“We just figured out Blues Clues, we just figured out Blues Clues… because WE ARE REALLY SMART!”

The above outburst is testament that I’ve been watching WAY too much children’s programming AND that I’m seriously over the moon about the fact that I’ve finally tweaked all the code on this site to render correctly in IE (5.5 thru 8) and newer versions of Chrome, Safari, Navigator, and also Firefox! (Thank you IE Tester and BrowserShots!) Not only that, this biotch validates correctly too! Anyone who’s logged as many man hours as I have, wrestling the beast that is cross-browser functionality/valid html, can totally appreciate the blood, sweat, and (mostly) tears that I’ve just been through. Am I crazy? Hell yes. Am I happy? More like relieved! I can finally go to sleep for the first time in 3 days. (You think I’m kidding).

Also, today – I got to be a human. As in take a shower, put on something not resembling sleepwear, slap some makeup on my weary face, step foot outside of the house and have some adult contact. The boys and I went over to Mary’s to play with Rocco and the other kids she takes care of. We all REALLY needed to get out of the house. Talk about CABIN FEVER. I gots it! Mary and I got caught up over yummy homemade iced coffees, while the kids expended some energy.

It’s not like I never get out. In fact, this week I was lucky enough to have lunch with one of my girls (Hi Jan!) and also go to the eye doctor. So even though those two events equaled maybe 4 hours total (including drive time), it was nice just to be able to drive in silence with only MY OWN thoughts. Because oh my god, the noise in this house! Sometimes I want to stuff a pillow over my head and suffocate myself. I’m seriously amazed that Philip can sleep through it all. What noise you ask? Let’s see…

• The banging of wooden blocks on the coffee table.
• The banging of diecast cars/trains on the coffee table.
• The banging of pretty much anything on the coffee table.
• Toddlers shouting at the top of their lungs just because.
• Toddlers having nuclear meltdowns because of [insert reason here], to include: kicking, crying, and throwing themselves on the floor.
• Some freakin’ electronic toy that Quentin keeps pressing the same button on over and over and over and over.
• Myself yelling at Gavin to STOP PUSHING THE BUTTONS ON DADDY’S XBOX! for the 10,000th time.
• The TV turned up really loud because the dishwasher or washing machine is on for the 2nd or 3rd time that day.
• Elmo, Dora, Blue, the Yo Gabba Gabba gang, or the Backyardigans singing some totally annoying song that will inevitably get stuck in my head all day long.

If you’re thinking, “why doesn’t she just get out of the house more often?”, you obviously have no kids, or rather no kids under 3-years-old. I gave up on taking them both into public on my own. My kids are a handful (i.e., high maintenance). I’m not even sure Gandhi has that much patience. Thankfully, we have a few things planned this weekend that should get us all out together: birthday party for 5-year-old tomorrow, dinner at Mary’s on Sunday (to include some alcohol of some sort because dammit we deserve it), and possibly an outing with the kids on Monday. Did I mention the birthday party tomorrow will be the first time EVER that Quentin & Gavin have been to a children’s birthday party (other than their own)? A temperamental 2-year-old, a busybody 1-year-old, a water slide, strangers, and 110° weather? Yeah. We’re totally gluttons for punishment!