When is it time to say Uncle?

#2 has been coughing a very wet, nasty, sounds like she needs to hork up a giant lugie (loogie? how in the heck do you spell that anyway?) cough for about 2 weeks now.

Today she has added on congestion that involves constant sniffling and slurping sounds, the slurping I assume is due in part to the mouth breathing she has to do.

I have put off calling the doctor until today because while her cough sounds yucky, it has not seemed to be too bothersome. It hasn't slowed her down, kept her up at night or anything like that. I just assumed it would run it's course. It has not gotten worse, but still has not shown any improvement either.

The problem is the course is feeling a bit long to me. Now we have new symptoms on top of it.

It is hard to know when to cry Uncle! or Doctor! I guess if I want to be more accurate.

I try hard to wait things out, because 9 times out of 10 when I do take the child in, I hear that it is a virus that has to run it's course. However I keep a tenuous grasp on anxiety when my kids are sick. My mother unfortunately unwittingly feeds that anxiety with her constant comments anytime one of them sniffles, and seeing as they are in her care two days a week after school, that can be a lot of comments. I should probably address that with her.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a mom who needs to leave every appointment with some kind of prescription, but I do get tired of wishing I had left well enough alone, especially with a 50% co-pay for each visit.

I wish that they could give me some kind of chart or flow sheet for these types of situations. You know.... if A B C occurs for X amount of time then bring 'em on in. I try calling the nurse to see if I am over reacting or not, but she is not going to make the decision for me no matter how hard I try to make her do so. In fact I end those calls feeling more undecided than I did to start.

So tomorrow it is off to the doctor to see what if anything is wrong. At the very least I hope that she will answer my questions about whether we have just been unlucky this winter with #2 regarding illness, or is it time to take a closer look at her and see if something is going on. Cause this kid has really gone over her illness quota for the year.

Here's hoping my time and money are not wasted.

But most importantly let's get this kid healthy.

#2 is 7

My baby is officially 7 years old as of 10:04 PM yesterday.

I like to make them wait until the actual time of their birth before I will admit that my children are a year older.

We had a lovely breakfast of Chocolate Pop Tarts in bed for breakfast, followed by opening gifts from parents and sibling.

She was very pleased with her presents. An i-pod shuffle from mom and dad, and Littlest Petshop toys from big sister.

I hope the i-pod is not lost or damaged any time soon. That thing is tiny. I am taking a chance giving one of those to a 7 year old....luckily since I do all the syncing, I can arrange the settings to control how loud the volume goes, so little ears are protected.

The afternoon included a party with the family and friends of the family, complete with cookies (no birthday cake this year for #2 she wanted frosted sugar cookies instead. So instead of cursing over a cake, I was zooming to finish the detail work on cookies a half hour before the festivities began. Let's hear it for procrastination!) ice cream, and more presents!

#2's new obsession

Webkinz.

Because 300 stuffed animals aren't enough. (I wish to God I was kidding about that number, but sadly I am not.)

It's Crunch Time! (and I ain't talkin' 'bout Nestle!)

It has been a looooong, coooold, and snowy winter.

Not the kind of set up for hitting the exercise equipment, but definitely the perfect arrangement for mowing down some serious comfort foods.

During this winter I have been a big ass slacker when it comes to exercise and healthy eating, and that has led to well..er...a big ass, and expansion in other areas as well.

After taking inventory (read: squeezing and praying that I will be able to zip and snap my jeans) I have decided that it is time to take serious action.

The serious action I have taken is to sign up for a free online challenge that has an exercise and eating plan set up just for me, and er..well the other bazillion people who have signed up for it as well.

I figure it can't hurt to state my challenge here on my blog to help keep me motivated and honest.

So in that spirit here are my starting stats:

Weight: Step away from the cheese fries!
Bust: Smokin' Rack Baby!!
Waist: Just how long is that statute of limitations on calling my "pooch" (I refer to her as Babette, because it makes it sound more worldly and elegant) post partum weight? Surely it is longer than 7 years.... right?
Hips: Hmmm...I am thinking that there should be a bigger discrepancy between this number and the one above
Thighs: Are we supposed to have thunderstorms tonight?

Now come on....you didn't REALLY think I was going to post my numbers for all the world to see did you?

Let the games begin!

Tomorrow!!!!

The Power of IGNORE-ance

As both of you know, I have me some children. Two to be exact. One who is 10 and another who will be 7 in a few days.

If you have read this blog for more than two days you also know that while I believe my children to be exceptional, sometimes their behavior is not so much ranking up there with the exceptional, unless you are counting exceptionally annoying.

Given a my chosen profession I admittedly feel a lot of pressure to present to the world well adjusted and well behaved children. That pressure unfortunately can lead to me making some decisions that are not what I would call...stellar and are counterproductive towards my goal. Sometimes I jump to quickly and too forcefully on things that are not worth it, in my zeal for well adjusted and behaved children.

Also those little darlings can play me like a calculator.

RE-Heally push my buttons that is.

So recently I have been actively trying to ignore many of the behaviors I would have previously jumped on like I was on a trampoline. You know what? It is working a good portion of the time.

I was a champion at ignoring tantrums when the children were toddlers. I didn't want to experience them, so it was very easy to ignore. I think each of them tried once or twice to throw long tantrums (15-20 minutes) and quickly discovered this was not effective with me and stopped.

School age behaviors are more verbal, smarter, provoking, and MUCH more difficult to ignore in my experience.

An example of successful ignoring:

#2 was in a mood and pretty much being oppositional to every thing said to her one morning a few weeks ago. She was particularly oppositional about breakfast. I generally let the children choose what they would like for breakfast. This particular day #2 was not making choices. After I had twice asked her what she would like, she refused to answer. I let her know that I would ask one last time, and if she did not answer I would be making the decision. I also let her know what time the kitchen was closing and that there would be no further opportunities to eat after that time before we left for school. #2 continued to tell me all about what she was not going to do, and I went on about my business, refusing to pay attention to or acknowledge her. I put the breakfast on the table, let her know it was time to sit at the table and took myself back to the kitchen. She protested a few more times, I continued to act as if I were deaf and in a few minutes she ate her breakfast, and we had no further problems that morning. I made a conscious effort NOT to comment on the fact that she had eaten, and hadn't expired, exploded or anything else. We just went on about our morning ablutions. I did not wish to remind her of what she had done that was displeasing. She already knew, and re-hashing it even through praise would have been pointless.

I find the power of ignore to be most effective when I remove myself from the general area of the child. It makes it easier because the annoying behavior is not right in my face.

Oppositional, whiny, and tattle tale behaviors are my main targets for ignoring right now.

In addition to ignoring behavior, I am also working on phrasing comments regarding behavior corrections using positive terms.

An example:
#1 replies to her sister in a very rude tone, with additional rude words. I respond to that with a calm, "Speak to your sister using kind words and a pleasant tone of voice." Number one then rephrases her comment to her sister appropriately. My usual annoyed response to this would be to snap at the child and tell her to stop being rude to her sister. That would be ignored and we would go through at least two (on a good day) tries of me prompting #1 in what to say and how to say it. Which leaves both of us irritated. (A day or so later I overheard #1 telling her sister that we are supposed to talk to each other using kind words and a kind tone of voice. So hard not to say something!! But I kept quiet. Not going back and rubbing my kid's nose in things by over talking is really reeeeaalllyy hard for me. Cause I have a lot to say generally.)

The positive statements regarding not so positive behaviors has been hard. Tremendously hard. I still fail at that a lot. But successes like the one above keep me motivated to keep trying.

The positive statements also help me remember to pay attention to the behavior I want as opposed to giving attention to the behaviors I don't want. That is a lot of Becky Bailey teaching. I have been reading a lot of her stuff, and I think it is really good. Check her out.

These are the things that have been rolling around in my head lately, so I felt compelled to share.

'Cause that's what we do here at Babble On. Babble about the thoughts that roll around like marbles in my head.

Number One...the practical child.

In the car a few days ago, my darling daughters and I somehow got in to a conversation about whether or not they planned to have children.

Number One said that she does not plan to have children. Of course I was compelled to ask her what has led to this decision. The reason she plans to lead a childless life is because she hopes to have a farm with lots of animals, and taking care of a lot of animals will take up most of her time.

However, she may at some point decide to adopt a child. One who is about 10 years old.

Why? Because then the kid is old enough to help out.

I decided it was time to change the subject.

Easter Bunny Retraction

My children would like to make a retraction to the statements made about the Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday 2007.

They would like to inform all of you that the Easter Bunny is alive and well, and NOT their parents as previously stated.

They would also like to take back their comments regarding the existence of the Tooth Fairy. Although #2 would like it to be known that she will no longer be leaving her teeth under her pillow as she wishes to keep them for next year's science fair project. She considers the loss in revenue a worthy sacrafice in the pursuit of the scientific process.

Her mother however can not bear to ask what the project will entail. She is hopeful that the Great Tooth Project will be abandoned by the time the next science fair rolls around in favor of more worthy and less disgusting projects. Like mold growing or something.

#1 and #2 would like to apologize for any confusion their misguided comments may have caused.

Beach House

I should have posted about this a couple of weeks ago, but...you know how things are.

As of March 5 BH and I have been together for 15 years, as that is the anniversary of our first date.

Actually, that is not entirely true. That is the anniversary of our second date. The first one happened about six months earlier. It did not go so well. In fact it went so poorly that we studiously ignored each other as much as possible for about 4 months following that date. That was tough to do, as we shared many of the same friends.

So 15 years since our first successful date.

On the second anniversary of our first successful date (are you confused yet?) My BB (Beloved Boyfriend) decided that it was time to make things official and asked me to marry him. We had been living together for a few months (Yes we are big sinners. There is some story to that sinners remark, but that is a shorter post for another day.) I guess he felt it was time to make an honest woman out of me.

The marriage proposal I received was nothing short of spectacular. Sit back, and get a snack because this story is not short.

I have to provide a little back story here. The previous summer my husband spent a couple of months traveling around Europe with a friend of ours from high school, and two of that friend's college comrades. Ever the anxious one, I gave vehement instructions that no money was to be spent on bringing me back a souvenir from his trip, as I thought eating and lodging were far more important. Also all I really wanted was BB back home. It was a long summer for me.

When BB returned home he said that he had brought me something from the trip. It was a picture of him on a beach in a silly pose in front of I LOVE YOU spelled out in rocks. Little did I know this was a red herring of sorts. (That means remember this part later on as it will be important.) When he gave me that picture I was talking about how much I loved the beach and shared a bit about my jealousy regarding all of the beaches he had visited during his travels. BB then proclaimed that he would take me to the beach within the next year, absolutely count on that fact. I laughed him off and said that I was certain he would as the "beach area" at our local lake was open May-August and a mere 15 minute drive from my house. We continued to "argue" about his ability to follow through with the beach promise, and he finally had me list all of my requirements that were necessary for a "real beach." He wrote all of them down and I had no clue that he kept that list.

Fast forward several months. BB and I have moved into our first apartment together and things are going just swimmingly. We are happy and content. We are approaching the two year anniversary of our first successful date. At the time we were both involved in the play being performed at the college we attended, and we had a performance the night of our anniversary. As is typical during production time we were busy and very tired. Keeping our fatigue and hectic schedule in mind we decided to keep our anniversary celebration low key, and planned on going home, uncorking a bottle of wine...you know the drill. Well I thought I did. BB had other plans in mind that I was not privy to.

We arrive at our apartment after the show and there is a note taped to the door, informing me that under no circumstances am I to enter the apartment without BH right next to me. I am of course a bit confused. Luckily for me, BH was right next to me so I could go right in.

So what did I find when I opened the door? First I was greeted by a rush of very warm air, and that air was scented with?? Was that the ocean????

As soon as I walked through the door I saw on the floor a large tarp that was covered with about 50 lbs. of sand, seashells, and two beach towels. Next to that was a cooler filled with wine, bread, and cheese. Scattered around the house were tropical plants, a huge vase of long stemmed red roses, ocean scented incense, and a trail of towels that led to the ocean, which was our bathtub filled with very warm water that had those fizzy tablets dissolved in it that turn the water a pretty blue and make it smell good. Around the tub edge were soaps shaped like seashells and starfish, as well as a funny lego pirate ship. Playing over the stereo was the sound of ocean waves. BB had painstakingly recorded three hours of waves sound effects. He also made a mix tape of lovey dovey songs we liked to play in the background as well. (BB arranged for two dear friends of ours to come over and set up the whole scene while we were gone doing the show. His instructions were based on that Beach List he wrote down months before.)

So we had wine and cheese, lounged on the beach, took a swim in the ocean, and then I was getting a lovely massage. During that lovely massage a song came on that I was particularly fond of and I commented on how much I loved that song. BB stopped my massage and said that he had something he wanted to give me. Now I am so overwhelmed by everything else at this point, I am pretty sure that anything else is going to be anticlimactic. BB hands me a flat package that is wrapped in newspaper. (He was always fond of the newspaper wrapping paper.) I opened the package and it was an 8x10 framed picture of BB on a beach on bended knee behind the words Will You Marry Me? spelled out in large rocks. (Remember that I Love You picture? Taken at the same time. He and our dear friend Dan got up at the ass crack of dawn to set up those pictures before BH headed back to the states. That is a true friend who will get up at dawn to haul large heavy rocks so that someone can propose.)When I look up from the picture, BH is on his knees in front of me holding out a seashell with a ring inside of it. (More back story. A few weeks before we had been at the mall and were discussing gifts for valentine's day, our anniversary, and my birthday all which fall in the space of a few weeks of each other. During this discussion we passed by a jewelry store that had a sign out front advertising diamond tennis bracelets. I jokingly said that he could just buy me a diamond tennis bracelet and that should cover all three. He claimed ignorance about this piece of jewelry, and steered me in to the jewelery store to show him. He then steered me over to rings and insisted that I choose some to try on. He starts asking me about which ones I like and I play along. He then starts to ask the sales person very specific questions about the ring I liked, and I am horrified, because the ring ain't cheap, to my knowledge at this point we have no plans on becoming engaged any time soon, and this poor woman thinks she is about to score a big commission the way he is acting. I pull him out of the store and proceed to get on his case about leading that poor salesperson on. I of course have no idea that he went back the next day to buy the ring I said I liked the best.)

Of course I say, "yes!" immediately. There is hugging and crying and all of that.

10 months later we got hitched.

Our honeymoon? At the beach of course!

15 years, two kids, a master's degree, teaching certification, two houses, and all that other grown up stuff later?

I still love him, laugh with him, and have just as much fun as we did on that first successful date.

So I guess it goes to show you that sometimes you can find great success with a second chance.

If it is goldfish don't let it mellow....

If your children are in the 7-10 year old age range you may recall a show called Bear in the Big Blue House. I don't know if it is still on Disney or not. At any rate when #1 was about 1 she loved that show and we bought a tape with music from the show. We then proceeded to listen to it

EVERY SINGLE TIME WE WERE IN THE CAR FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. (This is not hyperbole either. I am tell the straight up God's honest truth.)

I can still sing every song in order word for word.

On that tape was a happy little song called What's that Smell? Bear goes on to talk about all the pleasant smells he is encountering, pancakes, clean clothes, flowers and the like.

Unfortunately a few weeks ago we had our own What's that smell predicament and it wasn't about flowers and clean clothes.

There was an odor in our mudroom, that made me want to vomit upon entering. I assumed that we had missed a mouse in the mouse trap. (I bought a trap that electrocutes the mouse and they have to go in far enough that you don't see the carcass. It has a light that will flash 24 hours post kill to let you know a body is in there) We have not had any mice for months, and don't always remember to check for the light. I put BH on trap check, because that is our deal. He deals with dead mice, I do..other things. No dead mouse. So we just wrote it off, figuring something had gone unrinsed into the recyling bins or something.

A couple of days ago BH comes and whispers in my ear, "Do you remember a few weeks ago when you asked me to check for a dead mouse because of a bad smell in the mud room?"

"Yes." I whisper back. I am really curious about why we are whispering. Usually whispering is reserved for flirty occasions. I am worried that BH is trying out some weird way to get me turned on here. Perhaps trying to woo me with memories of him fulfilling husbandly duties. Which would be my own fault for talking about how him cleaning the house really turns me on..

"I think I found the source of the smell." Says BH.

"Yes??" I am on the edge of my seat now!

"Remember a month or so ago when #2's fish died? I put it in a plastic bag and then put it in a paper bag and set it in the mudroom. I just found that bag behind some chairs." BH informs me.

"Ewwwww!" says I.

The moral of the story: Always flush the fish.

Signs of Spring

Shameless avoidance of productive activities

We started off the week with such a bang, getting all kinds of errands completed, and boy have we (ok ME) fizzled out. BH is off as we speak trying to finally finish up the bathroom remodel we started more years ago than I want to admit here.

I am supposed to be cleaning the scary thing that is our "art room." Very little art happens in there, unless you count the huge pile of children's art that I must tackle today.

Speaking of, hows about I share a little "children's art management" tip?

We came up with the idea last year as we were going through a ginormous pile of art the children had created over the past ? months.

We sorted out the things we wanted to keep to put in the "portfolios" (read: three ring binders with sheet protectors) then we had the kids go through the rest and sort it in to piles to send to friends and family members. We had each of the children write a letter about what they have been up to over the past year and then mailed the letter out with the art. I was really surprised by all of the positive feedback we got.

That is my handy tip for controlling all the precious artwork your babies produce!

Now I must go and carry out my cleaning duties. Call out the troops if I am not back by tomorrow. I could get lost in the chasm that is our art room.

I don't think they cover this in the owner's manual

Me to my Beloved Husband: Could you bring me the thermometer please so that I can take #2's temperature?

(BH comes over and notices that the temperature I am about to check is that of our lovely #2)

BH to #2: If you have a fever you are grounded.

AND...........................

Scene.

Luckily she has no temp and is not grounded. She does have a really gross sounding cough though. I will totally ground her tiny little booty if she gets sick while I am off work this week.

I am about to lose my voice from all the singing

Oh my my my my my my MY!

This nobody going to work gig is the S-H-I-T.

Do you know how much I can get done when I don't have to work? If we add BH staying home from work too? Oh my lovelies the possibilities are boundless..... I tell you BOUNDLESS!

I am weepy already at the thought of leaving this blissful state.

In other news....

Huh...

I was sure there was some other news....

Welllllll.......

I could tell you what I got for my birthday.

A really cool i-pod dock that has speakers and a CD player and it can play the radio too! It will be going to my office. I also got a new big girl food processor. Now...I KNOW you are thinking, a FOOD PROCESSOR? How boring is that? Well I found it to be very exciting. For the past 13 years I have been processing my food in a teeeenny tiiiinnnyy little food processor that only held about 1 cup worth of ingredients. This one holds several cups and it makes me happy. Come over some time and I will make you salsa, or a pie crust, or something that requires food processing.

So I am thirty-six years old now. If we are rounding up that is close to forty. I am not sure that I am ready for that so perhaps it is time to change the subject.

What I really think is that it is time for me to go to bed. I have been up way late for the past several days. If the loopiness that is evident in this post is any indication, mama needs some sleep.

I am a superstar!

Once again I will leave both of my readers with a short apologetic post. I have been busy over the past few days catching up with old friends, having a birthday, staying up until 2 AM, and working on becoming a Rock Star.


These things take up a lot of a girl's time doncha know.


However I am off work for the EN-tire week, so there should be little excuse for posting lapses.


Except for the fact that I have to work on honing my drumming skills.


Drums are hard.

MMMMMmmm

I would post something interesting but I am too full and tired after a delicious dinner of Hibachi Steak, Fried Rice, Veggies, Noodles, and Soup. My husband rocks.

Maybe tomorrow.

Tell me who to call or write I am DESPERATE

We gotta put an end to this time changing crap.

Seriously, before I kill someone.

Like with my car because I fell asleep while driving.

If we are doing this to conserve energy resources, then explain to me why we can't just keep it this way all the time? What is so special about March-October? Don't the other months deserve to be energy efficient too?

Come ON November-February. Grow a pair! Stand up for yourself and DEMAND that you get extra daylight to0!

Let us end this discrimination now.

And stop messing with my $%#@ sleeping patterns.

A refined palate

So I am thinking about letting #2 go hungry.

In case I haven't mentioned this before, #2 has about two things she will eat. Those two things being cereal and macaroni and cheese, but only if it is the nasty crap out of a cardboard box. Oh yeah and peanut butter. As long as it is NOT on the bread with the nuts in it. (Read: all natural whole wheat bread) I might have gotten in to a ridiculous arugment over dinner with the child about whether or not there are actually nuts in that bread, but I think I have determined that was just a VERY BAD DREAM because reasonable women of a certain age DO NOT get in to arguments over nuts in bread with 6 year olds.

Neither of her preferred foods translate well in her lunchbox. The school janitor and her classmates tend to frown at the milk trail left by the cereal, and cold kraft macaroni and cheese? I think that there is no further comment needed.

After we emptied a nearly full lunchbox for the I don't know 99999999999999999999999999999999999th time, I made one of my infamous Mommy Proclamations:

Henceforth all young girls by the name of #2 who fail to eat a reasonable portion of the contents in their lunchbox shall forfeit the right to take a lunch from their place of residence, and will be required to purchase and consume a lunch provided by the school until said school year ends. It is so declared by HRH Mommy the Irritated and Sick to Damn Near Death of Making Lunches That No One Eats. (There is more to that name, but I try to run a somewhat clean blog here!)

I will give you three guesses as to how my Tiny Royal Subject responded to the proclamation. The first two don't count.

Now I would love to regale you with more Tales of the Terminally Picky, but unfortunately I must go make tomorrow's lunches.

Since I don't have enough things to be freaked out about

I am sure glad that I read this article.

Go on over to....

Flabbypants and wish my good friend Ali a

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Hope you have a good and RESTFUL day!

Vacation is all I ever wanted....

Break out the Bermuda shorts, hiking boots, and fanny packs 'cause we're goin' on vacation!

Yup, the last week of July all of us here at the House of Babble will board a plane and cruise on over to Ohio, where we will spend two fun filled days celebrating BH grandparent's 60th Wedding Anniversary. Then we will load up the truck and drive 6.5 hours to Tennessee where we plan to spend time in the Smoky Mountains. My honey said he needed some mountains and some mountains he shall get! We will be travelling with Grandma and Grandpa Babble which is always a treat, since they put us all up in one of their fancy time share resort places. It also means that if BH and I want some time alone to uh..you know "explore the many varieties of flora and fauna" found in the area, we have built in babysitters!

Admittedly I am a bit more of a beach gal when it comes to preferred vacation spots, but I am pretty darn excited about our first true vacation in about 5 years, and also thrilled to go someplace I have never been before.

Yay for vay-cay!

They're Heeeerrrreee!!!!!

Not a poltergeist but.......(rockin' drumroll please!).......


MY TICKETS TO SEE THE POLICE!!!!!!!!


Hoooooraaaayyyyy!!!


I don't think I mentioned this here before, but the day I bought the tickets we had my in-laws over for dinner. #2 informed the in-laws that her Daddy and I were going to the police station to see Elvis.

I think they were relieved to find out that instead we were going to see The Police with Elvis Costello.


Did I mention that I CAN NOT WAIT???????????????????


Oh Sting my love.....soon we can be together! Look for me in the first balcony. Don't worry about the handsome bearded man beside me. We have an understanding about such things. Be sure to wear something without sleeves and if you don't mind..it would please me greatly if you could manage to turn your back to the audience on a fairly regular basis.

Because I need a new topic

I am so tired of illness.

There are many good things about being a parent. Illness is not one of them. It is awful seeing your child suffer and know that there is precious little you can do about it. That definitely sucks. I'll tell you what else sucks, and that is when you become a parent you forfeit the ability to be sick yourownself. Even if I decide to stay home to nurse my own illness, usually at the very least I have to get the kids up, dressed, and fed. On a good day I may be able to pass them off to a grandparent for school transportation. On a not so good day, I may have to provide that as well.

If we have back to back illness like we have recently, and I am required to stay home say 2.5 days with a sick child, I have automatically forfeited my ability to stay home to nurse my own illness. In all fairness this has as much to do with the type of work to do and my personal ethics as it does with being a parent.

So I have to power through two more days and then I can pass out for one before the work week starts up again.

You may all feel sorry for me now.

Thanks.

So let's talk about something else.....say FOOD.

I made a couple of kick ass meals over the last week.

The first was a new recipe for us. Chili Rubbed Steak Tacos. Yu-HUM! They were made up of skirt steak rubbed with a concoction of chili powder, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, and grilled for a few minutes. Then you roll up the steak in a warm corn tortilla topped with lettuce, cheese, cilantro, and whatever else your heart desires. The recipe included an avacado salsa, but we are not so fond of the avacado around here, so we skipped that part. Tasty stuff.

The second meal was one that I make often, but I did one small thing differently this time and it made it SO much better. One of my favorite pasta dishes is angel hair pasta with aglio e olio.

I make it using whole wheat angel hair pasta. I have been on the whole wheat pasta train for many years now. I know a lot of people don't seem to care for the whole wheat pastas, but I love them. I think the flavor is better, and it is much more filling. Also the health benefits are good! This dish is very quick and easy! Boil your pasta. Then saute one tsp minced garlic in one half cup olive oil, until the garlic is golden brown. Then add 1 tbsp. chopped parsley, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less if you don't want the spicy kick) and salt. Saute a little and then remove from heat. Drain the pasta and toss it in the pan with the olive oil sauce. The recipe I use calls for a pound of pasta. I halved the amount of pasta this time and it really made it much more flavorful. Add some paremesan and if you are feeling plucky, slice up some marinated chicken breast to add to the pasts. Even more yum!

Ahhh....feels good to talk about something else!

Not sure why.....

This makes me kind of sad.

Maybe it was because he was a former Hottie of the Week, and it stirs my nostalgia machine.

Hey, maybe I should reinstate the Hottie of the Week. I kind of miss that. Only I am feeling short on hotties to honor.

As always the suggestion box is open!

Dagnabbit!

(Thought it might be fun to try channeling the crusty prospector side of my personality today)


I was really hoping that Obama would have swept those primaries yesterday. Not because I am a great big Obama supporter. Electile dysfunction is still troubling me, but I think I am getting some stirrings with Obama.


The main reason I am disappointed is because I hoped we would have a definite candidate and they could start talking about something else on my beloved NPR. Maybe it is because the majority of the time I get to listen is at the top of the hour, but I am seriously beginning to doubt that there is any other topic covered on All Things Considered anymore.


Maybe it is time to switch to some books on CD for awhile and give myself a break.


Any suggestions?


I could see if I can get the second half of the Bill Clinton biography, which I have never finished but that seems as if it would kind of defeat the purpose.

I would like to lodge a complaint

Some times you have a day that can be described no other way except to say that it sucked ass.

I would have to say that the majority of this day for me fit that description.

Apparently I need to tell all three or four of you about it.

Let me see....

First off it was #2's first day back at school after her bout with the flu. She was not quite as excited as the rest of us. I believe the first words out of her mouth today were, "I don't want to go to school today." Not exactly the reply I was looking for to my cheery, "Good Morning Beautiful Girl!" From there we moved on to her informing that she was not putting on her clothes, which was followed by, "I am not eating breakfast.", which led to "I am not coming downstairs," to which I followed up with placing her on the curb with a little hobo sack and a sign that said "For Sale...Cheap."

We finally get in the car 10 minutes later than we needed to leave in order for me to make it to work on time only to discover that #1 has left her violin in the house. I managed not to curse in front of the child, but waited until she was back in the house out of earshot. I hope that you are appropriately impressed with my self-restraint.

To school we go without further incident or whining.

I am breaking all kinds of speed limits to make it to work no more than a couple of minutes late for my 8:30 appointment. After throwing my things in the desk drawer and sprinting to the lobby to see that no....one....is....there.

I check my schedule in the computer to see that EVERY.APPOINTMENT. I. HAD. SCHEDULED.IS.CANCELLED.

Again I will impress you with my restraint as I walk calmly to the front office to ask the recetionist the kind version of..."What the fuck is going on here? What the hell happened to all of my appointments?????????"

Y'see we had a substitute receptionist today. There is one other person in our office who shares my name. Apparently that person left a message this morning stating that they were not feeling well and would not be in today. Apparently the person who shares my name forgot to give her last name thereby identifying which one of us would not be there. Subrecept did not know there were two people with the same name in our office, recalled my absence from yesterday and assumed it was me and proceeded to cancel all of my appointments today.

I politely, YES it was polite! Requested that she call them all back and let them know that I would be there today.

Then I went back to my office and held a tantrum in my head.

The rest of my morning was somewhat uneventful if you don't count the fact that I had to run for the kleenex box every two seconds, and the other seconds were spent trying to and/or successfully sneezing. Because apparently I needed to come down with a cold today.

My afternoon...I am still trying to forget the hell that was my play group.

My head continues to fill with more snot.

I have to run to Sonic (Bleargh!!) to grab dinner on my way home as we have #2's music concert to get to at 6:45. I leave the office at 6, stupid Sonic gets my order wrong twice, I get home at the time we need to leave, and so we get to eat in the car on the way, and my burger was wrong!

My head fills with even more snot.

The concert was cute and lovely.

There have been no further crap incidents since we got home.

Unless you count the increase in snot volume in my head.

I am trying to forget about that.

So in the words of Scarlett O'Hara.....tomorrow is another day...and it better be shitloads better than this one.

Or something like that.

Day 5

I remember having the flu as a child, I think there were three years in a row I came down with it on my birthday. That really sucks. At any rate, I would always be down for at least a week and at some point about halfway through I would start to think that I wouldn't know when I was well because I couldn't remember what it felt like to be well.

I think #2 may have reached that point. Unfortunately for her (and me) it struck at about 2:00 this morning.

Her fever spiked again and she came crying in to my room saying, "I don't feel well at allllllll!!!!" So we take her temp and I get out the ibuprofen. While I am doing this she begins to cry harder, which was a bit surprising. After 5 days I would think that she was used to this routine.

Suddenly she blurts out, "I don't want to diieeeee!!!"

"Huh?" is my nuturing and well spoken reply. (It is 2 AM, I am not at my most articulate at this time.)

"I doooonnn'ttt waaannnt toooooo diieeeeeee.....I am afraid I am never going to get better and I am afraid I am going to DIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" BIG TEARS now from #2.

Well THAT kind of statement woke me up, and infused me with a whopping surge of sympathy for this poor kid who has no recall for any time that she has been ill for this long.

We had a good snuggle and some reassurance that she was not going to die, this is just a sickness that hangs around for a long time, and back to sleep she went.

Here's hoping that today is the last day. No fever so far this morning, which happened yesterday too, only for things to really rock-n-roll in the afternoon.

But surely today is the day.....surely.

Really... I think this has gone on long enough

We are now on Day 4 of the Flu Show here at Chez Us. Our primary issue continues to be a high fever. We topped out at 103 today. We added a new symptom today...cranky (no not me, #2!) She is officially tired of being sick, and let it be known several times this afternoon. I went ahead and took her to the weekend emergency clinic just to make sure we didn't have strep or something going on. We don't. So there is two hours and somewhere around $75 I won't ever see again. Oh well. Desperate times...looks like Mommy and #2 will be home again tomorrow. I am also looking forward to quit evaluating every twinge I feel for fear that I am going to be the next one to sucumb to the vile virus. It is crazy making.

On to other topics. In a couple of weeks there is a reunion/celebration thing being held for my high school theater teacher. So all the old theater geeks from the past 25 years will gather to do whatever it is theater geeks do when they get together after a long time. When I first heard of it I was really excited. Then my excitement waned a bit because I was not really hearing about anyone I knew besides my hubby and myself who were going to be there. Now however, my bald and eternally effective friend Dan has announced that he will be going, and seems to have the good gossip on some other folks who plan to make an appearance. My interest is much higher now and I look forward to seeing some people that I have lost touch with over the years.
Because while I manage to do a fair job keeping up with this blog, I really am a terrible, crap correspondant.

Which probably helps explain my rather dull social calendar.

Maybe I should just hand out my blog address and come clean with my sucky correspondance record.

OK it is ROL time. Gotta go watch the mess that is this TV show.

More Pitchurs!

Everyone loves pictures of kitties... right?

I think ours are particularly cute. Especially when they are not attacking each other. (OK especially when baby kitty is not attacking senior citizen kitty.)

A very rare moment of peaceful togetherness.

Perhaps we should have named her E.T......

Pitchurs!

Last Sunday as I was folding laundry, I hear a ruckus coming from the room of #2. I open the door to find #1 and #2 engaged in a game of volleyball in her room. I ain't talkin' about the balloon kind either.

So I made an executive decision that 41 degrees was warm enough for a trip to the park!

So that we could climb and,

run away from parents.

Even though it was a little (ok ALOT) wet and soggy....

It was still fun!