on Paul and on Rob and on the top of Edward’s head (I do clippers on his sides). I learned from a few things:
1) Leafing through a few books our library had on the subject. They had names like “Easy Home Haircutting” and “Cutting Hair at Home” or whatever—like, not for professionals.
2) Watching the barber cut Paul’s hair.
3) Trying it.
I started #3 on Rob’s hair when he was a baby and it didn’t really matter if I screwed it up. Poor child! But if you DO screw up a scissors cut, you can (1) bring the child to a professional to have it fixed, or (2) turn it into a clippers cut.
Kelsey- I put one large flat sheet down on the floor, and then use another sheet as a drape. Then I keep a trash can next to me on the floor sheet, so I can drop in the larger chunks of hair. And some hair STILL gets on the carpet! Sometimes I cut hair outside in the driveway, although then I don’t have TV to distract them.
As a chronically depressed insomniac – I’d have to say that taking B-complex vitamins at bedtime is a Bad Idea.
Also, about the only home improvement project I ever managed to do promptly was install a showerhead, because the one that came in my apartment sucked so bad. Other than that, I believe I have some 6 year old shelves (the wall-mounted kind) that are still in their shiny IKEA boxes.
I haven’t been following your stinky laundry story closely, but I had stank laundry for a while as well :)
I followed these directions from Home Ec 101. Worked like a charm! I had my doubts, but twas magical. Not sure if you have a front-loader or not, but either way it’s worth a try:
http://www.home-ec101.com/131/