Tying Up Loose Ends
June 1, 2006
1) Rob went back to work today, thankfully. The man does not sit down. It can be maddening. He has to go to the doctor all week for “whirlpool” treatments for his thumb that somehow help in the healing process. Then on Monday, he will have surgery. The doctor now thinks he will be able to save the length of his thumb and not cut down the fingernail. So, his hitch hiking days are not over. (kidding, he doesn’t really hitch hike.)
2) People, they send me stuff.
A few weeks ago, maybe more who can remember, I received and email from someone asking if I would like to try their Milk Tray. It was developed by two breastfeeding mothers and is designed to be a freezing container for pumped breasting. It has single ounce compartments to cut down on wasting, because nothing sucks more that defrosting an 8 ounce bag of breasting, knowing that your baby is only going to drink five ounces. They freeze in slim lines… hence the name of the product, so that they can slip into the opening on the bottle. Am I sounding like an info-mercial yet? I didn’t try it, but I think that a few frozen milk sticks would fit right into an Advent sized bottle still frozen so one could defrost them inside the bottle in the refrigerator. Since I am no longer breastfeeding, I filled the container with water and then used the ice sticks to put in the kids water bottles, they liked that. If you are a nursing mother check it out. Also, if you are a nursing mother and would like the sample tray I received, I’ll send it along to you free of charge to test out and you could write your own review on your blog if you like.
I also got some Clorox Everywhere Sanitizer. Eh. I like my disinfecting products to smell like chemicals so that I know they are working. This one smells nice… like febreezy nice. I am just not convinced that it works as well as my trusty Lysol.
I’d really like someone to send me a Scooba to test out. I think the iRobot people should send me one. I have a huge house with wood and tile floors, including seven bathrooms. Two are not functional right now, but the other five are. If I didn’t have to clean them all, theoretcially, perhaps the other two would be functional as well. My seven children think that it is their God given mission to bring as much of the outdoors inside of our home. Also, I am lazy and hate no task more than mopping my floors. You can ask my husband. If he ever divorces me, that will definitely be one of the things he would write down as a reason. So iRobot, I eagerly await my Scooba in the mail.
3) Today I finally do not look like I am storing nuts inside my cheek for winter.
4) If you have emailed me and I have not responded yet, I will. Soon. Hopefully. The only exception to this is all you people who emailed me to tell me that I am an overprotective nut who is raising my children to be overly dependent upon me and that I am destined to have them all still living at home when they 45 years old, their only love interest a couple of mangy cats. You people I am not going to email back. Because you obviously don’t know me well at all. I am allergic to cats.
5) Today I am planting my flower boxes. Thus begins my first attempt at Operation Don’t Kill the Flowers, that is on my forty before forty list. I’d really like to keep these flowers alive this year. I bought flowers that the garden center told me like lots of sun and drought like conditions. That is perfect for me and my inability to remember to water my flowers.
6) I know that there were more things I wanted to say, but they have all slipped out of my head.
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I just had to comment.
Milk Tray. I saw that, then the breastfeeding bit and immediate pictured some tray that you put your, ahem, boobs on.
Kids with you until you’re 45…some days, I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. At least they are (most of the time) people I like.
June 1st, 2006 at 10:34 amWhirlpool treatments for his cut off thumb? Do they have a tiny little tub that only his friend goes in?
And yeah…if I can keep these boys here til they are 45, that will save me from having to be nice to daughter in laws. Good plan, good plan.
And best of luck with Op:DKTF–so far we are holding at about a 70% survival rates for our POWs….the poor pansies didn’t make it.
June 1st, 2006 at 10:42 amI have no idea why that first sentence says, FRIEND…I think someone was talking to me! Anyhoo…a tiny spa for his one thumb? You.must.take.pictures!
June 1st, 2006 at 10:44 amI have a Roomba. Love it. Loved it. We used to sit and watch it vaccum the house after the kids went to bed. We would pick a large piece of debris on the floor and take bets on how long it would take to get to it. It now needs a new filter, I can’t find the super secret place I stashed them, so it sits forlorn, waiting for me to rescue it. I’ve also got a Floormate (an upright floormop thing) that I love (used to wash the floor on my hands and knees), but it’s very loud and I’m expecting some hearing loss due to it’s use. Oh well, the kids are too loud anyway.
June 1st, 2006 at 10:47 am“Because you obviously don’t know me well at all. I am allergic to cats. ”
LOL. Your writing is hilarious, I love it.
June 1st, 2006 at 10:50 amGood luck with the flower boxes… I’m getting better at having flowers actually GROW rather than get smaller over the summer but it’s a challenge.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:30 amSEVEN bathrooms!??!
If I got rich and bought a house with seven bathrooms, it would have to come with a maid, because that is just too much!
June 1st, 2006 at 11:40 amOMG seven bathrooms IS a lot. I don’t think you’re lazy. I think you thing you’re lazy, but you are the opposite of lazy. I am lazy. I have one bathroom and I pay someone I can’t afford to clean it so I don’t have to. That’s how lazy I am.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:42 amI’m in awe of the fact that after seven children, you still have the energy to be that protective! Congrats to you and more power to ya!
June 1st, 2006 at 11:48 amWill sticks fit into the tray? A mom could make BM pops for her older kids. Yum!
June 1st, 2006 at 11:56 amI guess I’ll stop waiting for your e-mail reply. Sorry, I had no idea about the cats.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:59 amHow do you get people to send you stuff besides junk mail?
Yeah, I want to know how to get stuff sent to me too. Good stuff.
Half of my flower beds are growing well. The other half looks like the Kalahari Desert. I think I’m going to have to cheat and buy more plants.
June 1st, 2006 at 12:16 pm#4. No one has to live with the consequences of the decisions you make regarding your kids but you and your kids. If they don’t like your choices, they can p*ss off. Sorry if I’m a bit techy there. I get the same #@%! all the time. In Germany, there is a BIG push for kids to be independant very, very early. I got a lot cr*p from people who found out I wouldn’t allow my first grader to walk to school alone (or to her friend’s house, the playground, the bakery, etc.). Even the school discouraged parents from walking their children to school. (??) Then there were several incidents of child abduction and near abductions in our area. Suddenly, everyone was warning me not to allow my children to walk to school alone. No kidding, you don’t say? Whatever. I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks of my parenting skills. There are enough dangers in the world out there as it is (like every time I put my kids in a car). I will do whatever I can wherever I can to minimized those dangers to my children and to reduce the chances that they end up a statistcic and an article in the newspaper. That’s my job as their mom and it’s a job I take seriously. I don’t think you are any different, Chris. I don’t think most mums are any different. We all just have different comfort levels on different issues. FWIW, I won’t allow my children in a public restroom alone either. My dh caught hell from me on that one…
June 1st, 2006 at 12:47 pmWell, I am a mom of grown kids (three veryveryclosetogether,arg!) and there is one thing I regret not doing.
Making THEM have more responsibilities.
It would be a lot more work on your part at first, but those older kids should be cleaning a majority of those bathrooms. AND mopping. Who knows, if they had to clean it, maybe they’d wipe their feet.
(Bless your heart, if I were you I would have collapsed under a veritable Mt. Everest of laundry and undone chores already.)
June 1st, 2006 at 1:00 pmThere go those anonymous comments. It really bothers me when others feel the need to tell others how to raise their children. No one asked for an anonymous opinion on having kids do the cleaning.
Hope your husbands thumb is back to normal!
June 1st, 2006 at 1:16 pm“Today I finally do not look like I am storing nuts inside my cheek for winter.”…you are really funny!
June 1st, 2006 at 2:01 pmI hope you and your husband get well soon, best wishes!
You got contacted by those Chlorox people too? I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to feel obligated to post something about it. Which I would have. As it is I’m still trying to find time to read the books that have been sent to me for review. UGH!
Glad the doc is going to be able to save Rob’s thumb. I’d hate for him to have to deal with the new nickname of “stubby” or something equally lame.
June 1st, 2006 at 2:54 pmI, too, have a Roomba and a FloorMate. We recently also got a Scooba. (You can tell how much I like to clean floors myself.) Lest you think I live in a diamond-encrusted house, the robots are much cheaper if you take your Discover Card cashback bonus as discounted Sharper Image gift cards and then find one of their coupons…anyway.
The Roomba is cool, but we have a dog with an eye toward making the Olympic Shedding Team, and it isn’t really up to heavy stuff like that, so it mostly putters around our hallways and our dining room. And we have an older model, not the one that drives home to charge itself, so it isn’t as cool as it could be. The Scooba is actually pretty good, though. It doesn’t drive itself home either because you have to empty it, but it does a pretty nice job on the floors. I still like having the FloorMate too, because on the occasion when I do decide to go to war with my grout and scrub the hell out of it to no avail, I can use the FloorMate to rinse it and suck up all the dirty water. I’d try hitting up Hoover for one of those while you’re offering yourself up as a “field tester.”
And by the way, this comment really gave me pause:
June 1st, 2006 at 3:09 pmA mom could make BM pops for her older kids. Yum!
…until I realized BM stood for breast milk. A bit nicer than the fudgesicles I was picturing.
Chris, I have been chewing on the fact that you received e-mails from folks that disagreed with your parenting choices. To those folks: If Chris has the courage to put it out there, you should have the courage to write your opinions here in the comment section.
Parenting is not an exact science. We all seem to be agreement that we love and want the best for our children. It is in the sharing of our differing ideas and opinions that we learn from one another. Either to affirm a belief or to get a glimpse of a different path. And that is good. But only if dissenters step up. Or how about grow up?
June 1st, 2006 at 4:12 pmYou use clorox around your children? OMG, you are probably killing them slowly! How dare you use those chemicals around them! I am going to be making my own cleaning products using plants I grow from my own garden and vinegar that I make in my kitchen! Egads! What kind of mother are you?
Now that we are done with that… I’m not breastfeeding for another 29 weeks, but I’d try the breastmilk tray!
Also, I want someone to send me a roomba and a scooba! And I also want someone to send me free food. As long as it contains meat. Free meat. Also, could they sent me magic vitamins that make my nausea go away? PLEASE? Where should I send the cookies for your poor swollen face? I can make them very soft so they don’t hurt your mouth.
June 1st, 2006 at 4:49 pmRachel, you crack me up, I thought the same thing about the Breast Milk Pops! HA!
June 1st, 2006 at 4:56 pmI might need a milk tray. My boobs are dried up but when I was ironing before my left boob still looked MILKY! I stopped the breastfeedings weeks ago!
June 1st, 2006 at 7:25 pmHoly cow, they’re suggesting that you store ALL your breastmilk in their trays. I’ve got about 40 ounces stored right now, and I never have less than 32 ounces stored. I’d have to spend something like a hundred bucks on trays.
I just freeze mine in Gerber bags - I’ve only had them leak twice in the time I’ve used them (over a year cumulatively), and I don’t have to wash the suckers. I never store more than three ounces in a bag, so I don’t have to worry too much about waste. (I was very nervous about waste when I was nursing my son - I had milk supply problems due to undiagnosed hypothyroidism throughout his nursing, so every little drop counted.)
June 1st, 2006 at 7:54 pmIf anything, I would like to thank you for your warning about public restrooms. My oldest is only 3 so obviously I’m with him at all times, but you brought to light a danger I hadn’t thought of yet. So in the future he’s going to have to learn to hold it or learn to close his eyes while walking throught the ladie’s room.
And incidentally, I’m allergic to cats too!
June 1st, 2006 at 8:06 pmAlice H:
No, they don’t say to store the breastmilk in the trays, just freeze it in the trays and then transfer it into a ziploc storage bag. I would think that 2 trays, which they sell as a set, would be sufficient for most people. Then you would just take out the number of stikcs, or ounces, that you need.
ashley,
June 1st, 2006 at 8:41 pmI dunno, I don’t think my older kids would get on board with a breastmilk popsicle… at all.
Keep the writing up.So nice to hear “Normal” people out there.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:25 pmI am also allergic to cats..The Children always ask if we can get one?What’s your answer?Mine definitely should not be published.
7 children is amazing…7 bathrooms amazing as well.U seem to amaze me more everytime I read.Thank you!
Re: your husband’s recent “adventure” all I can think to say is “ouchity, ouch, ouch, ouch and dang ouch!”
Hope you are both feeling better!
June 1st, 2006 at 9:57 pmflowers…i always liek flowers…
would love to see the pics of your flower
about the words gone right when we’re about to write them down…it happens to me almost every single day!
nice posting ;D
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:46 amOk Phew
I was starting to get nervous when I got no reply to the email I sent.
Man, if anyone disagreed with the bathroom thing after some of the scary stories that were shared…they are obviously deranged!
Did you see the story about the grown woman who was kidnapped at 830 am a couple of days ago?
And someone thinks a public restroom is a safe place?
geez.
7 bathrooms?
June 2nd, 2006 at 1:16 amWe have 3 and one of them is pretty much off limits because I hate cleaning them!
Empathy from a fellow flower killer.
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:49 amI think I did leave a comment on Dot moms about your recent post there. Can’t Remember? I agree with you and I don’t think your a crazy momma. It’s our job as parents to protect our kids from the sick people that are out there that want to hurt them.
If I wasn’t coming to the end of breastfeeding I’d take you up on the milk tray. I’ll bookmark the website though for future reference.
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:14 amSeven bathrooms? That is, like, my worst nightmare. If I lived there, I’d have to turn a few of them into closets.
I have a hard enough time cleaning 1 1/2!
June 2nd, 2006 at 8:21 amCan I have one of your bathrooms?
I’m thinking a cheaper version of the scooba would be a little tiny dog. Maybe a dachshund or a Shih- Tzu. The toddlers can scavange the larger crumbs, the dog can follow them and lick.
June 2nd, 2006 at 9:53 amOh, Oh, Oh, Me, Me Me, I want to send you some free stuff too! You will love them. They are so cool for Mom’s!
I love your blog. I just never comment because I’m so insanely jealous that you’re blog is entertaining and mine sucks!
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:57 amWay cheaper than the Scooba is the Hoover Flip-It. It is a hard floor vacuum/mop system. You turn it on and sweep the floor, then flip it (hence the name) to the wet side. It sprays water and then vacuums it up. I used it last week on my mom’s floor and now I have to have one for myself. My poor hubby is never going to want me to visit my mom. The last time I helped her clean I “had to have” a Mr. Clean Magic Reach mop.
June 2nd, 2006 at 11:16 amI am both in awe and in pity of you having seven bathrooms. We have seven people living here and two bathrooms (one of which doubles as a laundry room). I wouldn’t mind having ONE more, but I think I’d have to have a maid…I wouldn’t ever clean them all!!
June 2nd, 2006 at 11:39 amAnd now I need a list of the full sun/drought-resistant flowers. That’s about the only kind I can raise, too.
Here’s how depraved I am. I saw the words “Milk Tray” and immediately assumed that someone sent you a Cadbury Milk Tray. I have been dieting like crazy and suffering from chocolate deprivation. Actually my entire family is suffering from Mommy’s chocolate deprivation. Anyway, surely some reader out there works for Cadbury-Schweppes and can hook you up with several Milk Trays for your ailing husband and starving children.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:41 pmGrow some for me! My dog ate all mine! Oh and I’m glad your gums are better too!
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:38 pmThis post has been removed by the author.
June 2nd, 2006 at 3:42 pmMy sister is planting/keeping plants alive challenged as well. I plant her patio plants for her every year and the trick I use to help her keep them alive is…I plant impatiens with the more drought hardy plants in every planter. The impatiens will wilt (and not die) when they need water and you can see that and thus water long before you kill the more drought tolerant plants. I also use that gel stuff (http://www.soilmoist.com/) that retains water and time release fertilizer pellets (Osmocote) when I plant for extra insurance. Good luck.
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:21 pm