Friday, February 29, 2008

NOT FAIR NOT FAIR NOT FAIR!!!

(Please excuse the following VERY WHINY statement)

Today it is well above 50 degrees.

Tomorrow it is forecast to be in the mid 60's!

This is the first decent weather we have seen since December and all signs are pointing to us being stuck in the house with flu-ridden child.

AND I don't feel so hot today either. Although I have decided it is all in my head because I have been around so damn many sick children the past two weeks. My office may NEVER be rid of the smell of Lysol I have sprayed so much.

Aaarrggghhhh!!! It's not fair!!! NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Happy Housekeeping Tip #1

Here is my Hilda Housekeeper tip for the day:


If your flu-ridden child horks up a tummy full of Hawaiian Punch on to your blue hallway carpet, a good dose of Nature's Miracle will take that stain out right away!

We have been using it on pet accidents for years, and obviously it works on stains of the more human variety too.


Yes dear friends it appears the flu has reared it's ugly head at Chez Us.


Childhood illness is amazing. You send to bed a child who seems to be perfectly healthy, and wake up to a coughing, high-fevered mess. This bug seems to hit hard and fast.


Let's hope it leaves as quickly as it arrived.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Oh.My.God.

I just watched the entire broadcast of the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

The entire thing.

It was long.

I believe I have seen exactly one movie that was up for an award tonight.

I need to get out more.

And go to bed.

But I can't because I am waiting for BH to put me over in to Utopia.

Unfortunatley that isn't as dirty as it sounds.

He will send me in to Utopia by putting away the piles of his laundry that currently rest on my side of the bed.

Once he does that, all laundry will be clean, folded, and put away before Monday.

That is my Utopia.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

WOOOOO HOOOOO!

BH AND I ARE GOING TO SEE THE POLICE AND ELVIS COSTELLO IN MAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAN'T WAIT!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, February 22, 2008

This is the CUTEST.VIDEO.EVER.

Oh my God. This breaks all kinds of levels of cute. I can't hardly stand it.



I finally figured out how to embed these damn things!

Hopefully

Tickets to see The Police AND Elvis Costello and the Imposters are in my immediate future.

Tune in tomorrow to find out!

YAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!

Some Days....

My job is really hard and really sad.

Today was one of those days.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Wish I could bounce back like that

We had Mittens the Wonder Kitten spayed and declawed on Monday.

We brought her home late in the afternoon the same day and by the evening she was trying unsuccessfully to jump on to our bed. She did it more than once even though it was obviously painful for her. Perhaps she is just not that bright. That thought has occurred to me a few times over the two months we have had her.

She got the bandages taken off of her paws today, and I still don't think she realizes that the claws are gone. She was madly scratching at the scratching post and she just tried to jump on my lap only to fall off and land on her neck. She is ok, and I shouldn't but I laughed at her. Then picked her up and gave her some love. Which to Mittens is an open invitation to play bite my fingers.

She has a lot of play in her that is for sure.

I have been having some guilt about the declawing and I am sure there are those out there who are thinking that I absolutely should feel guilty.

Then I remember finding her swinging from the top of the canopy in #2's room, and the multiple times she decided to climb all the way up the back of my body to sit on my head, and I think...no, we made the right decision.

We did not have the senior citizen kitty declawed. The SPCA where we adopted her and the vet in California made us feel so guilty for even entertaining the idea that we didn't do it. We don't really have a scratching problem with her either. However, 13 years ago when she was a tiny kitten I was in grad school, working only part time, living in a city where we knew no one and had little social life, and of course NO CHILDREN. So there was ample time to teach kitty where scratching was acceptable.

That ain't gonna happen with this one, no way no how. I barely have time to teach the children what they can and can't do. She is a total house cat, and that figured in to the decision. Also our vet suggested it. It is a laser procedure now and the recovery for kittens Mittens age is quick. As we have discovered. She is pretty much back to normal.

My cats growing up were all declawed and they were indoor/outdoor cats. It did not seem to hamper their kitty freedom and abilities at all. One cat climbed trees, caught SQUIRRELS, and fish from the creek in our back yard. He was an amazing cat and EVERYONE loved him. Even people who did not like cats were quickly brought under Morris's spell. He was the shit. I still miss him. He went off one day and never came back while I was living in California. My mom was so upset by it that she called us in California when she knew I would be in class and made BH tell me. He was old and we think he just went off to die. He was a HUGE orange tabby cat. I could not even consider an orange tabby when we were looking for the most recent cat, because I knew they could never live up to good ol' Morris, and that is what I would want.

I am a total loser when it comes to taking pictures of things and I failed to get one of Mittens in her boxing gloves. I think it was partially out of guilt really. She kept shaking her paws at us, as if to say, "Why?? Why??" Then she would try to eat them.

Gotta love the kitties.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

End of the reprieve

This week marks the return to life even more hectic as we know it.

BH is holding auditions for the spring play this week and we are already feeling the difference in schedule around here.

Y'see since the musical ended right before Thanksgiving, BH has been picking the kids up as soon as they are out of school and coming home to accomplish things like chores, homework, and having dinner on the table when I get home. Sometimes children were even bathed by the time I got home. It makes a big difference 'round here let me tell ya.

Now we are back to some nights not even walking through the door until 6, or almost 7 on my late nights at work. Then it is a mad scene of whip cracking, nagging, whining, and crying to get everything done and everyone in bed before 8:30. Something gets left out almost every evening despite our efforts. When you live in The Land of Those Who Must be in Bed With Lights Out at 8:30, walking in the door to start your evening at 6:30 is really late. I can say that even in this first week our eating out count has raised significantly, and the house is trashed. My level of cranky is creeping up the charts too. Don't even ask about my level of tired. It makes me too sad.

So to cope I am trying to break this period of craziness in to pieces. We just have to make it 3.5 weeks and then a week off for spring break! (I'm off the whole week too! Yippee!!) Then only three weeks more until the show is O-V-E-R!! So see it is really only two three week stints. We can handle that right???

We gotta figure out a way out of this eating out thing. It kills my waistline and my bank account. I wish I could remember those things more readily when I am pulling into that drive-thru, or dialing the phone for pizza delivery, but I am afraid fatigue and feeling as if there is no way I can face cooking and cleaning up a meal wins out waaaayyy too often.

I think I need some superpowers.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Must resist urge to staple child's mouth shut

A skill that #2 posesses is the ability to come up with multiple solutions to a problem. Usually this is a skill that is to be encouraged.

Tonight however I would gladly trade that skill in for a new model.

This evening #2 has been using that skill repeatedly in an attempt to get her way.

The issue at hand? Valentines.

Of course she came home with a million of them yesterday, and of course I have no intention of keeping a million tiny cards around the house for months to come. I informed both children that they could choose two Valentines to keep. #2 was not happy but did go off to make her choices without TOO much complaint. That of course was because she was stockpiling her resources so that she could sustain the issue for the remainder of the evening. As I am sure it will come to no suprise to those of you out there with children, she just COULD NOT decide on just two because there were five she wanted to keep and she was prepared with detailed reasons why she should keep them. I of course stuck to my original decision that 2 was the maximum to keep. This of course set off repeated "ideas" about how she could keep more. This goes on for awhile, as I naively think that my continued response of, "you may only keep 2 Valentines" would shut down the old idea factory. Obviously it did not work and I had to resort to one of my favorite parental mantras, "The decision has been made, I love you too much to argue and I will not discuss this topic anymore this evening." This of course meant tears and more attempts, even a threat that if I did not want to listen to her idea tonight then I would never get to hear it. I was able to keep myself from shouting Hallelujah, banging a tambourine, and dancing like I was at a come to Jesus meeting after hearing that threat, because I WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO NEVER HEAR THIS IDEA. In fact at this point I am completely anti-idea, I want to hear no ideas from anyone ever again.

Because you see the Valentine Idea Project couldn't be left to just Valentines. Oh no. That would be a waste. We had to argue other ideas that had been ixnayed as well on other non-valentine related topics.

Thankfully my idea girl is now in bed. I have addressed the issue without any raising of the voice, and I even kept the grouchy voice away. That was impressive. I have had a MASSIVE UGLY case of being irritable the past two days, and really have had to exert strict control over myself to keep from yelling at everyone simply because they talked to me. It is hard to win friends and influence people that way I tell ya.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

A Rant

I think that eventually my calling may be to help educate people on what therapy can and can not do for people.


I have joked for a long time that I was going to put on a conference for clients with break out sessions titled:


Your Therapist is not a Magician.


It is not your child who needs to change....it is YOU.


I can't fix stupid. (Yes I know that one is mean, but sometimes I am driven to go to that mean place in my head.


Why parenting your small child from the couch is not working.


There are others but I can't think of them right now.


I have found that a surprising number of people seem to have the belief that therapists have all of these magical things that we do that will make their child behave the way they want them to. What is even more amazing is why people can not understand why nothing is changing when they fail to follow through with anything discussed in the course of a therapy session. To go along with that, it is stunning how people can tell you 10 different ways an idea will not work, prior to actually putting said idea in to practice. Let me tell you that one has made my head explode so many times it is a wonder I am not sporting a tiny shrunken head on top of my neck. Even though it is frustrating and makes me want to bang my head against the concrete walls outside my office, that stuff is par for the course of therapy. If the people were dealing they wouldn't be there.

I think one problem is that people in our country have become so used to everything being fast and gratification being instant that they expect everything and I mean everything to happen quickly. Therapy just doesn't work that way and it is VERY difficult to get people to understand that. Insurance companies do NOTHING to dispell this notion and in fact perpetuate it in my opinion, with their willingness to pay for only 6 sessions, and only certain diagnoses meeting criteria for payment. How lucky we are that people who have no education or background in anything that even remotely resembles mental health know EXACTLY how long it takes to help a person resolve mental health issues, and to top it off they also are privy to which diagnoses are worthy of reimbursable treatment. My personal favorite is when said people from insurance companies tell me how to proceed with treatment of a client THEY HAVE NEVER MET.

I don't know that I have the energy tonight to further this rant about availability and affordability of mental health care. Or the rant about the pittance providers are reimbursed for their services. That one will have to wait for another day.

So to turn this back to where I started I give you my wishes/tips for parents seeking mental health treatment for their children:

  • Understand that you as a parent will likely have to do things differently if lasting change is going to happen.
  • Your child's behavioral problems did not develop overnight, and they will not be resolved overnight, so please be patient. Therapy is a process.
  • Try suggestions before saying they will not work.
  • Try suggestions more than once before saying they will not work.
  • You must get up off the couch, get down on your child's level to get them to listen to you. Hollering directives from across the room is the best way I know of to get your child to ignore you.
  • Listen when I talk about what is developmentally appropriate for your child. A three year old can not clean his room by himself. A 6 year old is not going to come into my office, sit nicely in a chair and tell me all about her problems. The toys are there for a reason, please let me use them as they are intended.
  • Bring your child to appointments on a regular basis. I can not help them if they go three months between each session.
  • Please remember that I have no magic wands, potions, or spells to magically turn your child into a perfect little angel. Mainly because magic is not real and neither are children who are perfect angels.

I think that is all I have to say about that.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

2 YEARS!!!!

Woo Hoo! I made it to the two year mark at my job as of today.

Know what? I am not even looking for anyplace else to work. This is a first for me. The agency sent a beautiful peace lily to me today to honor the occasion. That kind of made me laugh as that is a plant typically sent as a gesture of sympathy. Next paycheck they will also begin giving me 12 hours a month vacation time. Yeah!!

In other news...I can not remember when I last had a stretch of evenings that have been as unproductive as the last four have been. It is critical. I have felt really worn down and tired this week. My eating habits have been terrible and exercise is not happening. All of which leads to more lethargy. Not sure what is up with me. I think part of my problem is a new laptop to play with and a game on it called Mahjong Titans that I am pretty damn addicted to.

I may have to have BH hide the computer until I get myself back on track. I got laundry in baskets that hasn't been put away. (Truth time: this is not exactly an uncommon occurrance. I once told BH that my Utopia would be for the laundry to be clean, folded, AND put away before I go to bed Sunday evening. Needless to say I am not living in a Utopian society most weeks.) A house that is horribly dirty, still haven't finished transferring the old to the new computer...oh there are lots of other things but I think I have bored you enough.

On a positive note I DID bake about a million (read 2.5 dozen) miniature heart shaped chocolate chip muffins for #2's Valentine party tomorrow. From scratch! Using primarily organic products!
All is not lost yet!!

Now since it is nearly 11:00 PM CST I guess I should put this baby to bed and make lunches for tomorrow.

Bleah!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Attention TWHS theater geeks (and you know who you are!)

Anyone going to this reunion thing in March?

Anyone???

BH and I will be there.

It is on my birthday so I am excited just to have plans for the first time in ..... in.....

Now that is just sad.

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Hard Way

So I got a new laptop yesterday, since my old one is dying a slow death and this new fancy to me model was on sale for a darn good price. I am thoroughly enjoying my new purchase and no longer question whether or not I am going blind as this screen is bright and light, whereas my old one was getting darker by the day, and flickering and all kinds of fun stuff. The battery would go MAYBE 20 minutes, with the duration getting shorter every day. New batteries for these babies are outrageously expensive I found out, I truly was shocked and dismayed.

Now I am going through the oh so fun process of transferring and weeding out of crap from the old one on to the new. At the rate I am going, I should be done just in time for the new one to be too old to function.

I have spent the better part of this evening transferring my itunes library to the new computer. Much of that time was spent looking for what I was pretty damn sure had to be the easier way to do it. Turns out there is no easy way, or I am too tired to figure it out. I love my itunes I do, but this is ridiculous. The recommended method is to put everything on your iPod, then do a transfer to your new computer. The issue is that the bulk of my itunes material is TV shows which of course take up assloads of memory. I have a Nano, and while it suits my needs just fine, for this project it is taking multiple synchs because I ain't got the memory to to do it all at once.

I have yet to decide what to do with the old laptop. Maybe I will just keep it around and let the kids use it to play games until it finally dies.

Any other ideas for a still functioning, old, tired laptop?

Saturday, February 09, 2008

I think I have this...

I think I have finally found a word to define my state of mind this election season.

In my eagerness for a new administration I really thought that I would be more excited about the upcoming election, however I just find myself to be unimpressed and uninspired.

I am somewhat embarassed to admit that I skipped the caucus this week for several reasons, but mainly due to my lack of enthusiasm for this race so far.

I first thought it was due to a gross overload of discussion regarding the campaigns. I am not sure that they even give air time to any other subject on NPR anymore.

As is my usual way, after taking time to let my thoughts and feelings percolate I have come to the conclusion that my lack of enthusiasm and indecision has to do with my likely somewhat ridiculous belief that no matter who wins in the end I will be disappointed by them.

I do think that I am having at least a leaning towards one candidate now which is progress I guess.

Anyone else suffer from this disorder?

How does this picture frigthen me? Let me count the ways..


And it ain't just because he's a Republican, or Pube as my good friend Dan would say. I have decided I like Pube much better than Republican so I have decided to make use. Hopefully Dan won't mind. He looks completely evil to me in this picture and I fear for the baby held ever so awkwardly in his arms.

On the Democratic end of things...
Apparently our fabulous and certainly World Famous Topeka Capital Journal seems to be running a contest to see who can capture the most disturbing photo of political figures. Now this picture is not so much disturbing as it is misleading..


If you happened to see video footage of this moment you would know that instead of getting ready for some heavy duty making out, Governor Sebelius and Senator Obama were merely giving each other a quick peck on the cheek. This however was the photo chosen for the front page the day after he visited Kansas.
Nice.

I don't know this Devon, but apparently Devon knows things

Devon Knows How They Make Melissa So Creamy.

Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more Melissa slogans.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Something I love

Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's.

Still I wonder why that number on the scale fails to change.....

Friday, February 01, 2008

I am a dumb-a@$

So I am trying to score a photo printer off of e-bay. You know one that will print without being hooked up to a computer? I need it for work so of course I don't want to pay a lot for it.

I bid on one in the last few seconds of an auction and won.

So why am I a dumbass?

Because I was hurrying, and did not read the specs carefully enough and I am now stuck with a plain ol' printer that needs a computer.

Anyone want a new in the box Canon Pixma iP1800?

I'll sell it to ya for what I paid for it, and kick in shipping and handling.

Because that's how this dumbass rolls.