Today…

my dad decided to divvy up moms jewelry. Weird, right? Then he said he could sell it at one of those gold places. I said no, you can’t. I told him, what if Eshiva wants it when she is old enough to appreciate it?

Meh.

So I went through it. I tried on the opals, which Sara wants. I don’t want them anyway. I took her wedding band (I haven’t worn on in ages, as I outgrew my silver one) and I also took my dads original wedding band (the one he outgrew – I believe he’s been wearing his fathers).

I asked him to keep the rest. If he wants the box out of his room, I’ll find someplace in our room for it.

In other exciting news, school starts soon! That means I have time to paint, and I’ll have more time to tattoo and draw and otherwise do the things I’ve been putting off for the past almost nine years. Yay!

Just to record…

Dorian is having his first sleepover here at home tonight. He’s slept over this boys house a few times. It’s this little boys first sleepover away from home. We’re friends with this family, we see them almost every weekend, and sometimes in between. So, all four kids are downstairs playing this evening.

The little boy, J, asks what is wrong with Malachai tonight and commented that he was all over the place.

So now I am thinking, welcome to my world kid.

I had to laugh. Malachai is so excited to have a real sleepover that he is involved in. He hasn’t slept out because he doesn’t make it though the night, and I am worried he’ll flip and I’ll get a call at 2 AM to come get him. Not a big deal, but why provoke it, right? He has been running around, having trouble concentrating on one activity, the works. Add to it that his birthday party is tomorrow and he is a live wire tonight!

All four kids are on the couch tucked in watching something or other. Michael is hanging out with them till they fall asleep.

Cuteness.

I’ve got a picker… what do I do to stop it?

So Eshiva is a picker. She picks at bug bites. She picks at scabs. She picks her lips. Pick pick pick. How do I stop it?

She has scars on her elbows and arms from the picking. Her lip is scabby from the picking (I am constantly putting stuff on it, and I tried just giving her the stick of lip stuff but she eats it – I reapply once an hour or more often if I notice).

She picks, then she bleeds, then she asks for a bandaid.

Michael is concerned we’re going to wind up with a cutter (he feels she picks and then asks for the bandaid for attention).

I just don’t want her covered in scars.

Any way to stop this?

June 30, 2009

First, my twitters psots will be once a week now. See, I have twitter feeding to my WordPress, because I use twitter to keep track of things. It’s just quicker. But then WordPress feeds over to LJ, which people hate. I can’t tell WP to feed to LJ except if it’s twitter, so the best you’re gonna get is a once a week twitter feed.

Second, and for my own records, I am still stumped on this whip shading thing. Lining = check. Solid = check. Watered down black to make greywash = check. Whipshading = fail. However, we have an entire huge collection of tattooing dvd’s and whatnot, so maybe one of them explains it in a way that I get? I kind of got it down, but I had to turn the power way down. While Michael said some artists do that for shading, I’d like to figure out how most of them do it without doing so.

Third, I must have these shoes. Someone should get them for me. Yes, I want them in yellow. My Olssons recently broke, and needed re-soling anyway. Was it a hint? A shove to buy these beauties? I don’t know. I have a check coming that will cover them though…

and forth, my new system is working! The kids are keeping up on their daily personal hygeine and daily chores and so am I! I haven’t stuck to it 100%, but my floor is swept, my counter is cleared, and my laundry is (still getting) done. I’ve done four loads in the past two days and it’s pretty much all put away. I cleared out five baskets of clean clothes. (Don’t think me a clothes horse, it was five different people worth of clothes) The compost is out (Michael took it out this morning), the trash goes out tonight, the children and bathed and dressed and fed and we’re getting it done quicker and earlier in the day! They even earned homework points today for starting the Hebrew summer work (and if they finish the book, they get a prize when Hebrew school starts up again, so they win all around on that one).

I made rice today, which turned out over starchy and mushy. I thought a rice maker = idiot proof rice? Apparently not. I made Stitch & Mickey shaped unigari (with fake crab inside and furikake outside), and a terrible krab roll for Fish to take to work. The rice was just wrong :( Also sent him a handful of fake crab, and some fruit and some soy and furikake on the side. I’ll figure out this bento thing. I just need some practice. I’ll also figure out the rice lol

We all have a new system

The boys are on this system. It gives them some pocket money, gives them a chance to learn about spending, teaches them about earning and responsibility, and daily routine.

shoes on the shoe rack = $0.10/day (or up to $.070/week)
dirty clothes in the hamper = $0.15/day (or up to $1.05/week)
brush teeth = $0.25/day (or up to $1.75/week)
bath or shower = $0.25/day (or up to $1.75/week)
dishes to sink = $0.14/day (or up to $0.98/week)
toys away = $0.25/day (or up to $1.75/week)
room clean = $2.00/week
clean clothes away = $1.00/week

reward points (redeemable for stuff)
homework = 5 points daily
bag up = 5 points daily
read 20+ minutes = 5 points daily

It works out to $10.98/week if they do everything. I am keeping track of it in a fanciful app on my phone called Kids Rewards (no affiliation) so I don’t have to actually pay out every week. It keeps track of what they have “in the bank” and I can deduct when they decide to spend some or when we give them cash. The program deducts money/points if they don’t do something (and I mark it as undone), but I’m not sure how much I’ll utilize that. Maybe if I consistently see things going ignored, but right now I don’t think I’ll bother. Oh, and it can go into the negatives. That might come in handy as well later on down the line.

Eshiva has a slightly modified list going on – she gets cash for having a clean room, but everything else is on reward points. I think she is still at an age where she does better with a tangible reward than an abstract (like cash).

For myself? I downloaded Things for both my mac & my phone. I set up simple daily things to do, as well as weekly. It spreads out my to do list, and I just check it off when it’s done. It syncs too, which is why I went with Things. I can set it up on the computer in 1/5 of the time as it takes on the phone.

I am not as unorganized as needing these systems makes me sound, but they will keep me on a better schedule than I was on before and should help keep the kids on one too.