Watch out for lions!

Or else you might end up looking like this...



Please ignore the peanut butter mouth. He was eating when I insisted I needed to take a picture RIGHT NOW! So, Keith and Henry were at the babysitter's on Thursday. Actually, they were with the babysitter but at someone else's house, but they were happy about that because the someone else had a big ole slide in the living room. You know, THOSE cool parents. So, Keith, being a five year old boy, decided that he had to go UP the slide the wrong way. Babysitter says 'you know Keith, that's not such a good idea,' Keith looks at her like 'yeah, well, I'm 5 and I'm invincible,' and proceeds to fall off the slide somehow, land in a closet (yeah, I don't know either), and damn near poke his eye out. So the babysitter called me, as I was pulling up to work. I, caring mother I am, ask if she'd take HER kid to the ER, she says no, I talk to Keith to try, unsuccessfully, to calm him down, and tell the babysitter I'll call Ed to get him. I did care, really!!!

So Friday, I take Keith to school. He gets in line, says hi to his teacher, and she says "KEITH!!! What happened to your face???" Keith's answer?



"I was attacked by a lion."



Said with a straight face even. Gotta love the imagination.

How did I forget?!? Henry's one!

Yes, Keith, make a little mark in that bad mother record book you're keeping. I forgot to post about Henry's birthday. I've already upset Keith because I didn't have a birthday party for Henry - you know I've scarred him for life, right?!? So, he had a birthday a week and a half ago. Just the family - me, Ed, Keith and Henry. Grandma and grandpa had work to do, and Adam, well, Adam probably wasn't up yet. So we had steak (you know, that's Henry's FAVORITE dinner, right?!?) and I made a chocolate cake. We all sang Happy Birthday, and Henry got to have his cake.

Boy, did he enjoy it...


Then it was present time. I learned my lesson with Keith - one year olds are not impressed by the number of presents. AT ALL. So Henry got three presents - one from me & Ed, one from Keith, and a pair of pjs since it's COLD now, especially in Henry's room.

Henry opened up the presents with a little help from the big brother....


The pjs weren't exactly a hit. Big surprise there. I guess pjs for your birthday is a gift right up there with underwear for Christmas. The caterpillar Ed and I gave him was an ok hit.


However, Keith's present was the favorite by far...


Now Henry can be just like mommy and talk on the phone ALL DAY LONG! He insists on taking it to Harrington's, even though there's a no cell phone rule there. Gotta love my little rule breaker!

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!!

So, after stuffing ourselves yesterday at the first annual make-Thanksgiving-dinner-and-then-pack-it-into-the-Sequoia-and-take-it-to-Adam's-house-because-Adam-wants-to-host-Thanksgiving-but-doesn't-cook Thanksgiving dinner, the Borrelli family was SO EXCITED that Santa was coming to town! Tonight was Kennett Square's Christmas parade, which is the start of the Christmas season here in Kennett. For the kids it means Santa is coming to town, for the grown ups it means FREE PARKING until Christmas. Such joy! So anyways, we went to the parade. It was pretty darn cold. According to my trusty weather doohickey, it's currently 33 degrees. Of course, it couldn't be the 60+ degrees it was yesterday, huh?? So, of course, we got ourselves bundled up...


Went and watched the parade (yes, it consists of tow trucks, fire trucks, and pickup trucks)...


And then got to go see the big man himself (and his 'old lady' as Ed put it... the Mrs.), SANTA CLAUS...


And yes, my son was the one who had to take the Walmart Toy Book to show Santa EXACTLY what he wanted...


I overheard Santa whisper to Mrs. Claus "My goodness, he has everything circled and he assured me it's all on sale!" Well, the boy is organized, I'll give him that much. So, be sure to check out Thursday's edition of The Kennett Paper, because Keith's picture will probably be in it as "the boy who gets down to business with Santa Claus"

Oh, and how could I forget... the most important part.... the candy cane coma!

T shirts

So, my mom got a catalog in the mail the other day with t shirts with random sayings. I love t shirts with random sayings, even though I don't wear them. However, my husband does, so it's really tempting to get him this one. If you know my husband, you'll see how appropriate that is. And, why not ask him to do the lollypop guild dance next time you see him?!?

Hot Feta Artichoke Dip

Yeah... it's good.


1 can (14oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
8oz crumbled Feta cheese
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
optional: 2oz diced pimentos, drained
(I just chop up some black olives. But, do whatever you want)


1. Mix all ingredients
2. Spoon into 9in. pie plate or 3cup shallow baking dish
3. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes


I TOLD you it was easy!

The Business of Being Born

So, the Rising Moon Birth Fund hosted a screening of The Business of Being Born last night. I think I would say it was a success. We sold approximately 100 tickets, raised over $1000 for the birth fund, and had a great time! The movie was wonderful (of course, I missed bits and pieces because Ed came with Henry and Henry wasn't really that into the movie... gee, I wonder why? ), the Q&A session afterwards was a good discussion, and, the best part....

WE GOT SOME MORE VOLUNTEERS!!!!!!!!!


WHOO HOO!!!!! I just love volunteers! We also got some information about a new movie called Pregnant in America, so I emailed them to find out something about screenings. Cross your fingers! I also hear that there's pictures floating around, at least I noticed a flash every once in a while. So if I get some, I'll post them!

Chicken Pox!

We have chicken pox! How exciting! So I picked Keith up from school on Friday (yeah, about a week ago) and he was complaining that his tummy hurt. Being the good mom that I am, I said "You're hungry, c'mon, we have to go to the babysitters." He often complains that his stomach hurts when he doesn't want to do something, so I figured it was one of those days. So Ed picked him up and the babysitter said he wasn't looking too hot. Dontcha know, he gets home, lays on the couch for a bit, then starts throwing up. So I promptly reschedule his birthday party which was supposed to be the next day to Sunday (11/4). So all of Friday night he's sick, then Saturday we notice a couple of spots on his tummy and back. Yeah. Monday I take him to the doctor (gotta get this stuff documented, you know!) and it's official, it's chicken pox. So we're quarantined at the moment. Well, we did go trick or treating last night to a few houses, but we didn't get too close. And besides, everyone around here is vaccinated. (insert evil laugh here). So that's the fun here lately. Now we wait to see if the Hen gets it too. Cross your fingers! Oh, and the quote of the disease? "Mom, why do these chickens keep biting me???"

Happy Birthday to Keith!

Or, we are NOT going to the emergency room today! Keith is now 5 years old, and of course there were some presents involved. He got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie, some Cars games, some books, and Heelys. In case you don't know, Heelys are those shoes with the wheels in the heel (hence the name!) with which kids speed around the stores trying to run people over. I know you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, so he got a pair of Heelys. Put them on, inched along the counter, let go, and BOOM landed on his butt. But he laughed, so all is good. But, this was the first pair of shoes I have seen that had a WARNING sticker on the sole. A warning, which among other info, said "By peeling this sticker, you agree to waive the right to sue Heeling Sports Limited and their owners, directors, employees and/or representatives for any injury, death, property damage, or incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of this product." And like a good mother, I peeled the sticker. MY mother is going to kill me!

If I never see another white tag it'll be too soon...

So I spent the weekend at Nik's tagging other peoples clothes for our consignment sale next weekend. Wait, scratch that. I spent MOST of the weekend at Nik's, and the rest of it driving all over hell and back picking up donations and sale stuff. Well, to Philly, but it's a bit far and there was a Phillies game going on. So anyways. Tagging clothes. Millions of articles of clothes. And oh boy were there some interesting ones.... like this



and this



Yes, that's Nik and my husband dressed up in various finds. Notice there are no pictures of me!! Anyhoo. So, I had to get home because 1. it's my anniversary and 2. the Eagles are playing, and I don't miss my Eagles! So I left after Nik promised to come down tomorrow. Drove the hour home (the navigator was right this time!), walk in, give Ed a kiss, then turn around and see....



Yeah. To find out where it came from, read Nik's blog.

A picture for Nik

So I'm driving down the road today, taking the boys to the babysitters, and there in front of me is this

Look familiar?


Here's a few hints: Mushroom Festival. Sopranos. Back Alley.

Sorry the picture's so crappy, but I was driving and took it with my cell phone. You know, the cell phone that I can check my email on?!? Lucky I didn't wreck!

Are cribs really THAT yummy?

So Henry has found a new teether. His CRIB. The rails, to be exact. Now, I'm all about letting kids explore and all that jazz, but I'm going to have to draw the line at eating the crib. What if we have more kids?!? Where will they sleep?!? And besides, getting your child up from a nap and having to pull paint chips out of his mouth is just not cool. I'm sure my mother would call CPS if she knew. So I went to Amazon. Trusty old Amazon. And first I found this. I don't know about you, but the reviews mentioning crazy glue worried me a bit. I mean, isn't it, I don't know, TOXIC?? As in, DON'T USE NEAR CHILDREN AND PETS? Yeah. So I kept searching. And found this. Much better. You can even attach toys to it! Now, I'm taking bets as to how long it'll stay on the crib before Henry figures out that there's yummy paint chips under it. Or I break out the crazy glue.

Yum... coffee...

So Nik made me a cool little coffee cup holder thingymajig so I don't have to use those boring old cardboard ones anymore. Now I'm stylin' - see?

See, knowing that Kennett Square is the mushroom capital is good for something! So we've had our nutritiously sound breakfast this morning - I had my mocha, Keith had a blueberry muffin, and Henry had a bagel.

Which he dropped on the floor OH, about 500 times. But he says it was yummy!

Henry's girlfriend

Henry loves the brunettes. Especially Sophia. So Nik and Sophia came over today to watch the birds. Also known as the Eagles, for those of you who might be a bit confused. Granted, Nik isn't a big Eagles fan, so they really just came over to hang out and drink beer. Well, Nik had a beer, Soph didn't. Anyways, Henry was all dolled up to see his girl...

Took a nap, was in a good mood, and then she finally arrived. He was thrilled, I tell ya. Showed her how to use the walker...

Discussed the variations of coffee table legs...

And had to fend off his older brother from trying to put the moves on his gal...

All in all I think it was a successful visit. He got to see his girl, and didn't even poke her eyeballs out! We're making progress!!

Henry's shoes

Complete with pictures! Or, er, picture. Anyhoo, Nik made Henry the cutest pair of soft shoes. See? And, they fit! Excellent job on the sizing Nik! He currently only has one on, however, because he took a nap and somehow lost the other one in his crib. And, it's really funny to watch him try to walk on the hardwood floor with shoes on.

Mushrooms

So I was thinking about mushrooms, after reading Nik's blog the other day. And I googled "mushroom capital of the world" because *I* know that that would be good old home sweet home, Kennett Square. And this is what I found...

Historic Kennett Square
yeah.... like I said. Kennett Square.

America's "Capitals of the World"
A closer look at ten of America's most interesting (self-proclaimed) "capitals of the world," including not only the mushroom capital (you guessed it - Kennett Square), but also the cow chip throwing capital of the world (ummm... okay...), the sock capital of the world, and the bratwurst capital of the world, among others.

Some discussion board about, you guessed it, Kennett Square.


And then I found this.

The Mushroom Capital of the World
From the website: "Richmond is an ever-growing community located approximately 35 miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri along Missouri highways 10, 210 and 13. It is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World due to the abundance of morel mushrooms in the area and the popularity of mushroom hunting. To learn more about the morel mushroom check out The Great Morel Home Page (which has a great links page). Richmond is also the county seat to Ray County, with a courthouse that provides the center for a true downtown square area. It has four front doors and no back doors. In fact, the town has two main streets, Main and North Main, that run parallel along the north and south sides of the courthouse."


So, they have morel mushrooms and a neato courthouse. And that makes them the Mushroom Capital?? They should utilize Google! And dangit, we have a PAINTED WATER TOWER

that proclaims for all to see "Kennett Square, the Mushroom Capital of the World." Do you think Richmond, Missouri has that painted on their courthouse?!? I think not. Hmpf.

The joys of clean diapers, or, thank goodness for Whirlpool

I have a working washing machine. Yes, I'll knock on wood while I say that, but really, I've done a load of diapers, there is no water on my floor, there was hot water when they washed, the machine drained when it was done.... life is good. However, it's not a GE washing machine like the original one I picked out. After trip #4 to Lowe's, Ed said there was no way he was bringing home the exact same machine (yet different lol) because he was done with the GE. So he picked out a Whirlpool. Came home, installed it, it's a beautiful thing. I never thought I'd be excited about doing laundry, but after the week of the washing machine saga, I have to say I am. Only downside, it's not red. But I can deal!

OK, this is getting ridiculous!

So that washing machine? The one that we took back, got a new one, reinstalled this morning and the hot water worked? Yeah, THAT washing machine? Hahahahahahahaha. So it worked, right? Well, I brought the diapers down to wash them a few minutes ago. Turned the washer on, added the detergent, went to dump the diapers into the washer.... WAIT! WHY IS MY FOOT WET????? Look down, water is POURING out of the washer. POURING I tell ya. I can't type what Ed had to say about that because it's not suitable for non trucker ears. I say maybe the drain hose isn't attached right. Crossed my fingers. Ed dragged the washing machine BACK out (and let me tell you, it's NOT easy to get behind the machine in my little laundry room) and the water is actually pouring out from under the machine. NOT the drain hose. We just now double checked where it's coming from and yep, that would be something UNDER the machine. Would you like to know the number for Lowe's (which is busy!), because my husband has it memorized. He's currently waiting to talk to someone about the damn washing machine. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THE RED ONE!!!! If you see a blue Toyota Sequoia crazily driving down routes 1 and 202 today, stay out of it's way. Trust me.

Hot water is a beautiful thing!

7:00 last night Ed decided that he was going to take the washing machine back to Lowe's. Why right then, I don't know, but hey, whatever. So he disconnects it (and DIDN'T flood my laundry room - way to go Edward!), hauls it out to the driveway, goes to my parent's house to borrow the SUV, gets it into the back of the SUV (all by himself mind you), and drives off to Lowe's. You know, trip to Lowe's #9458? Well, actually #3, but that was 2 too many in my opinion. So he gets there, gets the loading people to unload the wretched washing machine, and is going inside to get a new (same) one, when some Lowe's employee sees him, RECOGNIZES him, and says 'why are you back?'. You know it's bad when the employees want to know what you're doing there. So Ed says 'the machine doesn't work' and the employee feels bad for him. Ed describes the problem, she says 'wow, you've had the worst luck with this machine,' and Ed says 'no, it gets better. I have a ten month old in cloth diapers at home." So the dear sweet employee who thinks that my husband probably shouldn't get on an airplane with the kind of luck he has gives us a refund of 20% for all of the trips we had to make to Lowe's with the washing machine and other various appliances. Ed gets the new machine, gets it loaded (while double checking that it is, in fact, a washing machine and not, say, a black gas range), come home, unloads it to the porch, takes the SUV back to my parents, has a few martinis, comes home, and decides he'll install it this morning. Gets up, cooks breakfast (yes, I'm lucky, Ed cooks breakfast on the weekends. He also cooks dinner 5 out of 6 nights. Marry someone who likes to cook, trust me.), then installs the washing machine. Gets it all hooked up, turns the water on, calls me in to test it (he's stuck behind it), I set it to hot, turn the dial, pull it out....









Nothing. Nada. Zilch.









And I thought my husband was going to have a coronary right then and there, so I *really* pulled the knob out and it started filling the washer up with hot water. And now that I've stopped laughing hysterically, I thought I'd post about it. Ed didn't think it was as funny as I did.




It was pretty funny.




So I now have a WORKING washing machine! WOO HOO!!!! I can wash clothes! And DIAPERS!! On HOT water!!!!! Oh, the excitement in a mom's life.

So... the washing machine....

Still only works on cold. Ed finally got in touch with someone somewhere though. He called Lowes, who told him to call their Lowe's hotline number, who told him to contact GE (yes, it's a GE washer. I'm thinking, next time, no go on the GE.). GE was only open 9-5 Monday through Friday (who the hell buys a washing machine during regular business hours???), so he finally got in touch with them the other day while at work. Yes, that means he was driving a tanker and talking to GE at the same time. Totally against DOT, but whatever. Stupid rules. So he gets in touch with GE, and they say to call Lowe's. Want to imagine his reaction to THAT advice?!? Anyways, he gets in touch with someone somewhere who says "Oh, it's a switch that's bad in the machine. BUT, it's under warranty, so you can either bring it back or schedule a service call. HOWEVER, we can't get a service tech out there for 2 weeks." Enter a whole bunch of bad words coming from Ed's mouth. So he tells me that he's unhooking the washing machine (which involves reflooding my laundry room, trust me), and taking it back to Lowe's. I ask why we can't just get a service tech to come out, because it's FREE, and he says because we NEED the washer fixed because we NEED hot water to wash diapers. Well, yeah, we do, but a few washes in cold water won't kill the diapers. So I convinced him to leave the washing machine where it was and schedule a service tech to come fix it. Which, now that I think about it, I don't think he's done. At least, if he did, he didn't tell ME about it. So maybe, someday, I'll have a working washing machine. Probably just in time for the dryer to break.

Wow... there IS hope....

There is hope for the members of my family! Check out my cousin's blog. They've hired a doula! How cool is that! I really worry when people want a natural hospital birth and don't have someone there to support them, because it's pretty difficult with all those bells and whistles they have in those hospitals. And those epidurals.... so so so easy to get.... and no one's there telling you - hey, you're asking for an epidural - you're practically done! Don't do it! You're doing fine! Don't get me started on the epidurals. Or the bells and whistles. Really, you don't want me started. Maybe I'll save it for another post.

Rising Moon Midwifery Birth Scholarship Consignment Sale

Rising Moon Midwifery believes that all women, regardless of income status, should have access to homebirth. Until PA allows CPMs to bill all insurance companies, including Medicaid, we are developing this fund to help make that access possible. If you have other ideas for fundraisers, please let us know! Directors of the Birth Scholarship fund are Nicole Schwartz: ndilliplane@gmail.com, and Amy Borrelli: amy@journeybirthservices.com.

Rising Moon Birth Scholarship Consignment Sale
Saturday and Sunday, October 6th and 7th 9am-6pm
(1/2 price Sunday afternoon!)
Presale Friday afternoon, October 5th 1pm-6pm

Location: 104 Leonards Lane, Phoenixville, PA

Clean out your closets and turn clutter into cash!!!
Do you have baby clothes, furniture, and toys piled up in your garage? How would you like to get rid of it and turn it into cash? Just bring your new or gently used items to us and we’ll do the work for you. All you do is sort and tag your items, drop them off at our designated locations, and wait for your check in the mail!
*Anyone can be a consignor, just register for a number.
*Consignors are invited to our Presale, where you get to shop the pick of the sale items before we open to the public!
*You must submit at least 20 items or a total value of $75 (this could be just 1 or 2 big items!) to shop at the presale.
*You get to set the prices.
*You make 70% of your sales.
*Checks are mailed within 2 weeks.
*There is a $5 participation fee which is deducted from your final check, so there’s nothing to pay up front (or get it waived, see Incentive below!).
*If you don’t have $5 worth of sales, there’s no charge.
*Unsold items can be picked up at the end of the sale or donated.



EXTRA INCENTIVE - Want to have that $5 participation fee waived?
Have your friends sign up too! When 2 new consignors reference your name during registration (and show up with items to sell), your consignor fee will be waived. Get out there and spread the word.
Another way to get your fee waived is to volunteer to work during the sale (setup to teardown). We'll waive the fee for ALL workers, plus you get to shop even earlier than consignors!

To register for a consignor's number, call Amy Borrelli at (610)765-1252 or email her at amy@journeybirthservices.com.

Don't want to be bothered with the tagging and sorting? Feel free to donate your items so that all of the proceeds of their sale will go to the Birth Scholarship Fund, and we'll tag and sort for you! Call or email Amy for more information!
Don't want to sell, but interesting in supporting? Come to the sale, or make a donation. To make a financial donation please contact either of the Birth Scholarship Directors.

The Mushroom Festival

The 22nd Annual Mushroom Festival is over. It was a busy, busy weekend around little Kennett Square, PA - mushrooms were EVERYWHERE! There was an exhibit about how they make mushrooms (trust me, you don't REALLY want to know), a culinary exhibit with my FAVORITE Top Chef guys Ilan and Miguel (yes, I watch Top Chef religiously), an art show including 108 lb concrete painted mushrooms, and a million and one booths. Oh, and mushroom farm tours. Trust me on this one too - you don't want to know HOW they grow mushrooms, nor do you want to tour where they actually DO it. Most of our money was spent on food and rides for Keith to go on, but I did get a cute little t shirt for Henry with a monster on it (picture to follow) and some cute little mushroom notecards from Crea8tiveMama. Check her out - too too cute stuff. Anyhoo, Now our little town can return to normal. Phew.

The washing machine saga....

So on Thursday I was doing a load of diapers and my washing machine decided that it was time to retire. Why do washing machines always break when you're washing DIAPERS???? Can someone tell me that???? So I ignored it until Ed came home to work on it, he couldn't fix it, and the last time we called someone it was like $150 to fix it. Which is pretty much almost the price of a NEW washing machine. So Saturday I borrowed my mom's SUV and went to Lowe's and bought myself a brand new washing machine. I REALLY wanted the red one, but it was $1200 and I just can't justify that lol, so I got the $300 version. See, I'm still alive! So I get the guys at Lowe's to load my new machine into my car and go home. NOTE: it's an hour round trip from my house to the closest Lowes. I live in the boonies. But, we have mushrooms. So not only is it an hour round trip, but I have to deal with the SIXTY THOUSAND PEOPLE who came to my little (pop:5500) town to see mushrooms, so it's really an hour and a half trip with some rising blood pressure thrown in. So I get home, leave the machine in the car b/c Ed is doing something.... an hour later the phone rings. It's Lowes. Asking me if I happen to have a black gas range in my car. Stupid loading guys at Lowe's!!! I ASKED them if that was my new washing machine! Not my new gas range for my house that doesn't even have a gas line!!!! So Ed gets in the car, and goes BACK to Lowe's to exchange the range for our washing machine. Comes, home, needs a beer. We go to the festival, come home, Ed bitches that Henry doesn't have any diapers and I nicely point out that if I had a washing machine installed I could wash some diapers. So he installs the washing machine. Takes the old one out, gets the new one in, proceeds to flood my entire laundry room and kitchen b/c he didn't quite drain the old one .... hooks it up......




It only works on cold.





I have had it. So I washed my diapers anyways and Ed is dealing with the people at Lowes about the damn washing machine as I type. I should have gotten the red one.

The Borrelli's

That's us, the Borrellis. Me, Ed the husband, Keith the 4 year old, and Henry the baby. Keith also thinks he is Spiderman, which is what he's doing with his hands in this picture - shooting webs. He shoots a lot of webs. Actually, though, he's currently Raphael the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Or Ningin Turtle as he insists. No lack of imagination in this household, nosireebob. Ed's a truck driver for McGovern's, and I'm a doula. A doo what you say? A DOULA. Otherwise known as a labor assistant. I help women having babies. No, I'm not a doctor or a midwife, nor do I play one on tv. I just give them emotional and physical support during labor. And I get to see a lot of cute little babies!

Me!

Yup that's me! With one of my doula babies! Isn't she just a cutie? I'm talking about the baby :)