Thomas the Heartbreaker

That boy sure knows how to get to me....
Busy times, busy times. We got up and moving early yesterday - I needed to get some things at Joanne fabrics to fix this costume that I sold on eBay and then discovered that it had some rips in the tulle underskirting. I don't have a sewing machine - heck, I don't know how to sew even if I did have one, so I'm going to hand sew some new tulle in and cut out the old tulle. Wish me luck!! I have decided that it will be more than worth my while to take some sewing lessons this fall. I have been forever wanting to do something enriching for myself - it seems with a little one around, a full time job and a business, there is never time for anything else. So - I'm going to take a few sewing classes and try to buy myself an old used sewing machine so that I can start at least repairing some things at home and hopefully start making small things like Halloween costumes.

Anyway, we went to Joanne fabrics and got the stuff I needed - then ran into Marshalls to see if they had any good stuff for resell and then lastly into Nordstrom Rack. I'm really excited because I got to talk to someone there about when they will be doing their next big markdowns - so I can be there when they open and get the first pick of the newly marked down items - YAY! They have some great stuff that I have my eye on - I think I'll get some big dollars for some of this stuff on EBay.

We grabbed some lunch on the way home and then ate lunch at home before Thomas took his nap - which he did for once without a huge fuss so I was able to catch up with my Mom and also get all the shrimp shelled, de-veined and de-fecesed. It was a lot of work, but I heard that the meal turned out great. Monday night I made pasta primavera which turned out fantastic - fettuccini noodles, fresh cream, freshly grated parmesan, 4 different types of fresh veggies (took FOREVER to chop them all up!), onions, and fresh basil. It was so good, I was so proud of myself. I'm getting a lot faster at the whole chopping, slicing, dicing thing. YEAH! SOOO - I had made that Monday night and there were tons of leftovers, so I decided to use some of the shrimp that we bought at the fish market and saute it in olive oil and garlic and toss it into the remaining pasta primavera. Yum yum! The problem was that by the time Thomas got up from his nap we had to run to the post office (10 packages to mail - yay!), the bank, the drug store, and the gas station and by the time all THAT was done, it was almost 5pm. We ran home and I took a quick shower and then chopped up the garlic, threw the shrimp, garlic and olive oil in the pan and ran off to work my 6pm - 2am shift. It's really hard - just when you get to the part of the day where you're ready to wind down and relax after running around and after a toddler all day, it's time for me to go to work. I walk in the door for that shift some days and just think, I am too exhausted. There is no way I'm going to be able to do this all day. But then I get into the flow and the energy in the Emergency dept. and the time goes by and pretty soon it's 2am and I go home and just fall into bed. I cannot complain so much, though. I know that I am so blessed. A lot of people have to do that every day just to make ends meet and I only do it every once in a while. Also - before anyone starts feeling too sorry for me (haha), Thomas goes to daycare today and I get to sleep in and then work on my auctions and relax a little bit today. So, as I said, I am so very blessed.

As I was running around like a chicken without a head yesterday before work, Thomas was busy getting himself into trouble, primarily by insisting on either getting on the computer or turning on the TV. I have to confess that since I have been working my business and ramping up my auctions, I had been really slipping about Thomas's "screen time limits". We used to watch a couple of shows in the morning and then get on with our day, but since I've been working in the mornings, I really let the time slide away and he was watching WAY more TV than what is healthy (in my humble opinion). Plus, as I think I've mentioned before, he's on the computer now playing computer games, so that adds to his screen time. I guess we were getting pretty out of control because Emmett started noticing a change in his behaviour. That made me really stop and think about how much he was watching/computing and I realized I was going to have to really set limits and stick to them, for myself, primarily. I read somewhere that 90 minutes of screen time per day is the most a child should have, so that's the limit I'm setting, with the idea that he'll get much less than that on the weekends and on the days when he is at Olga's (they limit to 30 minutes per day). Anyway, it has caused some angst in the household since Thomas had gotten used to really having free reign about how much and what shows and games he was going to play. (On a very positive note, I have to say that I feel really good about the steps to limit the screen time. Once he got over his initial fit, I was really encouraged that he pretty much right away went to his toys and books and started finding other things to do. That really told me that it is even more necessary for him to not watch tv and be able to have the creativity of playing with his train set, puzzles, lincoln logs and all the things that will help him develop mentally.)

So yesterday he had gotten himself into trouble with his Dad before I left for work and was sitting on his bed on a time out. I went in to say goodbye to him before work and give him a hug and a kiss and he said, "Momma, I'm really going to miss you a whole lot". My heart broke. He's just such a little doll.

Man, I love that kid so much.


Hope all is well out there.

With love,
Melissa