Video Games and The 4th of July

My husband and a few of his co-workers realized yesterday that they all didn't have any plans for today so they decided on a surprise LAN party here at the house. It was a nice gathering of people from our guild and we were able to play Guild Wars all day and progress some of their characters further into the game. Grandma took the kids for most of the day and they had a good time swimming and playing with their cousin. Soon we plan on having a BBQ and making smores with our fire pit in the back yard. It was decidedly too hot to go to the fireworks show so we're going to stay in tonight and play cards with Ken's parents. It's been a nice 4th of July. I hope you all have a good one too!

Urine Scented Furniture

For the first few years of motherhood, the furniture fared pretty well. Not much in the line of stains or smells had befallen the sofa and chair that now sit in my living room. But alas, with 3 children that can walk food and drink from the kitchen to the sofa (regardless of numerous decrees of the no food/drink zone) the sofa has been riddled with some food drink stains, though those are the least of my concerns. If a spill occurs it really is not a huge ordeal to clean it up. Now along the lines of art work rendered by each of my children adding some artistic flair to the living room. I learned a long time ago that water color does not mean "easy clean-up". It really means color spreads quickly with water! Again it's not that huge of an ordeal I don't care too much about the colorful additions to the furniture, I have kids, I expect it!

On a few occasions sharp objects have been introduced to the furniture. Cuts have been made in the ottoman of the green chair and the dog nails have pierced hols in the sofa cushions (I am not the only family with the sharp object + furniture problem, Mrs. Tenney lost the back of her recliner to some scissors last year). While this problem has made it absolutely necessary to replace the furniture (not till all the kids are 5+ right?) The worst thing that has befallen the furniture is of course urine. While some accidents are to be expected, it seems with the quantity of children that are in my house at any given point of time... my POOR furniture is victim to numerous over full diapers and toddler/grade schooler "accidents". While I do my best to clean the couch, and cover its hideousness the scent recently has become something that I can not avoid. I'm not sure if its the heat or what but some times the couch can be awfully stinky. I bought two collapsible anti gravity recliners and I've been using them a lot more than my stinky furniture recently. I may replace some of my furniture pieces with the temporary stuff just to help alleviate the odor that occasionally permeates up through the cushions.

Too Busy to Blog!

My mind has been going over and over how I will present the information I have learned to my students which I am very appreciative of but it is hard to take a break and shut down for a bit or even find a moment to sit down and blog. I did make an effort to play guild wars a little this last weekend, but I was already tired by the time I sat down to play so the break didn't last long. Perhaps, instead of trying to blog about my life I'll end up posting some of the reports I'm writing on the effect of catecholamines (stress hormones) on the birth process or a paper on the benefits of relaxation in the birthing room. Though I know to most of you, that information would be boring. Perhaps a sexy article on ecstatic birth. All you guys reading it out there would probably be aroused by such an article and prove the point that our thoughts and feelings affect our physiological response.

Anyway, I still have a great deal of testing to go through this week so I better get back to my books.