I Am Easily Irritated

Sometimes sounds just really irritate me. Not all sounds, mind you, but certain ones.

• Whispers. I hate the sounds of whispering. Something about all that breathiness and hissing. So I really hate the toilet paper commercial that comes on all the time where everyone whispers the whole time. If I have control of remote when it comes on, I have to mute the sound so I won't have to hear it.
• Pouring liquid... I don't know why, but I just don't like the sound when you pour liquid into a glass. There's a commercial on the radio where they open a can of Pepsi and pour it into the glass and it just makes me cringe a little when I hear it.
• Mouth noises. A HUGE pet peeve. I just hate hearing people chew, or scrape a fork against their teeth, or lick their lips (oh yes, some people do this noisily!). All of these are much, MUCH worse if they are occuring on TV or radio, because the noises are so much more pronounced and loud.
• The absolute worst of the mouth noises are kisses on radio or TV. I'm not talking about a cute little smack - MWAH. That's fine. It's the actual full-on kissing where there are all the moist mouth noises. And again, it's so much louder and more magnified because it's on TV and there are microphones to catch all the sounds. Ick! It's grossing me out just writing about it. It's enough to keep me from watching any kind of a romantic movie or TV show just to avoid it!
• Some people's voices. Again, this seems to just be on TV or radio that this bugs me (maybe I should spend less time watching/listening?) but some voices just bug me so much. I just hear the voice and it's like fingernails on a chalkboard (oddly enough, a sound that DOESN'T bother me much, but you know, it's a saying). I have to hurry and mute or turn off or otherwise get rid of the awful sound. The Girls Only commercial that plays a lot on Denver radio is an example. I HATE to hear her voice. It's such a bad aversion that it can actually make me feel sick. When I was pregnant, there was one particular commercial on the radio where I just hated the woman's voice. I would hear it, and it would immediately trigger my morning/all-day sickness. I even had to pull over to the side of the road and throw up once, it was so bad.

I know, I know. These are weird. But I'm sure I'm not the only one who is easily irritated by everyday things. What bugs you?

M&M Bribery

I have discovered the awesome power of M&Ms!

I tried and tried to potty train Preston. I tried a lot of different motivational strategies... the stickers, the stamps, the over-the-top praise, the new underwear, the "don't you want to be a big boy?" and probably others that I've forgotten about. He didn't care about any of that stuff. Finally, I hit on the idea of M&Ms. We set up a system where he got a certain number of M&Ms every time he used the potty, depending on how successful he was. That was a hit! Within a week he was potty trained to the point that when we unexpectedly had to take a road trip across two states, he made it there and back without a single accident!

Now I know that a lot of this could just be due to the fact that he was finally ready to use the potty, but I think the M&Ms helped a lot. This kid really loves his M&Ms.

Since we'd had such good success with M&Ms and potty training, I decided to use them to tackle another parenting problem I've been having with Preston. Every night, we go through our routine to get ready for bed, including bedtime snack, potty time, a little sippy of water in case he's thirsty, hugs, kisses, prayers, tuck-in. I try to cover all the things that he uses to stall going to bed. It's a routine that works beautifully for his older sister. She's almost always sound asleep within minutes. But sure enough, shortly after I leave the room I hear Preston calling out to me that he needs a snack or a drink or a hug or another trip to the potty. It can go on for hours, until I am just SO irritated that he won't just GO. TO. SLEEP!!!

I've ignored it (he's very persistent). I've given in and brought him what he wanted (I know, I know, but sometimes he just wears me down). I've shouted at him (more often than I want to admit). I've sent Daddy in to deal with him (that's bringing up the big guns and it's somewhat successful). None of it really works very well. But M&Ms... now that is something that has worked!

When the kids go to bed, I put 10 M&Ms in a ziploc baggie. For every time that he gets out of bed or calls us in or gets rowdy and noisy instead of settling down to sleep, I take away one M&M. Whatever M&Ms are left by the time he goes to sleep are his to eat in the morning after breakfast.

Wow! Suddenly just the threat of losing that M&M sends him scurrying quietly into bed again. The last several nights have been MUCH less stressful than usual! He's gone to sleep more quickly and with less bargaining and whining than we usually deal with. I'm loving the M&M bribery!

It Kinda Works... Why Mess With It?

Some of Facebook buddies might remember a month or so ago when I complained that our thermostat at home wasn't working and I didn't feel brave enough to fix it. I got lots of comments that told me it wasn't that hard to change the thermostat and giving me advice and support. I felt confident and sure of myself and went right out that night to buy a new thermostat at Home Depot.

I found a new thermostat with the features I wanted quite easily. I went home with the plan to install it right then and there. Where I discovered that I needed a funky screwdriver with a square tip in order to remove the old thermostat. No problem, I was sure I could find one at Home Depot. But it was a few days before I could make another trip over there.

In the meantime, it was REALLY cold. So I managed to figure out that if I set our current thermostat to always on (instead of the setting where it should cycle on and off) and set the temperature to stay at 95 degrees, the furnace will come on sporadically and keep the house around 65-70 degrees. Sometimes this stops working and it gets pretty cold in the house - so then I have to go turn the thermostat to Off. Which for some reason turns on the fan to blow cold air into the house from outside. But if I let it blow the cold air for 30 seconds or so and then turn it back to Heat, the fan will turn off and after about a minute the heat will actually kick on and warm things up again. It's a little convoluted, and it's a pain when I have to get up in the middle of the night to kick the heat back on, but it's kind of working.

So now I have the new thermostat and I have the necessary screwdriver, and I am afraid to actually do anything with them. At the moment, I've got a system that kind of works. What if I try to install this new thermostat and just mess it up completely. Then we won't have any working heat at all. And then we'll have to call in an HVAC guy to fix it - and pay him with what money?

At this point, I'm kind of thinking that I just don't want to touch it. Winter is half over, right? I can make it through a couple of months with my jury-rigged system, can't I? And at some point, either my dad or Aaron's dad will surely come visit us, and then HE can replace the thermostat for me! See... I have a plan...

Haley Cooks

Last night I taught my little girl to make her own breakfast... just the kind of homecooked goodness that mommy would make if I were there! The directions:

1. Take pancake from freezer.
2. Put pancake on plate.
3. Climb on chair to put pancake in microwave.
4. Push 3-0-start.
5. Remove pancake from microwave.
6. Add powdered sugar and eat!

At this rate, she'll be a gourmet cook in no time!

Overheard

Haley talking to Preston...

"Well George [our cat that died] will be resurrected of course. He'll get a new body and he won't be sick anymore. And he'll come back to Earth. And we can pet him and hug him. I wonder when he will be resurrected? If he gets resurrected before we do, I just don't know what to think..."

Five Things

I got tagged on a friend's blog this morning. This is a simple one... just list five things that are on your mind today.

1. No work for me tomorrow! Aaron has another sleep study tonight, so I would have been late to work anyway. And Haley has an appointment with the eye doctor in the afternoon. Plus my house is a mess, I haven't taken down the Christmas tree yet, and the missionaries are coming for dinner tomorrow night. I decided just to take the day off and deal with all of that.
2. I wish all my tax documents would get here already. I want to get the taxes filed because I'm crossing my fingers there will be enough in our tax refund that we can squeeze out the $$ for the king-size bed that I so badly want.
3. Milk. Eggs. Granola bars. Cat litter. I need to go to the store tonight. =)
4. I wish I'd brought my laptop to work today. I bought the new Harry Potter movie as soon as it was released, but I still haven't watched it! If I hadn't been in such a hurry this morning, I could have grabbed the laptop and then watched the movie while I work. (I am the Queen of Multitasking!)
5. Isn't it lunchtime yet?

Okay, so TAG, you're it! What Five Things are on your mind today?

I Need a Purse

I have a coat with these great deep pockets. In the winter months, I tend to just shove everything into those pockets instead of using a purse. But, just like a purse, the pockets can accumulate a lot of unnecessary junk (they are big pockets). This morning I realized that they were really ridiculously full and emptied them out. I found:

• Assorted receipts from our trip last weekend (I've already accounted for them in the bank account, so I'm not sure why I'm still carrying them around.)
• Highlighter marker
• Post-it notes
• Ragged tissues (Are they clean? Used? Who can tell? They have disintegrated into shreds and pocket lint at this point.)
• Napkins that Preston shoved into my pocket at the funeral
• Do not disturb sign from one of the hotels we stayed at (I have no idea why I have this.)
• Flex spending account reimbursement form (I really need to remember to fax that in!)
• Keys (Finally! Something useful!)
• MP3 player (With a dead battery that I keep forgetting to charge.)
• Phone (With a dead battery that I keep forgetting to charge.)
• Hair elastics
• More tissues
• Wrapper from Brekken's Smarties
• Business cards (Yeah, like I need to carry these around all the time. I never hand them out!)
• Wallet (Woo-hoo! Something else that's actually useful!)
• Chapstick (Which tends to melt from body heat when I carry it in my pocket.)
• Gloves (That I never wear, because putting gloves on actually makes my fingers feel colder.)
• Note from Haley's friend Aalyah that she asked me to hold (It's actually a very sweet note. I left the spelling and everything as is... it's really quite good for a kindergartener! "To Haley Form Aalyah. Dear Haley. I love you Haley. How was your weekin Haley. Do you love me Haley? I love you Haley. Love Aalyah.)

Yikes! Now that I write it all down it's even more ridiculous.