Should you find yourself driving through Texas on Christmas Eve...

keep an eye out for these. (This would have been so much better if it had been one of those trucks I see with horns on the front. Still, the kids were filled with excitement at spying the big guy himself until the excitement turned frantic at the thought of Santa getting to the cabin before we did. We assured them that we had plenty of time since Santa still had to get the blue bullet home and the sleigh packed up.)

follow up on our trash

I didn't mean to leave you all on such a cliffhanger...

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We left our garbage can out while we were in California last week and when we came home they were indeed empty. I don't know if they came on Monday like they said they would, or Thursday which is our regularly scheduled trash day, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they came at some random time like Tuesday at 3 in the morning.

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At any rate, they took our trash, and we're waiting on pins and needles to see what this Thursday morning brings for us!

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(You don't know what in the heck am I talking about? Here's the story.)

a load of trash

Wednesday, May 23: Phone call to Waste Management.

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Matt: "Hi, we're moving into our house tomorrow and need to set up garbage collection."

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Company representative: "No problem. Trash day is Wednesday. Leave your garbage in bags on the curb and they'll pick it up Wednesday and leave you a garbage can. "

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Matt: "Great! That was easy. Thank you."

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Evening of Tuesday, May 29: Carry everything out to the curb for pickup and notice no one else has their garbage cans out.

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Wednesday, May 30: No garbage collection. We move all the stinky garbage bags back into the garage.

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Evening of Wednesday, May 30: Notice the neighbors' garbage cans out, figure they just told us the wrong day and move all our garbage bags back out to the curb.

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Morning of Thursday, May 31: Garbage truck comes. Garbage truck takes the neighbors' garbage. Garbage truck leaves. None of our garbage is picked up. No garbage cans left for us.

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A few minutes later: Phone call to Waste Management.

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Matt: "The garbage truck came but didn't pick up our garbage."

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Company representative: "Sorry about the inconvience, sir. We'll send a guy to pick it up."

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Matt: "Great, thanks."

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A little later in the morning of Thursday, May 31: A second garbage truck comes. Second garbage truck leaves. None of our garbage is picked up. No garbage cans left for us.

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Another few minutes later: Another phone call to Waste Management.

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Matt explains the situation.

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A different company reprsentative (the short version): "Trash day is Thursday. You can't leave all that garbage on the street, and they'll only pick up three trash bags. You have to wait until you have a garbage can delivered, then they can collect your garbage. We'll have someone bring you a garbage can today, and they can take whatever you can fit into the garbage can."

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Afternoon of Thursday, May 31: We hang up the phone and wait. Matt watches the window and runs out to the driveway as he sees a garbage truck drive by. He waves his arms frantically to flag them down, yet returns to the house defeated. This makes garbage truck number three that came in the same day and left without taking our garbage and without leaving us a garbage can.

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A little later in the afternoon of Thursday, May 31: Another phone call to Waste Management.

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Matt: "I just want to verify that we will, in fact, receive a garbage can at some point in time."

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Company representative: "Yep, they'll bring it today and collect the garbage in it tomorrow."

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Matt: "I was told they'd collect the garbage at the same time as delivery of the garbage can."

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Company representative: "No sir. The delivery truck doesn't have collection capabilities."

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Matt: "Okay, tomorrow then."

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Even later in the afternoon of Thursday, May 31: Delivery of garbage can. Hurray!

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Evening of Thursday, May 31: We cram as much as we can into the tiny garbage can, move it to the curb for our personally scheduled pick up and leave the other 2/3 of our garbage in the garage (until we figure out how we're going to dispose of it)

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Afternoon of Friday, June 1: We stand in the driveway and stare in amazement as a garbage truck comes by, backs up like it's going to pick up our full garbage can, and then switches gears and drives off. Our garbage can sits on the curb, still full and stinky.

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We look around for the hidden camera crew to jump out and tell us about the joke being played on us.

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A little later in the afternoon of Friday, June 1: Yet another phone call to waste managment.

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Matt again explains the perplexing situation.

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Company representative: "Everyone's gone home for the day. We'll send someone on Monday to pick that up."

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Sure you will.

just talkin' 'bout the weather

It was 72 degrees today. In January. In New Jersey. Bring on the shorts and flip flops.

bows are for girls

My cute baby GIRL

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I keep having these funny "people" experiences...

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Story #1

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I was holding Lydia, dressed as she is pictured above.

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An older woman says to me, "Oh he's so cute! Do you put him in the blue bow so that people don't think he's a girl?"

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"Well, no, I put HER in the BOW so that people don't think SHE's a BOY." I say, as politely as possible as to not make her feel bad that she just called my little princess a BOY.

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Then she responds, "But blue is for boys!"

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"Oh, girls can wear blue too....but her bow is purple." I say, as I check to make sure that it really is, just in case I'm as confused as this cute little old woman.

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Yep, it's really purple.

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Story #2 (less than 24 hours after Story #1)

I had Lydia dressed in a blue and black floral print dress, with a lacey blue bow on her head. A man says to me, "Cute baby. Now, the baby's got a bow, but it's blue...is it a boy or a girl?" At least he asked.

I was telling Matt about it later (not because I was at all offended, just because I think it's fascinating). I didn't realize Garrett was listening, but after we said something about a bow usually being a clue that the baby's a girl, Garrett chimed in, "And she was wearing a dress, so he should know she's a girl."

Good point, Garrett!

did you REALLY just say that to me?

In case you thought that I was exaggerating in my last post about the comments I get from people~ here's an encounter I had this weekend: I was walking along the sidewalk with my kids. Lydia was in the front pack and the boys in the double stroller. The traffic along the road was backed up and a guy in the car next to me rolled down his window. Man: "What happened? The TV break?" Me: "TV?....no....huh?" (a little confused) Man: "Are they triplets?" Me: "No." (are you kidding?) Man: "You guys need to get a TV. Too much free time." Me: Absolutely Nothing. The implications of his comment hit me, and I was so shocked that I just stared at him. The traffic immediately let up and he sped away, leaving me speechless. About 2 seconds later, I came up with a million things I'd like to say to that man. It's probably better he drove away first.

my thoughts on the way home from Costco today

There are people in the world who are not accustomed to seeing a mom with 3 young children. I think most of those people live in NEW JERSEY. Nearly EVERY TIME I go out in public with my kids, I am sure to get a number of sideways glances, stares, and often, comments from perfect strangers. It's not that my kids are overly loud, rowdy, whiny or obnoxious. There's just THREE of them- and with their small builds, Garrett and Ethan DO look like they could be younger than their respective 4 and 2 years of age. Oh, and evidently I look like I'm about 16 years old too. I think it's funny how much these PERFECT STRANGERS feel like my family planning is their business. As if it's their civic duty to inform me that if I continue at this rate, our family will soon be using up more than our fair share of the earth's oxygen. Some of the comments we've gotten: "Are they ALL yours?" "You've sure got your hands full." "They must keep you busy." "You're done now, right?" "You have THREE?" "You got your girl, now you can stop." and most frequently.... "Oh, bless you, dear." It's not that people are trying to be rude (at least most of them). I think I'm genuinely a sight they've never (or rarely) seen before. Usually these comments don't bother me, and I cheerfully respond with something about how they bring me great joy, it's worth it, they're the light of my life, etc. while advocating strong, happy, healthy FAMILIES. But today, I was just really ANNOYED by it. Strangely enough, the most common place I get these comments is at COSTCO. You'd think that a good amount of the people that shop at Costco are those buying in bulk for their large families. Either they forgot that their kids were also once 4, 2, and 8 months old, or there's just a lot of single, childless people out there eating massive amounts of hot pockets, shredded cheese, and canned pineapple. In my short, 30 minute trip to Costco this afternoon to pick up baby wipes, dried mangos and electric toothbrush replacements, I had two women stare while actually POINTING at me, and received 2 of the comments listed above by other Costco patrons. For crying out loud- I have 3 children. Only 3. We are very happy and we plan to have as many more as the Lord wants to bless us with. . . . On a lighter note...I made apple crisp again tonight. Mmmm.