The Happiness Project :: A Double Rainbow

It was pretty stormy around here yesterday – inside and out. We have houseguests, including a 6yo and another 3yo. Yesterday afternoon, I was out number 4 to 1. Kids were screaming and burping and chasing the cats and spilling stuff all over the floors and calling each other “baby-head” (and just WHY is this funny?), and fighting and getting in each other’s way. I totally lost it, hit the sauce and spent the rest of the evening in a drunken stupor. I remained calm, cool and collected through the whole adventure…until dinner time when Buddy Boy announced he wasn’t going to eat any meatloaf because it was “scary looking”.

OK, it wasn’t a pretty meatloaf. I don’t like to make pretty food for my company…I don’t like to intimidate friends with my culinary superiority. I’m nice like that. But c’mon, SCARY?! And so what if it looked like dog food that could crawl off your plate at any moment? It still tasted good – and he loves the stuff. Well, the meatloaf crack was the straw that broke this camel’s back. I burst into tears and screamed at him to go to his room and never come out. I calmly told him to go upstairs and think about his actions. Two seconds later, he came flying down the stairs.

“You guys!! You guys!! You have to come see this!! It’s a rainbow!!”

Well, who could say no to enthusiasm like that. So we all ran outside and sure enough…rainbow. Actually, it was a double rainbow. And even though you can’t tell in the picture, it was a whole double rainbow – you could clearly see the beginning and the end. I’d like to say the remainder of the evening was as lovely, but it wasn’t. Whatever. We had a couple good minutes there. I”ll take what I can get!

This post is brought to you by Leigh vs. Laundry’s lovely Happiness Project. Come join the fun!

Sleeping Easy...?!

The Boogeyman. Who hasn't heard of him? He's a problem. Just check out the wikipedia entry. Apparently, he's a problem everywhere.

We don't have a problem with boogeymen, monsters and the likes in our family. Everyone in this clan knows Mommy's the only thing to be truly scared of around here. And Mommy on no sleep -- well, let's not go there! Only an idiot monster would think about causing bedtime troubles in our house -- and who's afraid of an idiot monster?

So, monsters aren't our problem, but winding down at bedtime certainly is. Ugh! I hate it! What a horrible way to end the day. Let's face it. It doesn't matter how much fun you had during the day, if the last 45 minutes is an all out war...well, the day gets recorded as a loss. That was happening every day for us. It was breaking my heart. Then it occurred to me! I just needed to do what I'm always doing. I just needed to start mixing things up!

Out came my box of little brown bottles. A drop of neroli, a drop of lavender, a few other safe base ingredients, a spray bottle and VOILA! My own special sleepy time room spray! The kids love it. But they don't get to spray it themselves if they're giving me grief about bedtime. That's my deal.

I told a few friends about our little bottle of bedtime bliss. That's when the stories started coming out of the woodwork...and out of the closets...and out from under the beds. I'd never realized just how many kiddos had fears and anxieties that kept them up at night -- not to mention how many sleep-deprived parents were at their wit's ends about it. So, with my 4YO's help, we got a few more bottles, gave our spray a name, designed a label and handed them out to our friends. Our circle of friends is sleeping a little easier these days.

So check it out. Aack Attack! is available in the Etsy Shop. You can read all the technical information about it there. Share your monster stories with me here and I'll enter you in a drawing for a free 4 oz. bottle. I'll pull one entry out of the hat next Sunday night and announce the winner here on the blog Monday.

Sweet dreams, everybody:)