I’ve been holding out on you but now it’s time to come clean – I’ve joined a fantastic new forum called Website Gurus aka my second home and newest obsession. Website Gurus has everything you need to know about owning a website like choosing a good domain name, website design and programming help, and marketing and SEO techniques. SEO = Search Engine Optimization – the stuff you do with your site so Google will rank you high. You can learn how to make money with AdSense, how to buy/sell domains, newsletter tips, get a website review or blogging help… and so much more I can’t remember it all. OK, I realize I sound like a commercial but I honestly LOVE this place, just take a peek at my post count if you need proof!

One of the cool things about Website Gurus is that the gurus welcome noobies. They’re happy to share their tips and tricks and are patient with our dumb questions – I should know, I’ve asked enough dumb ones! Most of them are protective of noobies too – once a member gave a noob a hard time and was virtually slapped up by a guru. Hee hee, take that! But be warned: they don’t sugar-coat anything and will tell you the truth flat-out. If something sucks they’ll say so – I learned that by experience – and they use Gasp! Four Letter Words. If you’re used to wonder-bread, no-cussing-allowed, let’s-play-nice-and-not-hurt-anyone’s-feelings mommy boards you may need to develop thicker skin and put on blinders when you’re at WG. It’s totally worth it though – Website Gurus rocks!

The other really cool thing about Website Gurus is the CONTESTS! The first contest was to see who could start a thread with the most unique replies. First prize was $5,000, second was $700, third was $300 which I ended up winning, woo hoo! and there were a bunch of $50 prizes too. Then they had a smaller contest where some of the post letters were switched – like Gs for Hs – to see who’d notice first. I don’t remember who won that one but it was funny while it was going on. And soon a new contest is starting with a total prize package of $20,000 which just blows my mind – that’s more than I made my whole first YEAR of teaching. Details aren’t out yet, but you can bet it’ll be lots of fun!

If you join Website Gurus you can say I sent you. Look for “amysuen” and drop me a PM aka Private Message – I’ll be waiting to welcome you!

Sometimes being a parent really sucks. Like when one of your kids is naughty – really naughty – and you have to figure out what to do about it. My parents were good at this; they always seemed to come up with a consequence that fit the crime and hit us “where it hurt” without going overboard. After 20 years of parenting I still don’t feel like I know what to do when one of the kids misbehaves, like Z-Man did last Friday.

To celebrate Easter I had bought buckets of sidewalk chalk and chocolate bunny suckers for the daycare kids. I don’t know where my brain was when I was shopping; I didn’t get suckers for Z-Man and Little Guy, only buckets of chalk. Little Guy didn’t know the difference, but of course Z-Man noticed right away. “Why I don’t have a bunny?” he asked. I explained that Mommy didn’t buy suckers for he and Little Guy, but that the Easter Bunny would bring them some or we’d go to the store tomorrow to get some for them. Since Z-Man hadn’t slept during naptime he was in rare form and kept asking for a sucker. “Please, please please can I have a sucker?” “But I want a chocolate bunny” “Let me have one now!” Teacher and I took turns telling him “No, you can’t have one, these are for your friends, we’ll get you one tomorrow.”

Sometime after supper I realized I hadn’t seen Z-Man for a while. I thought maybe he had fallen asleep on the floor someplace so I started looking for him and calling his name. As I walked toward the playroom I saw him peeking out from behind a shelf in the quiet corner. His eyes were full of mischief and his mouth was full of… something. “What’s in your mouth?” I asked, thinking that he was chewing paper or rubber bands again. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he mumbled “Shocat munny” around a mouthful of half melted chocolate.

It took me a moment to decipher what he had said, but as my mind put two and two together his conscience kicked into gear and his face started to pale. “WHAT are you eating?!” I asked again. “Chocolate bunny” he repeated, his big brown eyes growing bigger. For an instant I was frozen in shock. I could not believe that my sweet baby boy had so blatantly disobeyed us. Z-Man looked up at me, his eyes grew unbelievably bigger and the corners of his mouth turned down. His lip started to tremble as he watched me expectantly, waiting for punishment.

My brain was moving slowly, trying to catch up. He’s waiting to see what you’re going to do, you have to do something! My mind was empty. I shot Teacher a look: I don’t know what to do! Teacher’s eyes replied I don’t know what to do either! but he turned to Z-Man, “Sit in this chair. Now.” Z-man shuffled over and climbed into a chair near Teacher, his eyes filling his face and his little mouth trembling. Meanwhile my brain was spinning, trying to find an appropriate consequence.

No dessert tonight? No, he’s already had a chocolate bunny. Besides we’re having strawberries which he loves and the vitamin C will be good for his cold.

Buy another one? With his money? That just might work, let’s try that one…

Z-Man’s eyes were misty and he kept looking at Teacher, me, and his lap as he sat waiting for his sentence. Teacher started out, “That was VERY naughty to take a sucker after we told you not to…” I chimed in “I’m very sad that you took your friend’s sucker, that’s not being a nice friend…” Teacher continued “You need to apologize to Mommy and me for not listening to us…” then I dropped the bomb; “And tomorrow we’re going to the store and you’re going to buy a new chocolate bunny with YOUR money.” As Z-Man listened to us his eyes grew even bigger – bigger than I’d ever seen them in his whole life. I could tell by looking at him that he knew how naughty he had been and that he was sorry. “I’m sorry, Dada. I’m sorry, Mama.” he whispered, big tears rolling down his little cheeks. His sweet sad face imprinted itself in my memory forever and my heart melted, but I knew I had to stay strong and couldn’t give in to my need to comfort him.

Shortly after we let him go play I couldn’t help myself and had to gather him onto my lap and cuddle him close. “I don’t want to use my money mama.” he said. “Then you shouldn’t have eaten the chocolate bunny!” I replied. A moment later he started to tear up again, “I don’t want to use ALL my money!” he whispered, burying his face in my shoulder. “It won’t take all of your money, just some.” I told him, stroking his head and back. I felt bad that he was upset, but felt that we’d found a suitable consequence.

The next day we went to Walgreens to replace the chocolate bunny. As I picked one out for Little Guy I wavered and grabbed one for Z-Man too, just because I love him so very much. But I knew it wasn’t the best thing to do for him so I put it back. He carried the suckers to the counter and handed the money over to the cashier without complaint. When we got home he taped a new sucker to his friend’s chalk bucket and gave Little Guy his sucker with a huge smile.

I have a feeling that Teacher and I were more traumatized by the whole experience than Z-Man was, but hopefully he’s learned from it and next time will think before acting. Hopefully…

I was a bad WAHM last night… I didn’t work. Not one stitch, not even a smidgen of a stitch. No emails, nothing. Instead I got caught up in the latest book I’m reading, “Narcissus in Chains” by Laurell K. Hamilton. It’s one of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, series that Teacher got me addicted to a couple of months ago.

Vampire books have fascinated me since I was in high school; not the scary gross ones, but novels with the vampire as a romantic hero. Teacher has helped me find “good” vampire stories in the past, so last spring when he read about the Anita Blake series he thought he’d get the first one to see if I’d like it. And did I ever like it!

The Anita Blake series is set in St. Louis which is cool because we lived in the St. Louis area for 5 years. When Anita describes humidity so thick you can cut it with a knife I know exactly what she’s talking about. When she’s driving along a certain road or in a particular part of the area I can picture it vividly. I also enjoy Laurell’s world where supernatural beings fit into everyday life so naturally and believably that I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not real!

So last night when I settled down for my nightly ritual of cuddling and nursing Little Guy to sleep I grabbed the book instead of my laptop. My plan was to read just until he fell asleep; which usually takes about half an hour. But when he fell asleep I was almost done with the chapter so I decided to finish it. You can’t stop in the middle of a chapter you know! Before I put Little Guy in bed I had to peek at how the next chapter started; then of course after he was settled I had to read just a little more, then a little more, heck I might as well finish it. By this time it was almost 10:00 so I decided to read until 10:00, then sew. Many pages later I looked up at the clock and it was past 10:30 – since bedtime is 11:00 it wasn’t worth it to drag out the machine and start sewing so I just kept reading.

Tonight I swear I’m leaving the book safely upstairs where it won’t be quite as big a temptation!

Works for Me Wednesday is an idea I borrowed from another blog. Actually since I’m not giving it back I guess you could say I stole the idea. On Wednesdays I’ll post tips, tricks, and miscellaneous things that work for me. Hopefully some of them will work for you too!

It all started when College Boy was a little tyke. In college Teacher and I sang in the Kantorei (AKA The choir that sings in church on Sunday) so we had to be at church EARLY every Easter morning. This posed a problem for us sleep-deprived college students-slash-parents. Unlike Christmas presents that can safely wait under the tree indefinitely, hardboiled Easter eggs don’t do so well sitting at room temperature overnight. At least, not if you plan to eat them later as we always do.

The Easter Bunny, being a smart little rabbit and knowing how crabby we are when we don’t get enough sleep, decided to take matters into his own hands. He started visiting our house during the day Saturday instead of in the middle of the night. He’s pretty sneaky too – he can hide all the decorated Easter eggs, fill and hide the Easter baskets, and disappear down the street before anyone sees him. Once or twice we’ve hear him hopping through the house – it’s amazing how loud this little bunny is – but we’ve never managed to catch a glimpse of him. One year we came running through the house just as the front door slammed shut and almost caught him, but by the time we opened the door he was gone.

When College Boy, Princess and Angel Face were young he liked to visit while they were taking a bath or getting ready for bed. Sometimes he’s come when the kids were outside playing, or at their friends’ houses. In recent years he’s visited while the girls were giving Z-Man a bath upstairs and the older boys were playing PlayStation in the basement. Last year he sneaked in while we were all out eating dinner. We never figured out how he got through the locked doors – the kids say it was Bunny Magic.

Teacher and I love having the Easter Bunny come on Saturday instead of Sunday! We watch the kids hunt for eggs, explore the goodies in their baskets, and play with their new toys without having to worry about being late for church. And having the Easter Bunny goodies on Saturday helps us all focus on Easter joy instead of chocolate bunnies on Sunday morning. It’s also funny to watch people at church ask the kids if the Easter Bunny visited them “today” and see their reaction when the kids say “No.” They give us a puzzled look until we explain that he comes on Saturday instead.

I often wonder if our kids will continue the Saturday Easter Bunny tradition as they grow up and have families of their own… or if their spouses will think our family is crazy and do Easter baskets Sunday morning like the rest of the world. I guess I’ll have to wait to find out.

Every year Teacher and I find directions for dyeing Easter eggs with natural dyes and every year we say “We should try that!” but so far we haven’t. When it’s Saturday afternoon and we’re faced with six excited kids bouncing off the walls, at least three dozen hardboiled eggs to decorate, and about an hour until dinner, we end up using the familiar dye pellets. I’ll bet you would too! But this year I decided I really, really wanted to try natural dyes. Teacher and I are trying to incorporate more “green” and natural products into our lives, and onion skin dye just has to be more natural than those little pellets, right? Besides, it would be so much fun, and such a good experience for the kids. I started researching online and was surprised by what I discovered!

One method to dyeing eggs with natural dyes is to put raw eggs in a pot with water, vinegar, and a dye material like dry onion skins, then simmer this mixture for 20-30 minutes. When they’re done the eggs will be a gorgeous shade of yellow… and taste like onions. Eeeeewwwww! I also found out that some natural dyes may be toxic depending on what dye material you use. Since everyone in my family LOVES boiled eggs I’m thinking that toxic dyes and onion-flavored eggs aren’t going to work for us.

Another method for dyeing eggs with natural dyes is to boil the eggs ahead of time, then boil the dye material in vinegar water separately. When the dye is as dark as you want you put the eggs in and let them sit overnight. That’s an easy method, but we won’t be able to make our traditional striped and plaid eggs… unless we start on them tonight! I didn’t find out if these eggs will taste like the dye material too, but wouldn’t be surprised if they do – eggshells are permeable after all.

So now I don’t know how we’re going to dye our eggs this year. I was really looking forward to using natural dyes but don’t want to risk toxic dyes or nasty flavored eggs; those little pellets are looking better and better to me all the time. I’m not ready to throw in the towel quite yet though!

Do you dye Easter eggs? What do you use to color them?

I admit it, I stole the “Works for Me Wednesday” idea. I thought it was cool and way more do-able for me than “Wordless Wednesday” where you just post a photo with a short sentence. You know I can’t write just a short sentence, and you don’t even want to know now many poor sad photos are waiting for me to edit them! Trust me – you really don’t want to know, it’s depressing. Anyway, without further ado – my first Works for Me Wednesday post! (Cue applause…)

I often get asked “How do you do it all?” when people hear that I have six kids, run a daycare and a diaper business, plus direct handbells and band. To be honest, most days I don’t have a clue, but with my good friend 10 by my side I somehow manage.

10 is a powerful number that makes things happen around here! For instance, when I’m getting ready for work the bathroom counter top is usually littered with toothbrushes, Little Guy’s newest obsession is “brushing” his teeth, and he’s not picky about whose toothbrush he uses. ribbons, barrettes, curling irons, make up, and other girly stuff from Princess and Angel Face, plus the random toys that seem to find their way into the bathroom. Since when do Rescue Heroes live in the potpourri basket?! It’s a mess, but I’ve discovered that if I put away at least 10 items every morning it makes a big difference! I usually start with the biggest things to clear the biggest space, and save time by doing it while I’m brushing my teeth. Smart, huh?

10 works with the kids too. When it’s clean-up time I’ll ask them to find and put away 10 things that are small, 10 things that are big, 10 things that are hard and 10 things that are soft. 10 may not sound like a lot, but 10 x 4 = 40 and 40 x the number of kids you have really adds up! Other times I’ll set the timer for 10 minutes and challenge the kids to race the timer, cleaning up a certain room before it beeps. If they win they get a treat like a piece of candy, cookie or extra TV time. Bribes aren’t bad for kids, really! Adults don’t work just for fun; we expect a paycheck, right? Same thing.

10 minutes on a timer works for me when I’m faced with a chore I don’t especially like to do – such as tackling the never-ending mountain of laundry waiting to be folded. Generally I can fold a load of laundry in 10 minutes so I’ll set the timer and when it beeps I get 10 minutes of something I want to do – like check my email! If I finish the chore in less than 10 minutes I get to add the unused minutes to my 10 minutes of fun. Talk about motivating myself to work fast! It also keeps me on task; otherwise I tend to get distracted and start puttering around at something totally unnecessary.

10 isn’t always my friend, however. I don’t know why, but I have a bad habit of thinking it’ll only take me 10 minutes to drive wherever I’m going. Obviously that’s not realistic but I can never get my butt out of the door earlier. Sometimes I can there in just 10 minutes anyway – shhh, don’t tell the police!

10 is hopefully going to help me lose these last 10 baby pounds. How ironic is that – 10 pounds to lose. My goal is to spend 10 minute intervals exercising during the day. Maybe alternating crunches and squats or climbing up and down the stairs. Hurts just thinking about it! My goal is to lose those 10 pounds before my 10 x 4 birthday, which is in less than 10 weeks. I’d better get a-moving! Oh jeez, now I’ve put it in print I’ll have to do it or look like an idiot. What have I done?! Cross all your 10 fingers and toes for me!

I gave in. I didn’t want to, but I had to admit it was time. The girls had been saying “Mom, he needs one, he looks like a girl!” for weeks but I didn’t care. His hair was so soft and fine, with ends that curled up around his ears giving him an angelic look. I wanted to hold out as long as I could, but when I noticed that his bangs were falling into his eyes and the back of his hair was below his shoulders I had to admit it – it was time for Little Guy’s first haircut.

We went to The Barbershop, a local chain that is just for men. They have leather chairs and sofas, free coffee, water and peanuts to snack on, and a huge flat screen TV showing sports, sports, and more sports. I feel very out of place when I’m in The Barbershop but it’s cheap and the males in my house love it. I really can’t blame them; for $10 they get a cubicle with a TV, a haircut, shampoo, facial hair trim, hot towel, and head massage. I wish there was a Barbershop Call it “The Salon” for women – I could handle all that pampering for $10!

I knew that Little Guy would never sit on the chair so I held him on my lap and prayed that he’d sit still long enough. He absolutely refused to wear a cape – he held out his hand and said “Nooooo!” with a frown on his face when the stylist tried to put it on him. I wore one since I was dumb and had on black. Next time remind me to wear something hair-colored!

It turns out I had nothing to worry about. Little Guy was distracted by the cartoons on his little TV and by Angel Face wielding my camera. Yikes, don’t drop it! Having a Dum-dum to suck on didn’t hurt either; Little guy LOVES suckers! Actually he’s pretty fond of any kind of candy, but M&Ms and suckers are his favorites.

Look at that adorable curl in back – it breaks my heart to see it cut off. I can’t look… I can’t look… I can’t look… Sob!

Almost done and he’s still sitting happily on my lap…

Here he is, all done! No more curls, but still amazingly adorable… not that I’m biased or anything. Actually, I am biased, but I’d still think he was adorable even if I wasn’t.

Teacher and I lived in rentals for the first 12 years of our marriage and couldn’t wait to get our own home. We would get so frustrated whenever we had to call our landlord with a problem because we had to wait for the landlord to send the company maintenance guy over. This person was usually either overweight, over 70, not overly blessed in the brains department – or a combination of the three. Teacher and I longed for the day when we could fix our own problems or hire our own people to fix it for us.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! We got our first taste of home ownership trouble with the tumor in the kitchen. Luckily there wasn’t much damage done and my dad was able to fix the problem quickly and cheaply – two things I like!

Unfortunately our next experience wasn’t fixed nearly as quickly or cheaply, and was much messier! The first indication that there was a problem was when Teacher spotted a trail of water coming down the hall toward the laundry area from the basement bathroom.

Teacher checked it out because I wasn’t going near it and told me that the shower drain in the basement bathroom was backing up. We’d had a lot of snow melting and it had rained the previous day so I figured that was the cause. Teacher gave the drain a good plunging then mopped up the water. We told ourselves that since the rain had stopped and the temperatures had dropped the problem would take care of itself. Wrong!

The next day Teacher checked again and it was worse. The shower floor was filled to the brim with murky brown water that had bits and pieces of sludge suspended in it and sticking to every surface it touched. This was taken AFTER Teacher had cleaned some of the sludge out. Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!

Teacher gave the drain another plunging then used a pressurized clog remover that has worked great in the upstairs shower when it starts draining slowly. Finally he poured a ton of Drano into the drain for good measure and left it alone overnight to do its magic. The next day Teacher checked the shower and it had drained! We were hopeful that the problem was fixed, but turning on the shower to test the drain proved our hopes wrong – it was still clogged. After another round of plunging, pressurized bombing, and overnight Drano we admitted defeat.

I called a plumber Monday morning and was happy to hear that one was able to come within two hours. The previous night Teacher had discovered that the water filling the shower was coming from the kitchen sink so I told the kids not to use that sink. I knew that they’d forget and use it anyway so I put a big bowl in the sink to catch the water. It had to be emptied frequently which was a pain in the butt and made me extra eager to get the drain fixed.

After an hour of work, a good-sized bill, and a recommendation to have all the drains in the house cleaned out for a hefty price, the plumber was done! I was thrilled that we could use the sink again, but wasn’t looking forward to cleaning up the mess. The water had seeped out of the shower, covering the bathroom floor and streaming into Teacher’s tool room next door as well as up the hall toward the laundry area. In addition, all the feet that tramped through that water tracked it up the stairs and into the kitchen. I mentioned something about the clean-up job and the plumber told me to hire someone and make a claim on our home owner’s insurance. My first thought was that I could clean it up myself so why bother, but then I went downstairs to take a peek and immediately changed my mind!

I called our insurance company and a cleaning/restoration company. The insurance guy came out to take a look at the damage and told me that the clean-up would be covered – hooray! Unfortunately our yearly deductible was more than the cost of the clean-up, but remembering the mess in the basement I’d decided it was well worth it. The restoration tech was a really nice guy who did a very thorough job. He cleaned and disinfected everything in the bathroom, the hallway, and all the way up the stairs. He even did the outside of the trash can, the toilet brush, toilet brush holder, and emptied the trash! We haven’t gotten the bill yet but I’m sure it was worth every penny. It may not be the prettiest bathroom in our house, but it’s definitely the cleanest!

Now that things are back to normal I’m hoping it’ll be a while before the next emergency…

Our house was was relatively quiet; all I could hear the fish tank’s gentle gurgling and the TV murmuring in the other room. I grabbed the camera to capture this moment for all posterity – it’s not often that our house is so quiet!

Little Guy was fast asleep on his sleeping bag. Since he learned how to climb out of his crib he refuses to nap in his crib and would fall asleep on the floor in front of the baby gate. I hated that and finally had a brainstorm: I folded a sleeping bag inside-out so the soft part was on the outside then folded it in half so it’s cushy-soft. Now he happily lies down with his star blankie and sleeps on his own “nap mat” which is almost like the big kids’.

Z-Man was taking a rest on the couch cuddled under his blankie with Angel Face’s teddy bear next to him. I let him watch TV in the hope that it would relax him and he’d fall asleep, but he never did. He was quiet for a good hour though – a record for him!

Jo-Bear and Angel Face went to Uncle Jay’s house to play. Usually Uncle Jay has the kids help him with a couple of things around the house before playing video games. Since Jo-Bear and Angel Face are going through a terrible stage where they fight like cats and dogs, having them gone contributed greatly to the quiet in the house!

Princess was trying her hand at baking Mocha Swirl Cheesecake. She’d been craving cheesecake but hadn’t had time to make any earlier. I’d been trying to convince her that she didn’t want to make cheesecake – those last 10 baby pounds just won’t budge – but she didn’t listen. Like most cheesecakes it took forever to cool but we were able to try a slice before going to bed. That was one of the best cheesecakes I’ve had in my entire life! I may not be able to button my jeans by the time it’s gone but I won’t regret one bite.

Teacher and College Boy were also out of the house. College Boy is home for Spring Break and is spending much of it with his friends as we’ll let him. He went to a friend’s house for another computer gaming marathon fueled by pizza and Mountain Dew Code Red. Teacher had run to the grocery store to get a couple of things for dinner and daycare the next day. Since he’s the main cook and menu planner he also does all the grocery shopping. I’m more than happy to let him too!

I started on a new sewing project: a prom dress for Princess. We’d found satin in a delicious shade of tangerine with sparkles all over it – absolutely stunning. My goal was to get all the pieces cut out this weekend so I could start sewing it early but yardages in the pattern were way off and I ran out of lining fabric. Oh well, it would have been worse if I’d run out of the satin – lining is fairly easy to find but there’s no guarantee they’d have more satin available.

That was my quiet Sunday interlude. How did you spend your Sunday?