In motherhood-related news, Alyssa is already flouncy over the fact that she has to attend kindergarten five days a week. Pfft. Dan and I were like, “Yeah, welcome to the next thirteen years of your life!” She’s upset that she doesn’t have time to play. I explained that as the days get cooler she’ll have more opportunities to play outside after school (during the summer I let her play in the mornings, before it got grossly hot), but all she knows is that I’m a Really Mean Mommy who does Bad Things to her — aka I don’t let her play outside in the blazing sun when the temperature is 95° and the heat index is well over 100°. Meh. I may be a Really Mean Mommy, but at least I’m not letting you cook in your own skin!

In family-related news, my brothers are home. They came home on August 26th, actually, but where I’ve been so busy I haven’t really had the chance to blog about it. They’re babbling about wanting to attend Online Schooling, but neither they nor my mom have the self-discipline required to make it work. So off to regular school it is.

All right, it’s 8:06am and my nails are dry, so it’s off to rouse the kids out of their beds and get them ready for school. Ciao!

It’s interesting to see the differences between their childhoods and mine — and Dan’s, too. When I was a kid, I had a Nintendo system, then a Super Nintendo system, and finally a Sega Genesis. I kind of regretted trading in my SNES and a Sega Genesis, but it worked out well. I was the cool kid on the block with the Sonic the Hedgehog games, and all of my friends had NES and SNES systems, so I indulged my love for Mario and Yoshi at their houses.

What was your preferred gaming system when you were a kid?

He is going to the same autistic support preschool and has the same teacher, but he has a different class, different goals to work towards, a new bus driver and bus (van, actually), and is going at a different time, so for all intents and purposes it’s something NEW and EXCITING. Kind of like ugg boots are for someone who loves boots. (I’ve always wanted to try UGG boots, btw. Never have, though.)

Between Alyssa and Ryan I have three different school schedules to keep track of. HALP:
Monday – Alyssa: 8:30am – 12:30pm; Ryan: 9:15am – 11:45am
Tuesday – Alyssa: 8:30am – 12:30pm; Ryan: 11:30am – 3:10pm
Wednesday – Alyssa: 8:30am – 12:30pm; Ryan: 9:15am – 11:45am
Thursday – Alyssa: 8:30am – 12:30pm; Ryan: 11:30am – 3:10pm
Friday – Alyssa: 8:30am – 12:30pm; Ryan: 9:15am – 11:45am

And to think, I’d like to sign Alyssa up for Girl Scouts… HAH! Kidding. Well, not really. I probably will sign her up, then cry at the additional event to add to my Outlook calendar.

Where did my baby go to? My toddler? My preschooler? She exploded into all arms and legs and attitude and smartness and glasses, and now she’s going to SCHOOL. ♥

Oh well. She seems happy. She’s so excited, in fact, that I got treated to a total flounce & huff fest when she realized that she wouldn’t be getting her new glasses today. Oops.

The optometrist gave me a copy of her prescription, which is a good thing because I told Alyssa I’d get her Hello Kitty glasses if she settled for the $9 pink frames at the optometrist’s office (only nine bucks!!!). She agreed. I could shell out $93 for licensed Hello Kitty glasses, but instead I’m going to purchase $15 frames from Zenni Optical and then have an arts & crafts fest with super glue, lacquer, Hello Kitty stickers and rhinestones. Go me.

Dan is a gamer (FFXIII, WoW, various PS2 & PS3 games), his brothers are gamers, and his sisters are gamers. During Alyssa’s most recent sleepover her aunts (Dan’s sisters) introduced her to WoW. My brothers later showed her the awesomeness that is Sonic the Hedgehog. And most recently Ryan got into Little Big Planet. The results? As seen above.

But it’s all right. Today was a rainy, drippy day, so while I wrote a few articles on wedding favors, Alyssa and Ryan played games. Then we had lunch, and painted, and did a few puzzles, and read a few stories, and the kids then got to indulge some more while I made dinner. The end.

In any case, Alyssa starts kindergarten next Monday, Ryan starts his autism support preschool tomorrow, and his mainstream preschool in two weeks. Two kids + three schools = me running around like a chicken without its head. But at least we’re all ready for school in terms of supplies! Alyssa has plenty of tops and pants, and while Ryan could use a few new shirts, he has plenty of pants and even a few cute Vests. I took them shopping early last week for new backpacks, and Dan and I took them out last Friday evening for new shoes (they both picked out Skechers).

I’m spending this week getting all of us back on track in terms of schedules. It’s hard to keep a strict schedule for meals and activities and sleep during the summer, but now that the first day of school is just one week away, it’s crunch time. We had dinner promptly at 6:00pm tonight, and the kids are currently in their rooms winding down, because bed time will be imposed at 8:00pm exactly. I need to get myself turned around as well, so it looks like I’m going to be tired this week. Blah!

Alyssa:

Why it doos (rhymes with “moos”) that?

Hey Mommy, look at the buttflies* (*butterflies; she hasn’t said buttflies in about a year now)!

How does the internet get in there?

Mommy, your car is slow.

Ryan

R-Y-A-N. Wyan!

I a fwog. Wibbit, wibbit!

Love shoo (I love you).

Can I go doua-yoo dot com (he wants to visit .com sites with Alyssa)?

I know there are more, I just can’t remember them off the top of my head. Wow, I suck! :/

It has been three and a half months since I have been due $109.00, and I have not seen a penny of it.

Whether you’ve been personally burned by Blog Advertising Store AKA Paying Post, or are simply commiserating with me, PLEASE re-tweet, Stumble, Digg, whatever, to spread the word. Protect other bloggers from being scammed, and make sure this company goes down.

For the longest time I could only shop at Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug for plus-size clothing. Then I got about 45 lbs. off, and was able to shop at Target for plus-size clothing (their stuff runs smaller than “traditional” plus-size). But I was still plus-size, and there was still no way I could walk into an Aeropostale or an Old Navy and find something to wear.

Until now. (!!!)

At 198.4 lbs., I’m wearing a size 13-15 in pants, and an XL in tops. This means I can go anywhere for clothes. Being able to browse the junior and misses clothing in any store is freaking awesome.

I can’t wait until Alyssa is older, and we can go shopping together. Neither of us will have to deal with the embarrassment, shame, inconvenience and isolation of me dragging her along with me to a plus-size store, while she’s wanting to go into regular-size clothing stores to buy regular-size items.

But for now, we’ll only be able to shop at the same store if we go to Target, Old Navy, or Gap, since those are stores that sell both adult and children’s clothing.