Another brush with fire

Today we had another brush with fire. This morning, after I finished changing everyone's diapers and pull ups, I decided to go to the bathroom myself . I close the bathroom door and leave the kids outside for this because otherwise they all come in while I'm on the toilet and start making a mess with the toilet paper. The children were watching a cartoon in the bedroom so I thought it would be safe. When I come out, I find the room empty, where did the kids go? I scan the room quickly and notice FIRE! The kids had thrown a children's book (Snow White in case you were wondering) into our space heater and it was flaming. A million thoughts were running through my mind about what to do next. Should I go get baking soda and throw it in there (I heard that works with kitchen fires, but I had no time to go hunting for baking soda), then I thought, should I grab the book by the unburnt edge and throw it in the sink, call 911 again? I can't believe I was so frozen about what to do looking at the fire, wish I could've slapped myself. The fire alarm started to go off and that helped me come to my senses and act fast. It was an electric space heater and the fire was still contained inside, so I quickly unplugged it, picked it up by the back handle (flaming book still inside ya'll) and dumped the entire thing in the bathtub. I turned on the water and doused the fire. Then I opened the windows so the fire alarm would shut up. There were ashes everywhere and I felt like screaming at my kids, but was thankful they had the sense to run out of the room when they saw the fire (my girls are only 19 months old, but Big B was there to guide them out.)

After cleaning up the mess and questioning the kids, I found out the arsonist was my son. I gave him a lesson about fire safety, calling 911 if in trouble and all that jazz. I also thanked him for getting his sisters out of the room when the fire broke out, and he replied, "Oh I didn't take them out of the room. They just followed me when I ran downstairs." Oh, thanks buddy. Here I thought he was looking out for the family. Oh well, he's only three, so he's allowed to only think of himself. There are some grown-ups who still can only think of themselves, we all know people like that don't we? But I guess this is the contribution to society mothers make (shout out to Lena here about The Survey). Mothers are in charge of making sure their children grow up to be kind and considerate of others, be safe, be understanding...etc.. so our world won't be full of selfish people living in a ruthless society. I think half the criminals in this world just needed a good mamma to help guide them on the right path.

Well, we survived. The kids are about to wake up from their nap soon so I gotta run. I wish I could post here more often but my kids just can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Bling Bling

You know if Sarah Jessica Parker wears the same earrings day after day, she must really like them. She has worn the same Fred Leighton cushion cut diamond leverbacks to every public appearance since she bought them. In an interview with Allure magazine a few months ago, she referred to them as her "lucky" earrings and even wore them while promoting her new perfume, "Lovely". Now I see Jessica Simpson, Nicollete Sheridan, and even some girl in Lucky magazine wearing them. The trend is catching on, and I want a pair too! I can't afford the original Fred Leighton design, which is a total carat weight of approximately 8 carats of diamonds and cost $35,000 (more than my minivan!), but emitations.com has created a well-made replica for only $50. Emitations.com gives you the option of buying these in olive and amethyst as well, but I think the CZ replica of the original is the best. I already placed my order for a pair, but found out later from SheFinds that there is a coupon code for emitations.com. Enter "She8ship" at the checkout and you get free shipping. I don't know if the code still works, since it was posted back on December 19th, but it's worth a try.

Bloody Mischa

Tight white T-shirt and sweats: $60

Snacks for anorexic body: $2

Having your period in your tight white sweatpants while the paparazzi snap close-ups of it: Priceless. [source]

Colin Farrell and Emraan Hashmi, Separated at Birth

I'll admit it. I watch a few Bollywood films here and there when I have a little time and the kids are either asleep or being really good. I first noticed the actor Emraan Hashmi in a movie called Murder, mainly because he bears a striking resemblance to Colin Farrell. Here are a few pics of the two I gathered from the net. The similarity is uncanny, isn't it?



Colin (left) Emraan (right)




Colin (left) Emraan (right)

Would you dress like this for the airport?

"Strike a pose boys, your mama's famous!"


What's up with Becks dressing up like the Hoochie Mama Cowgirl while travelling? I know she's famous, and paparazzi are always trailing her, but what's wrong with a nice comfortable velour sweatsuit or jeans and a blazer? I feel sorry for her kids, looks like Brooklyn (on the left) is already thinking what I'm thinking.."my momma's crazy." [photo source]

When it rains it pours

Yesterday was one of those days where you step back and think "why is this happening to me?" It started as a typical sleep-deprived day. I hadn't slept all night because the kids kept waking up wanting to sleep in my bed, so by 5 am I gave up trying to make them sleep in their rooms and everyone was in our king size bed. The husband got up to leave for work at 5:30 am, so by then, me and the three kids got to spread out a litle more and had more room to sleep.

I figured I'd sleep till 8:30 am and begin the day, but when I woke up, the kids were still sleeping (they were up all night too after all), so I decided to go back to sleep. We finally woke up at 11:00 am, damn late but since I'm a stay at home mom and none of my kids go to school yet, it's all good. So we finally changed diapers and did all our morning stuff and marched downstairs for breakfast (at noon). While I was cooking, the kids found a piece of styrofoam from a gift someone had given to us (it was a really nice clock, but I forgot to dispose of the box and the styrofoam padding it came in, just left it by the front door thinking I'd throw it in the garbage can tomorrow.) Well, the kids got to it before I remembered to throw it out, and proceeded to tear it up into pieces and spread it all over the family room. I made a mental note to clean that up after I do the dishes (which included last night's dishes as well, so big mountain of dishes). After breakfast, I made the mistake of using the powder room downstairs with the faulty flush. This toilet has been giving us trouble for a while. It keeps running unless you tap the handle after you flush. Anyway, I use it and flush, and all is good. But then I decide to wipe my nose with toilet paper and flush that down the toilet, and the toilet OVERFLOWS! We are talking about gallons and gallons of water rushing out. I thougt it was going to flood the house. Then in a big gush, the toilet sucked the water down. Damn, I thought, now I have to clean the bathroom floor, in addition to vacuuming the family room and doing the dishes. Then the fire alarms in the house go off, every single one! I was like WTF is happening, can the disasters just stop??? Now the kids are scared and crying and I'm running all over the house trying to find the source of the fire but can't even smell smoke. I call the husband, but no answer. So I said, fuck it, I'm just calling 9-1-1. As soon as I got a human voice on the line, I went hysterical. I was like "Help, all the fire alarms in the house are going off, I can't find the fire, I have three kids in the house.....I don't know what to do!" (I started crying here, I'm so embarrased about that). The EMS guy asked me if there was anywhere I could go with the kids, and I was like "what? No!" So he told me to dress the kids for the outdoors and stand outside of the house while the fire trucks and police come. It was raining outside and we were all still in our pj's (the girls were wearing blanket sleepers with the feet attached). It would take me forever to get everyone's jackets and shoes on so I thought it would be better if I just got in my car with the kids and waited inside a heated minivan while help arrived. My 3 year old son put on his slip on shoes, and I grabbed the girls, my purse, cell phone, and house phone and car keys and ran into the minivan. We pulled out of the driveway and parked across the street. As I waited for help to arrive, I thought if the house burns down, at least we are all safe. Coats, clothes, diapers, all that can be bought again, but thank God we are safe in our car, and we can drive to my Auntie's house 45 minutes away if things get really out of control. Now I was really glad I decided to wait in the car. What if we were out standing outside in the rain and the house did blow up along with my minivan in the garage?? Finally the cops came, and then the fire trucks with lights and sirens blaring. The kids were delighted with the show, I was a nervous wreck.

After all was said and done, the Fire Dept. and Police told me what happened was that when the toilet overflowed, the gush of water seeped through the floor boards and down into the room below, which is the furnace room in the basement. The water soaked the furnace room and short circuited the fire detector. That detector made every detector in the house go off. Now we need to get the toilet replaced, call a water damage restoration service to clean out the water rot in our basement, and get a contractor to put up new drywall and insulation. Damn.

I went back inside and put the kids in their beds, threating to send them too the zoo if they woke up and cried for me, (since they are afraid of the zoo, this threat works, sometimes). I vacuumed the family room, cleaned the bathroom, did the dishes, cooked dinner, and then called the plumber and Serve-Pro, the restoration company. The husband had come home early from work to assess the damage and call the insurance company (he had called back while I was waiting for the police in the minivan) .

We are looking at upwards of a $1,000 in damages from this damn incident. All because I decided to wipe my nose with toilet tissue and double flush. I'm so tired. Today I tried to take a nap when the kids napped, but just could rest so I decided to blog out my troubles. This weekend we are going to the Home Depot to get a new toilet (one with overflow protection) and sometime this week our basment is going to get pumped. I've had enough fun for the new year, I just want to get some sleep now.

Rant about Public Bathrooms

We've got a huge dilemma going on in the house. My 3 year old is potty trained now (finally!) but the husband won't let him sit on a public toilet seat. So when we go out, he wears a pull-up so in case he needs to go pee pee, and the public toilet is gross as hell, he can pee in his pants. Yeah, I think it's weird too, because it confuses the poor kid. But since he's a recent convert to the toilet and still wears pull-ups at nap and bedtime, he doesn't seem to have a big problem with it. The only exception is poop. My son only does that in the toilet. If he needs to poo, and we are outside of the house, I take him the ladies room and line the seat with a liner or toilet paper before he is allowed to sit down and do his business. Then I meticulously clean him up and wash his hands and open the door for him with a paper towel as we are leaving. I may sound really neurotic and obsessive compulsive, but I just don't want him to get sick or come in contact with other people's nastiness. I think if we as a public were cleaner about our bathroom habits maybe I wouldn't need to be such a germ phobe, but the public bathroom situation is truly disgusting. Many people would like to just blame it on the janitorial staff, but I think the problem lies with the people who use and abuse public bathrooms.

Just take my recent experience during the drive back home from New York this weekend. We stopped at a McDonalds to eat and use the bathrooms (and change diapers for the girls), and the bathroom was just filthy. We're talking ladies room here, the husband already had used the men's room and declared it a "cesspool of ecoli". In the ladies room there were two stalls, one handicapped stall with a Koala Baby Diaper Changer and one regular skinny stall. In the handicapped stall, someone had their period all over the seat, and in the skinny one, there were splashes of urine on the seat and floor. The question raised in my mind is, what kind of women do it all over the seat? Missing the mark is a guy thing, but women have to sit to do everything, so why such mess on the seat? A friend of mine once told me that some women "squat and hover" to avoid touching the seat, but then end up ruining it for those of us that simply line the toilet seat with paper and sit down. Yuck. I wish the hovering bitches would just line the seat and sit their fat asses down or at least clean up their mess with a disinfecting wipe. It's a shame how some people use the toilets outside. I wonder, is this how they treat their bathrooms at home?

You can bet I definitely didn't let my son use the toilet. Good thing he was constipated and didn't need to poop. And the girls....we were lucky we were only about an hour and a half from home so they didn't have to sit in their soggy and poopy diapers for much longer. I was not going to change their diapers on a dirty change pad in the same stall "Bloody Mary" had just trashed. Since I didn't have the luxury of a pull-up diaper, I had to line the seat in the skinny stall and use it, but the minute we all got home, everyone got a shower.