Sunday, January 13, 2008

Sunday Sound Out

Several new readers have asked me how to access Julian's carepages. Go to carepages.com and create an account. It doesn't cost anything and I believe they only ask you for your email address, but you can't access the carepages unless you set up an account. Then to get to Julian's page, type in "juliansworld" with no spaces. That should do it.
Julian is still hanging on and fighting. He amazes me. Even more so, his mother amazes me. Although her little boy is dying before her eyes, she exhibits such strong faith. It's really inspiring.

I'm meeting a fellow blogger for lunch tomorrow! Any guesses as to who it is? I may or may not eat lunch, but I'm definitely getting some Tirimisu for dessert! I'll have pictures tomorrow night because whether my blogger friend likes it or not, I'm having our waiter take pictures of us! :D

Now for your questions...

(In regards to the video Clay made when he swiped Austin's camera...) But the real question...how did the mess on the floor get there? Was it Clay or Austin??!!?!?
I think it came with the house because it's been there as long as I can remember.

HEEELPP!! I can't see the videos you post!
You have to open your eyes.

(In regards to the video Clay made while swiping Austin's camera...) thanks for the video - who would have thought that your house was to quiet with 6 kids??? I was thinking for some reason that it would be a noisy house, but the video proved me wrong!
HA! The baby was sleeping, the other kids were at school and Clay was quiet because he was being sneaky. If I ever made a video of dinnertime at my house, I'd scare you guys silly.

Did you scream at him for wasting a fish?
Oh heck no! You couldn't pay me to eat fish, Kool aid or not. Besides, according to hubby and kids, the fish had freezer burn which really doesn't surprise me. It had probably been in the freezer for 4 1/2 years because when I'm at the grocery store I buy the healthy stuff. I buy fish, and lettuce, and tomatoes, and all sorts of wonderful produce. Then I get home, put it away, and promptly forget about it until it has positively liquefied at which point I throw it away. Very economical, no?

Just curious if your husband reads your blog. It drives me crazy when my wife tells our friends/families about the stupid things I do, you multiply that by thousands. Maybe it helps that you also blog about the crazy things you do.
Yeah, he reads it. It doesn't bother him. And yeah, you're right - I do almost as many stupid things as he does. Almost. He's a good guy though. He puts up with my mood swings. I mean, he would put up with my mood swings if I had them. Which I don't. Why are you yelling at me?!!!

The only thing I have to add is -
Good thing it wasn't that lady's $60 roast that he marinated in Koolaid!

Baaaaa! My poor reader and her $60 roast! You're never going to hear the end of it, huh? :)

(In regards to the Kool Aid fish...) What in the world was he thinking?
He tries not to.

I love Dr. Seuss. My favorite is Go Dog Go! (Do you like my hat?)
I do! What a hat! I like it! I like that party hat!

Why can't they just follow a recipe?
Because men think that following a recipe, reading the instructions, or stopping for directions is cheating.

Is there a due date for our part of the assignment?
It's an ongoing assignment that will run until May. And for those who asked if it mattered where you're from - not at all. You send a card/letter from anywhere. We're all looking forward to seeing where all the cards come from.

Maybe I have missed it somewhere, but what does Etsy mean????
I'm not sure if Etsy stands for anything, but it's kinda like an online craft show. People can sell their homemade items on Etsy (kinda like eBay or Amazon, but for handcrafted items.) We've done several reviews for Etsy shops on Mamaslike.

I don't really understand the UFO thing, though. I wish I could pause the slide show to see it better. It just looks like part of a stadium to me. Is there a story?
Soldier Field used to look like the first picture - a great building with very cool, Greco-Roman architecture. In 2003, they remodeled Soldier Field by plopping a big, stupid looking spaceship on top of it (in the second picture). Because of that, it's no longer a national landmark.




Dawn--you HAVE to be kidding that he used green lemon/lime KoolAid! Please tell me you are not serious???
I couldn't make this stuff up!

Just reading todays blog and Ive had an immediate picture in my mind of the poor lad Harry Potter when the owls delivered all of the mail in one day.
Haaaaa!!! I'm watching Harry Potter right now! That's pretty funny!

I can't wait because I get to send Austin a letter from Austin, TX! Man, is he going to get a ton of mail!
Very cool! He just said, "I wonder if I'll get something from Austin, TX?"

How do you manage to have a water/ice dispenser on your fridge? My floor would be littered with ice and water.
When our fridge died a couple years ago, we looked and looked for one without the dispenser, but they were really hard to come by. Apparently they don't make many like that anymore. And I frequently have a puddle around the water dispenser.

Ack!!! the top of the fridge is my spot too!!! Where will we keep the knives?!?!?!?!?!
I don't know!!! I thought and thought about this, but I can't think of a better spot for the knives. Instead, I just took the bowl of goodies down so he doesn't have a reason to climb up there anymore.

Nice job with the video editing--it looked like you used Microsoft Movie Maker, is that right?
Hee hee, um yeah. I did a great job, huh? I'm just talented that way. My son had nothing to do with it. He didn't help me one little bit. No sirree. I figured all that out on my own, I did.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with my vacuum sitting out when not in use.
Why put it away when I'll just have to drag it back out in 5 minutes...

Maybe you should decorate a cardboard box with pictures of veggies and stick the cookies in there. THAT would turn the kids away for sure.
LOL! Nope, actually I'm blessed with really good eaters. My kids love veggies.

How do you keep the kids from playing on the video games 24/7?
Are you supposed to do that?

And plus, YOU BUY YOUR KIDS COOKIES? WAY COOL! Hee hee hee!
I got them for Jax (who's obsessed with those cookies) because he'd had a really bad day and because we're going to be putting him (well, all of us really) back on the Feingold diet. His behavior has been really off lately and the diet (which eliminates artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives) helped with his behavior and self control tremendously when we were on it before. The main reason we stopped the diet is because we simply couldn't afford it. Why is it that healthy food costs so much more than junk? Anyway, we're going back to that next week, so it was a treat for him.

By name...How many ER visits, due to injuries, have there been for each child?
:::Snort::: Like I can remember all those???
Put it this way, we're on a first name basis with the doctors at the ER.

so do you have any good advice on how to have a girl? :)
Just give away all your saved girl clothes.

A question for next week... see, I am helping you out and it's only Monday!...where did you go to college and what did you major in (other than grammar, HA)?
Actually, I didn't go to college.

When you put up the questions for the Sunday Shout Out, do you cull them over the course of the week, picking out your favorites to save, or do you wait until Sunday and then go through all the comments to choose what to answer?
I go through all of them again on Sunday.

It seems like large families are prone to receiving negative comments. How do you deal and cope with these comments? From your blog, it seems you are able to find humor in them. Or at least deal with them in a humerous way. Do they secretly offend you or are you really that lighthearted? Will there be a chapter in your book about dealing with comments and defending one's family in a positive manner?
Negative comments absolutely do not bother me. I generally ignore them because they're from ignorant people who don't know what they're talking about. I don't have the time or the inclination to defend myself to a stranger who thinks they know everything based on the little bits I write on my blog. Or sometimes I publish them because they're just so darn stupid they're funny. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but this is MY blog and I won't be publishing stupid or mean comments that are intended to judge or insult me or my awesome readers.

Alright...last Sunday someone asked the question about how you do the line crossed through certain words with blogger. I was EXCITED! Not so excited for your answer! Share your secret :)! Pretty please with sugar on top, and whipped cream and a cherry....{see know I probably sounded like one of your children :)!}
OK, since you said, "please". You can either use < "s" > word you want to cross out < / s > or you can use < "del" > word you want to cross out < / del >. Just don't put the quotations marks or spaces between each character.

And I have a Sunday Shout Out question I have been dying to ask, and not sure if you've ever addressed it on the blog, and maybe it's even worthy of a complete post? How on earth do you feed a family of 8 dinner every night? I would love to know how you organize that, and what do you feed them??
Good question. Brooklyn had a late nap and is still awake, climbing on my lap right now. I'm having a hard time typing, so I'll pull together some tips and address this later this week.

30 comments:

Suburban Correspondent said...

So glad to hear someone has the same wasteful shopping/refrigeration techniques that I do. I keep thinking there must be a better way to keep the frig/freezer organized so things don't get lost, but we're always digging up items from the land that time forgot.

Rick said...

Since your husband reads your blog... I think that he should know that Kool-aid line-green chicken is near genius.

Don't forget, they laughed at the Wright Brothers!

Hang in their chef - and burn those recipes! They'll only hinder your creative flow!


http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/

Lyndsay Wells said...

Hi Dawn. I'm a brand new blogger to this neck of the woods. I decided move over here because your blogs were recently introduced to me and I loved them. I was inspired to make a change. You don't know me, but - thankyou.

I'm hoping to get to know people on Blogspot and thought I would start with you :-)

Kristy said...

Thanks for the Sunday Shoutout...I always love these posts for some reason. Have a great week!
~Kristy

Anonymous said...

H
I just wanted to say hi to you from Norway. I am 34, mum to a six year old boy, a three year old girl and stepmum to a 20 year old boy. I am reading your blog every day, and I ham laughing so much!! Beeing a mother is a gift isn't it. It really makes us charish our sense of humour.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the updates on Julian. I signed up for his Care Page (and someone else's I know) and i get the e-mails so its always funny to see who tells me first there is an update.
i like the video of Clay, but I can't watch it around my kids becuase they don't need more ideas.

Anonymous said...

I love "Go, Dog, Go", too!
But it isn't a Dr. Seuss book...its by P.D. Eastman.
Having remembered it fondly from my childhood, I went to buy it for my son and was very surprised to find it wasn't by Dr. Seuss. :)

Brenda said...

We have 5 kids. My problem is cooking when some of them are gone. One time last year most were gone and it was just me and 2 kids. We ate out because I didn't know what to fix for only 3 people. Then I realized most people only have 2 kids. My friend burst out laughing when I told her.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dawn, I am guessing the readers roast was a prime rib roast. That would have cost 60.00. I have a question. Do you plan on sending the kids to college? Are you saving for it now? We only have 0ne child and can't even save for him. I bet you will beable to send them after you sell a million books! Kristine in Michigan.

Anonymous said...

I hate to be THAT reader. Go Dog Go is not by Dr Seuss but by P.D. Eastman. The librarian in me insisted I correct that.

Lucille said...

Great sound out! Thanks! It really makes Monday mornings a bit more bearable.

Speaking of BEARable - I was SHOCKED to see Soldier Field! Waaaah! I had no idea they re-did it. I prefer the landmark it was.

Looking forward to your dinner tips as that has been a question I've had for you as well!

www.whosgoingtotellyou.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I always sort of thought Etsy stood for Etc. (like if you said it out loud -- et see). Which makes sense considering the wide variety of products they have on their website. just a though

Unknown said...

Healthy food doesn't have to be more expensive than junk, but you do have to take more time planning and cooking (not that you have a lot of time with six kids!). You might look for the Desparation Dinners cookbooks, as well as the Cooking Light Superfast Suppers cookbook. They are both really helpful at getting a from-scratch (mostly, anyway) meal on the table FAST. I dont' have six kids, but I do work full-time and get home at 5:30 and cook dinner every night (fussy family).

Anonymous said...

Tell your husband that my husband actually made green eggs and ham when our 20 year old was 3. He thought he was so clever for doing it, he even took pictures.

co•lin fam•i•ly said...

Thank you for the directions to for crossed out words :)

Brandi said...

Just a tip for the next time your refrigerator goes out. When we bought our house a few years ago the old occupants left a fridge behind. We went looking for a fridge and discovered that Whirlpool made a model that was just the refrigerator (no freezer). We got the fridge only version since we had the little freezer in the fridge that was left behind. We planned on buying a deep freezer later, but inherited one so we didn't have to buy. The fridge only version does not have a water or ice dispenser. The front has only one handle and is flat. It is wonderful having that much food space for our family of eight.

Anonymous said...

Dawn,
Thanks so much for your blog. Your a breath of fresh air! I am a mom of 7 so I totally am there with you! LOL I'm just not good with words like you are! To describe my days.

Andrea

www.homeschoolblogger.com/PrairieLady

Anonymous said...

FYI - Dr Seuss didn't write Go, Dog, Go -- P.D. Eastman did. I find a LOT of people have that misconception. Please don't perpetuate it! Maybe if enough people read it on this blog, a chain reaction will start and give that wonderful author his due recognition!
-- A Children's Librarian

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the Feingold diet again. I have heard many wonderful things about it. AND, YES!!! healthy food does cost more than junk. I try to justify the cost by saying that it offsets the cost of medicine and copays for doctors. It must be a conspiracy. :-D

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

I was wondering why there were no comments yet and realized: OH, that's cuz you were out with ME for lunch!!!!

(still quietly glowing inside, not only from the wine, but from such a great time! ... and laughing that so many of my questions at lunch--ER visits, cookies, etc were answered here on Sunday Shout Out!)

Sanity Is Over-Rated said...

After weeks of reading your wonderful blog , it has inspired me to start my own. :)

Anonymous said...

Dear god you must be a saint. I'm just starting out on number one and he's isn't even walking yet. How you've gotten up to 6 kids and kept your sanity is beyond me. Found your site a coulple of days ago through a link about the pokemon cards. Kudos to you for selling them on ebay.

Sincerly,
Little Pepito

P.s. While its great that your little boy trusts you so much to show you his neat climibing trick, I think I would have killed the kid for climbing up the fridge to steal the cookie. Heaven help me I'm expecting my own to do the sameone day. ^-^

Unknown said...

Sorry to burst your bubble folks, but Dr Seuss did not write the book "Go Dog Go". The author and illustrator of that book, as well as many others is P. D. Eastman. I thought you might be interested in the following that I found on Wikipedia:

Philip Dey Eastman (November 25, 1909–January 7, 1986) was a screenwriter and children's author.

A protegé of Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), Eastman wrote many books for children, in his own distinct style under the Dr. Seuss brand of Random House Beginner Books, including:

Are You My Mother?
Go, Dog. Go!
The Best Nest
Flap Your Wings
The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary
Red, Stop! Green, Go! (
What Time is it?
Sam and the Firefly
Sam and Gus Light Up the Night
Big Dog... Little Dog, with additional illustrations by Peter Anthony Eastman
"My Nest Is Best"
"The Alphabet Book"

He was the illustrator for many more:
A Fish Out of Water, by Helen Palmer
Robert the Rose Horse, by Joan Heilbroner
I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words, by Michael K. Frith )
I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words, by Michael K. Frith

He wrote:
Snow, illustrated by Roy McKie
Big Dog...Little Dog: A Bedtime Story

Anonymous said...

Hi Dawn, Re: The Feingold diet - have a look at the following website http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/ as it is a similar diet but in my experience better!

Anonymous said...

I gave up hiding things in the kitchen cause those kids of mine can sniff out anything nice at 30 paces. I now hide things in the laundry cupboard behind the washing powder because I know it will be a cold day in hell before they venture in there!

Fiona in Fremantle West Australia

Anonymous said...

Hi Dawn, I noticed you mentioned starting back on the Feingold Diet and I was wondering what you are "treating" with this diet? Our 3.5 yo is autistic and we are about to start down the "fun" road of alternative treatments. Always looking to other moms for suggestions. Thanks again... And I found Julian and read back through most of Mimi's posts. I have been hugging my kids harder this week.

krystina said...

about the comment about large families, i come from a large family, 7 kids, 3 boys 4 girls (2 were twins). we always got negative remarks, but i wouldn't trade any of them for anything. if you had asked me when i was a kid though, i would have said take them all!

Mandy said...

I have a knife drawer with a lock on it. So far, it's working. (Just about everything has a lock on it in our house because I have 3 two-year-olds and a 4-year-old.)

Anonymous said...

Hey Dawn,

This is in regards to comments people make about big families. I have 2 kids and a stepdaughter, and that's enough for me, although I also did daycare when they were little, so I had my fill of a house full of kids. This past weekend at hockey, some parents were discussing families with more than 2 kids, and they were flabbergasted by the mere thought of a person having more than 2 kids. One of them even said she was sure glad her kids were 6 years apart, or she wouldn't have been able to handle it!! Both her and her husband have extremely well paying jobs, and let me tell you they want for nothing, take several vacations a year, spend time in hotels for tournaments (when I drive back and forth to save $$), eat out, etc. They just couldn't understand how people could afford to clothe more than 2 kids. I was flabbergasted! I didn't know how to tell them - it's a different lifestyle, but an even more rewarding one than having ALL the STUFF! I was speechless - hard to do!!!
Annette from BC

Anonymous said...

"You can either use <> word you want to cross out < / s > or you can use <> word you want to cross out < / del >. Just don't put the spaces between each character. "

Is this just for Blogger? Do you have to highlight the word? This really didn't make sense; can you explain in more detail. I'm sorry...I'm computer illiterate!!!

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