The shark steam pocket mop is super easy to use and the swivel head makes it easy to get under tables and around other obstacles. I did find that dirtier places on the floor did not get clean with a single pass. Instead, I have to pump the handle extra to release more steam to get the dirtier spot clean. I was definitely impressed by the large water tank, which apparently had been improved from the earlier model. I was able to do my entire house without having to add more water. I could not believe that I was able to clean my floors and 18 minutes. It usually takes almost an hour to do the same job with a standard mop. I was actually a little disgusted by how much dirt was picked up on the pocket mop pads. I keep the house very clean and it’s disturbing to think that there was that much dirt and grime still on the floor.

Not only am I able to get my floors super clean but I also been able to disinfect them without having to use chemicals which is the reason I bought the Shark Steam Mop to begin with. Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the results and have been recommended this product to my friends. I even am considering buying one of these steam mops were my sister for her birthday. Her house get’s even dirtier with three kids and 2 dogs. I’m actually kind of shocked that she has not already tried one herself. She is pretty cheap however and I doubt she would ever spend $120 to buy one her self. I guess she will just have to owe me ☺

Almost every Wednesday for the past two months, Mary had been going on a playdate with Marley, her newest best friend from Kindergarten. I am thankful beyond words that they keep having her over and that both Mary and Marley keeps enjoying their time together outside of school. As Marley is not comfortable yet to going to other people’s houses or being with other grown-ups without her parents, Mary always goes to THEIR house, giving me at least 6 hours on Wednesday to get things done at home. Thank you, thank you so much!

It is not enough that Mary gets to play at Marley’s basement playground (her parents have furnished their basement to be one big playroom with toys galore), K (Marley’s grandma) almost always take them somewhere special – the Butterfly Museum, a hair salon… This Wednesday was to “the mall.”

If you live in Louisville and Boulder area, “the mall” refers to Flatirons Crossing Mall. And in that mall is a Build-A-Bear workshop.

So, she came home with “Husky”… on a pink leash… with a bridal costume (complete with veil, garter and bouquet)…with pink cowboy boots… with skates…with eyeglasses that matches Mary. ALL courtesy of K. Then, there is the Gap shirt (that matches with Marley). And then, there is the photo with Santa. Oh, and she had chicken teriyaki at the food court, too. ALL courtesy of K.

What a lucky girl!

Thank you so much, K.

I have expressed my thanks to K personally and she was very gracious about it— “They had fun!”

But there’s this niggling feeling of “how can I reciprocate?”

In the past, we have taken one of Mary’s friends to Elitch Gardens, another one to the mall where I did get a little treat for the two girls but nothing close to K’s generosity. The other moms always offer to pay for something which I have always refused. When Mary gets taken anywhere and given treats on playdates, I also offer to pay for something and have always been refused, as well.

I guess, we should just be thankful that Mary has found a very good friend, one that enjoys her company as much as she enjoys theirs. And they happen to be very generous with their treats? Immensely thankful.

I remember that all through high school, I ws best friends with the richest girl in class. She is the seventh of 9 kids, mom is a doctor, dad is an engineer, she always had the coveted “Ace” leather bags, latest style “Gregg” black shoes, Mills and Boon romance novel AND her family has a pool. Felt so lucky to be friends with her as I get invited often to their house .

Now, what to do about the cross-dresser Husky?

Mary has changed the name to “Huska.” Still, I do not think it is a name fit for a bride.

—–

On another note, this is the last post for Nablopomo.  Yay! I made it!

Thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my posts, also for your wonderful, wonderful comments. I will still be blogging everyday. Its too much fun to stop now.

Much to my delight my nephew, Vinceboy commented on the previous post.  That’s how he signed it, Vinceboy, conjuring up images in my mind of when he was a boy, about 20-odd years ago??? Right, Vinceboy?  I see him, around 2-3 years old, in the car, standing between the two front seats, holding on while singing “Ebony and Ivory” at the top of his lungs!

Looking forward to your blog.

As I get back blogging, I find I am running to some technical diffulties— there’s getting used to my new Sony Vaio laptop (I love being able to work at our 4-season room, overlooking the backyard, watching robins hunt for worms, squirrels and bunnies chasing each other and having the cats all hot and bothered about not being able to chase them all away) with its Window Vista, then  Explorer keeps crashing on me.  I find also that I am unable to download images thru the Add Image in WordPress so I have upload pictures to the site but first I have to downsize them, etc, etc.  So, we have to wait a little bit for photos as I need to download an ftp software and I am going to need Jack’s help on that, so I’m sure I’m doing it right and somehow I gotta fit that into HIS schedule…

Still, I will keep on writing and heopefully, you’ll keep reading.

Now for some latest news on dear little Mary.

Today is her second day at Summer Camp.  Since Jack and I both have daytime jobs, Mary needed to be at a fulltime daycare once school let out— which it did last Friday, May 29.   When she was in school, Mary would usually wake up between 7:15 and 7:45 am as we needed to be out of the house by 8:25 am to get her in school at 8:35 am, the earliest time that students could be dropped off.  Mary likes getting to school early and sometimes, if we are running behind our schedule, then she would be on time.  She has never been late for school.  The daycare program that is running the Summer Camp has its hours from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm.   I had planned to drop her off at 7:30 am and pick-up at 5 pm.  I had wanted the extra free time in the morning, FOR ME, since my job at WF does not start till 10 am.

After Mary’s first day yesterday, she has decided she wants to get there as early as possible and stay there as late as possible.  Getting her there at 6:30 am would mean me getting up at 5 am and that is too early for me so we compromised on getting her to camp at 7 am.  Mary willingly wanted to be woken up at 6:15 am… summertime! when she could sleep in!!!

Thank goodness, I’m a morning person myself so I do not mind getting us all ready early.  And there’s all this extra time so I could blog and get to know my lovely laptop a lot better.

Hopefully, photos by tomorrow!

Despite a late start, Mary and I got it done!

A couple of months ago, I joined the Urbandale Chapter of the Optimists Club International after Mary and I attended the Easter Egg Hunt they’ve sponsored for the Urbandale kids.  (Mary gathered at least 70 eggs, more than any kid can ever hope for gathering on an egg hunt— she had fun along with the lucky not-so-many kids who found out about the event and attended.)

Some of the members were handing out brochures about the club and I got attracted by The Optimist Creed, which starts with “Promise Yourself – To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind…..” and ends with “To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. “  I wanted to be around people who embodied the very traits I am developing within me – “To look at the sunny side of verything and make your optimism come true…”  Their Mission “By providing hope and positive vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.“  is quite noble, too.

One of the Club’s fundraisers is “Avenue of Flags” where homeowners contract with the Club to have a pipe, with a cap, installed then have a flag set on it from early morning to late evening on five holidays – Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day.

Club members then volunteers to do the setting of the flags morning of the holiday and taking them back in the evening.  I jumped in to help our President on one of the routes for last Memorial Day and that went off without a hitch, I was at the place at eactly 5:45 am, got into the car that Jim has already loaded with the flags and bucket for the caps and since JIm had already done the route numerous times before, we got it done in less than the anticipated hour that it usually takes.

So, for the next holiday, Flag Day, June 14, 2009 Sunday, I volunteered to take the same route by myself and I had planned to take Mary along as I know she enjoys this sort of thing.

The week before the day, I have prepared Mary that she would have to wake up at 5:30 am and that we would be out early in the morning putting up flags.  She was ready and so was I.

So, Monday, I had it in my mind that we had to wake up very early the following Sunday.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, still the early Sunday morning plan was in my head.  Friday, Mary had a sleepover with her Brownie troop and Saturday, Mary and I got to spend the day together by going to the mall.  Seemingly, the early Sunday morning adventure had left my brain by then…

Sunday morning, my internal alarm clock got me up at my usual time between 6-6:30 am.  I glanced at the clock, 6:26 am.  “Thank you, God for this beautiful day!” was my usual first thought and then I think about whether I have time to snooze.  That morning I thought, “Well, Mary does not have camp, I don’t have to be at work till 9:50 am… I can catch some more winks—– Oh, NO! FLAGS!!!!!!”

Adrenaline pumping, I jumped out of bed, went and shook Mary awake, “Mary, we’re late, we gotta put up flags!!!”

And the little trouper that she is, Mary snapped her eyes open, got out of bed and followed me to the bathroom.

We got out of the house less than 10 minutes later and were off to pick up the flags for our route.

Then, I could not remember what street the house to pick up the flags at.  The last time, I had googled and printed out a map of the address and had brought along the address as well as the phone number in case I got lost, which I did not, at that time.  This time, no map, no address, no phone number (or so, I thought).  Mary was doing her best to help ,”Who do you know that knows the number that we can call?.” she asks.

Luckily, I had my cell phone and I was about to call Jack when I noticed that I had a missed call from Jim and Judy (wondering where I was at 6:30 am…) and so I just pushed send and got Jim on the line and he gave me the address.

Then, I had to figure out how to get the flags into the back of my Volvo station wagon.  They were longer than I thought!  Finally, I just pushed them up all the way to the windshield, in between the front seats and drove with the back door unlocked.

Mary and I got going on the route and Mary proved to be such an able helper.  She was the Navigator, read out the route directions to me as I drove.  She help carried the flags, looked for the caps along with me and helped set them in. Though, after she got splashed she let ME do that last task.

I got boinked on the head once when Mary let go of the flag, Mary and I got our feet all wet from the morning dew on the grass but those were just minor mishaps. All in all, we took our time, enjoyed the moments, shared the experience together— “We are doing this for the community, Mary!” “Do you get paid?” “No.”

Mary would do it again and we thought about volunteering for Fourth of July Independence Day but then, I remembered the Volvo will be in the shop sometime that week. As it was, I was fortunate to get it started that morning as it was already having problems.

Maybe for Labor Day….

Take some Pillsbury Ready Pie Crust, a 5-year-old, whatever is available in the fridge and a Mom who does not care if the pie actually gets eaten and you have No-Rules Pizza!

I made these for me, the savory side with parmesan cheese, cottage cheese base, seasoned with paprika and garlic salt, topped with an egg sunny side up (I saw this done from some cooking show and had always wanted to try it).  Then, a smaller strip, for the sweet side, I spread with peanut butter and pushed in some cocoa krispies.

Mary made her sweet side with peanut butter, cocoa krispies and crushed chocolate Mini-eggs.  Then. I convinced her to have a savory side and she chose to top it with cheddar cheese and an egg.

Mary ate the yolk off her pizza as well as the mini-eggs. I had some of my savory side and a couple of bites of the sweet side. The rest went into the trash.

We did not discover the next best thing in pizza…

Oh well.

We had fun TOGETHER doing this so it was all worth it. Next time, we would experiment with other toppings.

This winter proved to be very mild, at least, where we are in Louisville, CO.  Officially, another week before Spring and yet, we have been getting spring-like days for the past month.  Interspersed with some snowy days, of course.  This year, we were lucky to just watch a LOT of snow up in the mountains.

Here is Mary, enjoying the afternoon with some of her Kindergarten friends.

I told Mary I would make her pancakes for breakfast and surprise her by making it look like her most favorite thing in the world.  What would it be?  After some pondering, she said that her most favorite thing in the world is LOVE, so make them shaped like hearts.

Well, I thought I would get more creative than that.

My first thought was to make her a sun-shape with curlicue rays and a smiley face inside it.  So, I tried to incorporate the two ideas.

Not so impressive.

Next, I did hearts within heart.

A little better.

I tried a third one — hearts within a butterfly.

Looks good but I cheated a little bit on this- looks great on the plate but the whole thing is in pieces.

Still, all in all, not bad for a first try.

Mary was totally impressed. She loved them so much that she only ate around the edges of the second one (the big heart) and the bits and pieces of the butterfly.  She wants to preserve the rest.

The sign is supposed to keep me and her Daddy away from the pancakes (y’know, like “accidentally” throw them away)while they dry.  I told her that we need to do this first before we put the pancakes in a plastic bag.  Anyone have any ideas on preserving pancake art???

—-

What do you say to your 5-year-old when she, very seriously, tells you…

“I think, I’m gonna tell G that I love him.”

Here’s what I wanted to say.

“Girls don’t tell boys they love him. Not until you hear them say it first…. What if all he says back is “Thank you.” Are you prepared for that? Or are you expecting him to say, “I love you, too.”  Do you really LOVE him? Or are you just very attracted to him?”

But, then, shouldn’t we be having this conversation, at least, 10 years from now?

What I did say (which I’m not really proud of)…

“No, don’t tell him.”

What would you have done?

For St. Patrick’s Day.

Though, it is far removed from being a real green day here in Louisville today.  We woke up to about 4 inches of snow.

But, as you can see, roads look wet, not icy.  That is my only concern when we get snow— how are the roads?

Especially, this morning, I had planned to go early into Wally World (about 2 miles from our house) to get boxes, as well as pick up some green cookies for Mary’s Kindergarten class’ Green Day Buffet.

In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Mary’s teacher had asked the parents to send in “edible green food to share.”  They had to bring 10 individually wrapped food items.  I saw some green sugar cookies last Friday but I felt they would be stale by Monday, so I went early this morning to get them.

Except the store no longer had them.  Instead, I was lucky enough to find 6 donuts with green icing.

Otherwise, it would have been 10 servings of pickles or 10 packets of cucumbers – both favorites of Mary’s, but, as she said, not everybody likes them.  So, we cut these up in half, put them in sandwich bags, with 2 pieces left over for Mary to snack on later.

Want one?

While working out at our local gym this morning, I happened to glance up and caught Today Show’s Ann Curry’s interview with the Barretts and their 17-month-old daughter, Elizabeth, who can read. Amazing!

Aside from being astounded by the little girl’s ability, one other thing that gave me pause was the reason why the parents decided to go public — they said that they are reaching out to people about what to do next for Elizabeth, they wanted to reach out to experts who could help them deal with her abilities.

What would I do if Elizabeth were my kid?

I probably would not have made it into a media event.  Even the Barrets acknowledge that their child is different and may have a difficult time growing up, why add to it by putting her into the national limelight?

I would have have nurtured the ability, as she grows, expose her to all kinds of books— math, science, philosophy, get her to the library, let her decide what she would want to learn.  Then, at the same time, taking care to challenge her in other ways— gymnastics, swimming, karate, etc.  Also, I would make sure that she gets to socialize with other kids.

What would you do?