Mommin' It Up!

June 9, 2011

Outsourcing

A couple amazing things happened today.

My house became sparkling clean.

My back deck got stained.

And I had nothing to do with it.

Let me back up for a moment.

A few months ago, I read this post from our friend Susan at Working Moms Against Guilt. When I read the opening line (“I am a big fan of outsourcing. Cleaning and landscaping are two of my favorites. There’s something wonderfully freeing about coming home to a clean, fresh-smelling house or a neatly trimmed lawn in the summer.”), I was immediately intrigued. Susan’s point was that we all have so much to do, and sometimes it’s nice to outsource the tasks we dislike most, so we have more time and energy to do things we like.

That, coupled with the experiences Jenny and several of our friends have had recently with EcoMaids of Dayton, convinced me that it was time to start outsourcing. I asked around town, got some recommendations, and found someone who comes in once a month and does an absolutely amazing job cleaning my house and it makes me so happy. It is worth every single penny.

Similarly, all last summer Andy and I talked about how badly our deck needed to be stained, and somehow we managed to not get around to doing it. That kind of thing is not our forte, and we were intimidated by the size of the job. So, we hired a good friend of ours who knows what he’s doing, and it’ll be done by Friday.

I have to tell you, this has been liberating! We are having a cookout over the weekend and it’s great not to have to worry about getting the house ready to go. I just have to find a way to keep my kids out of there until Sunday. Details, details.

So, what’s something you outsource – or wish you did?

June 8, 2011June 7, 2011

Grumpy Old Man

If you were like me and started watching Saturday Night Live when you were like, 11, even though it was totally age-inappropriate, but your cool older brothers grandfathered you in, you might remember a character played by Dana Carvey called “Grumpy Old Man”. Grumpy Old Man would complain about new-fangled technology and how times have changed and say things like, “In my day, we didn’t have hair dryers! If you wanted to dry your hair you stood outside in a hurricane! And we LIKED IT!”

I’m feeling a bit like Grumpy Old Man these days.

The pool I have had a pass to the past two years went and CHANGED itself. Did major renovations and now it’s like a mini-waterpark. We went for the first time yesterday and it was ridiculous. Joshua, at seven, is too big for the little kids area. They don’t LET YOU IN unless you are six or under. Umm…ok, I have a baby and a four-year-old, which child should I leave unchaperoned? The seven-year-old or the four-year-old? (Thanks to a BabyEtte water wrap I had Jonah strapped to me.)

To make matters worse, the place was PACKED. And we went after 2:30, when in the old days the place would have started to get un-crowded. No such luck.

The area with the kiddie slides, which Sophie actually loves, was crazy packed and giving me an anxiety attack. And of course, since there is a big bucket of water that dumps on the place every 60 seconds, Joshua won’t go NEAR it. So they four-year-old loves it and the seven-year-old hates it. The seven-year-old would be perfectly happy to be in the little kids area with the four-year-old (she also loved the little kids area) but he’s not allowed. And, trying to keep them both in my line of sight with 50 BAJILLION kids all over the structure? Anxiety attack city.

I’m pretty pissed. I pretty much want my $200 + that I paid for my pool pass BACK.

And I want my old pool back.

In my day, we had a baby pool and a big pool…we didn’t have no new-fangled water park with a splash pad and a giant bucket of water and a twisty slide….just a baby pool and a big pool…AND WE LIKED IT!!

(Oh, and here’s a fun you tube video of Grumpy Old Man. Watch it! I couldn’t get it to embed.)

June 7, 2011June 7, 2011

Fort Rapids Memories

Over the weekend, Jenny and I had the opportunity to take our families to Fort Rapids, an indoor water park in Columbus, Ohio. We had a great time, and it was so fun to all go somewhere together!

We stayed in the Bright Angel Villa – here’s the description from the website:
The Bright Angel suite features a spacious living room w/ sleeper sofa, kitchenette and fireplace, 2 bedrooms one with a king bed and the other offers 2 queen beds. The additional loft offers a king bed and private bath and a bunk room with bunk beds.

I think the kids would have been content to stay in the “apartment” as they called it all weekend – they had a blast running all over the place and playing hide and seek. The villa sleeps 12, and (unfortunately) we pretty much had the opportunity to try out every. single. sleeping combination possible, as our kids could not get it together at bedtime. But that’s another story!

Once we hit the water park, though, the kids never wanted to leave.

The kids had a great time, and we did too. We all enjoyed watching the kids have fun together – and we loved the water slides as much as they did! And when the kids finally went to sleep and Jenny, Bobby, Andy and I started playing board games… well, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time.

Big thanks to Fort Rapids for hooking us up with a place to stay and with water park passes!