Thursday, July 7, 2011

Apartment Leftovers

This is me ranting just a bit so don't take it to personal if you have a pet...
In the past 15 months we have lived in 4 apartments, 3 extended stays, 3 hotels, a house and with 2 different family members. Some places have been nicer than others. Some in nice area's others not so much. Living in many different scenario's I have seen how many people choose to live.
One thing I have noticed that just astounds me is how some people with pets choose to live. As many places that I have lived and parks I have gone to I am always amazed at how many refuse to clean up after their pets as well. Particularly dogs.
I have come to the conclusion that if you can't clean up after your pet's don't have one! Last year when we moved to Long Island we had to move into one of the sales reps old place's after they left. They chose to get a pet while living there and obviously chose not to clean up after it either. We walked in and the smell hit us like a brick wall. Nasty! We had to have someone come clean it cause it smelled like pet leftovers.
Now we just recently moved in after another sales rep in Kentucky and sure enough same nasty smell when we walked in! We have had to stay in an extended stay till it gets cleaned up. Supposedly this person bought a dog and didn't do well training it. Now that it has been cleaned out it still smells of dog and a dogs business. The gentlemen that delivered furniture today asked me, "Does it smell like dog in here or is it just me?" I wish it was just you buddy.
I think as a non pet owner I also tend to notice it that much more. I can't really air it out cause it is so hot and humid outside. I would love suggestions.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Fast Food

So with as much traveling as we do it's almost impossible to never eat out. So when we do have to choose a fast food joint the battle begins. The kids want McDonalds, I want Taco Bell and Steven enjoys Arby's. Usually we decide if the kids are good and helpful they get to choose where we eat. Its one of the ways I have bribbed my kids to be good travelers.
We decided to pick up some food nd go swimming. I ask the kids's where they want to eat and finally Kadan says, "Mom since you like Taco Bell we can eat there this time, but you have to be nice ok?" So I guess I was good enough to earn my Taco Bell.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Two Is Not Our Lucky Number

So this summer we have moved every 2 weeks, almost on the dot. Broken Arrow, OK to Liberal,KS. Then Garden City, KS and Dodge City, KS. Then we got the heck out of Dodge to visit home in Utah for 2 weeks. Then finally to what we thought was our last destination Wichita, KS.
 
No think again. Steven said we needed to stick to what has been a regular occurance for us and move again. So here we are jammed in our sad little car on our way back to Kentucky. At least we will end the summer where this whole adventure began in the first place. At leat I hope this is where it ends, cause I don't know if I can do this again in 2 weeks!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

TMI...

Caution: The following story may contain "too much information." For those of you that are sensitive to stories containing "bathroom matter" I would not continue reading. Also those of you that (for some odd reason) want to continue managing the idea that I have perfect kids that never do anything crazy I would also suggest you stop reading this post as well. Now consider yourself warned!

So now that we are officially in Kansas, but living out of hotels, I try to plan at least one outing a day. Otherwise my patience thins and my children's energy builds. Yesterday we took the hotel shuttle with another salesman's wife and son to the zoo. It was nice saving on gas and having a friend for the kids to play with. I was happy to hear the zoo was free. Win win right?
So me and my new friend were sitting at the park in the zoo watching our kids play. They play really nice together. The day so far was almost to good to be true. Until I glance over at Kadan. I thought he was just playing under the log looking tunnel, untill I realize he has dropped his drawers and is doing his business under there. Yes my son is squatting going #2 in and on the park. Talk about embarrassing (and disgusting)!
So here I am cleaning up the park like I brought my dog to central park. Only that's the reason why I don't have a dog, nor did I bring a doggy doo doo bag either. No, no that's just my son who insists to this moment he thought that's what the tunnel was for?! I had to profusely apologize to our new friend and promise this is not a regular occurrence with us. Well crazy moments are, but not my son going to the restroom wherever he see's fit is not.  I am sure you can imagine why there is no picture with this post.
 

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Room Service?

How do I feed my kids while we have been living in hotels is usually one of the first questions I get. Here are a few things I have done:




BREAKFAST

Breakfast is pretty easy. We usually just have the hotel's breakfast. The key here is take extra's back to your room. Sometimes we would eat in the lobby then make a plate for later. Others I would go down while kids were sleeping, then bring up food for them. Even after doing that I would bring them down after they woke up for breakfast. Why? The extra food taken to our room was usually used for a snack or even lunch.
LUNCH
This is when I would eat leftover breakfast foods. We would use the bread meant for toast, with the peanut butter and jelly packets make great sandwhich's. Or sometimes I would pour cereal in a bowl and milk in a cup for a snack or lunch later. Yogurts and fruit were easy to store in our mini fridge. Oatmeal and hot chocolate packets easily cooked in a micorwave or with the coffee pot. Bagels and extra cream cheese packets were one of Kadan's favorites. I also used the coffee pot for cup of noodles. Then we would go out for kid's meals once or twice a week.

DINNER
Dinner was a little trickier. Especially when trying to avoid pizza, fast food and spending lots of money. I used my plug in griddle a lot. With the griddle I would have lots of grilled cheese's sandwhich's usually with stolen left over continental breakfast bread too! Quesidilla's were really easy as well as grilled tuna sandwhichs. Sometimes I would grill the roast beef with some cheese and brown some cut french bread for a hot sandwhch option. If you buy those add water and easy pour pancake mix containers and can steal small syrup packets as well this was another cheap yummy dinner most kids love. Sometimes I would eat heated up chilli and micorwaved potatoes and a salad. Those meals and a dinner out to eat 1-2 times a week we were pretty much set.
Just make sure to have paper products, plastic utinsils, paper towels, baggies, a spatualla, can opener 1 or 2 tupperware conatiners for mixing or storing, and no spill cups are great.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Inroom Amenities

Since we are living in hotels right now there are many advantages and disadvantages. I am enjoying the daily housekeeping part, not that I have anything else to do. The free breakfast is nice since I don't have to cook or clean up. The hard part is waking up in time to eat it. Free fruit in the lobby, free swimming, close restaurants, and one hotel even has free dinner soup and salad bar. Ok so the restaurants close by are both a plus and a minus.
One large adjustment has been laundry. Trying to balance the right amount of clothes. Too much clothes takes up more room in the car but means less laundry. Less clothes mean spending more quarters to wash more often. Today I went to the laundry mat to wash. Although I didn't realize till I was back in the room that all the clothes hadn't completely dried. So Adrianna's crib also served as a clothes line.

Monday, May 2, 2011

We're Off to See the Wizard...

We are packed in our small car up to our chins again. Not quite suffocating us but close. Steven is going to be selling mostly in Kansas this summer. Now that we have 1 more kid and 1 more kids stuff we are up for all new adventures.
3 car seats packed in tight. Every nook and crany filled. Lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwich's and we are ready for yet another 8 hour car trip. Crazy, you ask? Yes, yes we are!
 

Monday, February 14, 2011

Late Night Snow Storm


So after being snowed in a week we had 2 days we could get out and get things done. We knew another storm was coming on Wednesday, so we went to the store, my Dr's appointment, and things liked that. Come Tuesday night I felt a strange severe pain, unlike anyother while being pregnant. After no baby movement for a few hours I called the hospital, sure enough I had to go in. So here we are packing up the kids at 3 in the morning knowing full well the storm was just starting. The 30 minute drive took close to an hour. Of course the baby started moving just as we were pulling into the parking lot which already had easily 5-6 inches of snow on it. After an hour of tests everything was fine and we were ready to go home and go to sleep.
One problem. It is was so bad outside there was no way we are making it home. Luckily Steven's sister only lives 10 minutes away, so we headed that way. We had several close calls in our little car but finally made it to their road. Only we got stuck within yards of their driveway. After digging our way out to only inch forward we call his sister who comes to our rescue. We had to park our car down the road and stay with them 2 days. It was fun having company while being snowed in this time. So Steven made his way to dig out our car getting home by Friday evening.
I am looking forward to 2 weeks of nothing but sun!
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Monday, February 7, 2011

Creative Bread




While being snowed in we may not of had milk, bread or cheese we had plenty of food. Although my kids live off those things. The lack of cereal, pb&j's, quesidilla's, grilled cheese, and chocoalte milk was the end of the world!
I have been raised my whole life with the concept of food storage. Since we have been moving so much I have had to untrain my brain to buy extra.Usually if a recipe called for corn i would buy several cans of corn, not I have to only buy what I have planned for the week.
kadan was dieing with no bread. PB&J's are his favorite staple. So I decided to make bread. Although I didn't have a bread pan, I thought why buy one when we would just move in about 6 months? So I did what any other young mom would do, call her mother for suggestions. The end result was bread from a can. Thanks to her idea and my ingenuity we actually got to have PB&J's for dinner. What a treat my kids thought that was compared to oatmeal, stir-fry, tacos, bean burritos, soups and egg everything (we did have 2 dozen eggs.) They were in bread heaven. My husband and I also thought taste of warm fresh bread was refreshing as ever.
Then after 6 days of no milk (this was devastating for our 2 yr old) Steven finally decided to backpack the 1.5 mile trip to the store. Luckily he ended up getting a ride from a nice neighbor. Now I am also doing what I hated that my mother did; 1/2 dry milk mixed with 1/2 real milk. The kids haven't noticed the difference, and its stretching our only 2 gallons of milk. This is also cause the store had no milk so he ended up buying the last of it from the gas station.
After all this I have much thanks to give. Thanks Mom for many lessons on food storage. I am thankful for still having running water and electricity. Thanks Santa for the wii this Christmas. Thanks strange neighbor for the ride to the store. Plus many lessons learned and patience tested.
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Friday, February 4, 2011

Snowed In!

This is out our Kitchen window.
            
This picture is sideways and out our front door.
This is out our back door.

After visiting Utah for 2 weeks we made the trip back to our Oklahoma home. We arrived at 1 am Tuesday morning just as the snow started to fall. We thought about stopping at the stroe to get a few things for breakfast, but we were so tired and the roads were VERY icy. We could not beilive our eyes to what we woke to. I've been in snow storms before but not like this. With wind at 25 mph we had 4 ft drifts all around. The pictures were taken in the morning and it only got worse through the day.
Being that we were gone for 2 weeks we had no milk, bread, produce or cheese. 4 days later we still have plenty of food but are running low on patience. The kids have had good and bad moments (as well as Mom and Dad). We are grateful for electricity and running water though! Maybe we should have just stayed in Utah another week!
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