If this blog were a child I would be turned in to SRS for neglect

Y'know somehow I seem to think or at the very least mistakenly recall that once the school year ends life slows down at Chez Us.

That just doesn't seem to be the case this summer, or maybe I am just delusional, addled, or suffering from some other similar condition when thinking back on past summer vacations.

Perhaps things will slow down after this next week is over. Camps will be done, BH will be finished with his class, and the musical he got drafted to participate in last week will be over.

That will give us just a few weeks before our trip to the Smoky Mountains. Just a few days after we get back from that trip it will be time for BH to return to teaching and a week after that time for the children to return to school.

Yeesh. I can't think about all of that or my head will go funny.

We have accomplished none of the things we set out to do this summer to the house and other areas of our lives.

Well I take that back, we did manage to plant flowers, herbs, and veggies. That is the only thing on our list so far that has gotten any attention.


We have been so busy that the thought of taking such a long trip is beginning to seem daunting to me, and I am having bad thoughts about scrapping it and staying home. We won't and shouldn't do that of course, but it has crossed my mind, which is a sad thing especially when I take in to account the fact that it has been something like 4 years since we had a vacation. We'll go it will be fun, and I will be glad we went in the end.

Well kids, it is getting late and tomorrow is the day for the monthly family dinner. This month it is simple. Oh so gloriously simple. We are ordering pizza and making homemade ice cream. Then we can sit outside and play and play and play, as #1 used to say when she was a wee one.

The "DONE WITH" files

Here is an entry for things I am ALL DONE WITH THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

C'mon dude. It's Sunday. Father's Day! We are supposed to be outside playing, not hunkered down in the basement soothing freaked out children and pets.

OY!

Recovering

From the two day bonanza that is #2's dance recital.

Maybe some pictures or an interesting post tomorrow.

No promises.

Irony

As we walked home from our weekly trek to the Farmer's Market today, the children were leading us home and pretending that we were on an Indiana Jones type adventure. We all had to hold our water bottles upside down as they were "torches" that led us through the dark and dense forest.

As the humidity was at about 1000% there was a fair amount of condensation on my water bottle so I shook it over the girls and said, "Oh no! Now it is raining! What will we do?"

#2 turns around, gives me a very stern look and says, "Stop playing mommy! This is not a time to play around!"

So sorry, apparently I forgot myself.

Craptastic

That about sums up this week.

It has just been one long string of small annoyances that have built up with each day that has passed.

It started off with my car being the victim of a flash flood in the parking lot at work and has ended with a mysterious illness in one of my in-law's cats.

Now I am sure a couple of you are wondering why the in-law kitty thing would be upsetting.

My father in law got the cats as a "birthday present" to himself a couple of years ago. He chose this birthday present mainly, nay entirely because my children had spotted some kittens up for adoption at Petsmart and could.not.stop.talking.about.them.

Grandpa is the man who cain't say no to his grandchildren and so he wound up adopting both kittens.

My children consider these cats to be their pets, and they help care for the cats as much as possible. We have made many trips to grandma and grandpa's for the sole purpose of visiting/playing with the kitties.

This week one of the kitties stopped eating and is having a lot of difficulty getting around. They took her to the vet and many tests have been run and they are having a very difficult time figuring out what is wrong. They could spend about a grand and make a trip out of town to get a kitty MRI, that may or may not help the diagnosis. At this point they are opting against the MRI. For today the kitty is at the vet for observation and medication. The vet is fairly sure the problem is located in the spinal column, but he is not sure what exactly the problem is.

In short, things do not look good for this cat.

#2 has burst in to tears about 3 times this evening over the issue. She considers this cat to be hers. (Each of them claimed one of the kitties as their own.)

We have not experienced a pet loss of this magnitude. If you read this blog with any regularity you are well aware of the passion my children have for pets. So if this cat dies, you can rest assured there will be mass amounts of grief.

So please readers who make themselves known and readers who lurk silently...please send positive healing kitty thoughts our way.

Perhaps an ark is in order

So we got a big ole nasty storm here Monday. Dumped over 2 inches of rain in less than two hours.

Apparently this much rain in such a short time was too much for the parking lot at my place of employment, seeing as how a portion of it filled up with about three feet of water. Or so they tell me. I was busy working and didn't find out what had happened until it was all over.

Too bad for me, because my car was parked in the portion where the water gathered to party.

By the time I got to my car there was about a 1/4 inch of water on the floorboards. It didn't get any higher than that luckily. It was still enough for the insurance company to write an estimate for $750 dollars to get it cleaned and repaired. I was really surprised by the amount. I figured a couple hundred bucks for a good and thorough cleaning. Apparently a good and thorough cleaning post flooding in your car is a lot of damn work. Seats taken out, carpet removed, pad replaced. Possible seat belt replacement. Who knew? Not me. I do now!

I have to give credit to my insurance company they came out the next day and had check in hand. Pretty impressive given the amount of storm damage in these parts after Monday. I count myself darn lucky.

So now I leave you all with a question.

What is the best way to keep squirrels away from my garden? Besides shooting them. Which would be hard seeing as I neither own nor ever intend to own a gun.

I am going to change the title and focus of my blog

I think I will call it The Sick Room and it will be a chronicle of the massive amounts of illness my family members go through.

Why the change, you might be asking?

Because apparently that is what the people in this house do. They get sick, get well for two days and then get something else. The sister blog will be titled Why I am a Cranky Bitch. That will be a forum for me to rant and rave about how F-U-C-K-I-N-G tired I am of the illness that seems to abound around here.

So to give you the run down....a few weeks ago we had one down with strep, quickly followed by some kind of hideous rash. That was only a few weeks after #2 had a sinus infection, and BH had some kind of plague that left him practically bedridden for 10 days. Since about October I would be willing to bet that we have not gone for more than a month without someone coming down with some illness. #2 has really more than surpassed her quota this year. I plan to have a LONG and DETAILED disucssion about her what feel like chronic sinus issues at her upcoming "well child" visit. I only hope it's well child.

#2 has yet another sinus thing going on that leaves her with a hacking cough and constant sniffles. BH has spent the better part of this weekend down with some kind of stomach ailment.

#1 and I have been fairly illness free, except for her bout of strep and rashickiness. Me....just a cold here and there. Of course now I have jinxed myself and will likely end up with some vile thing by tomorrow morning.

So that is why I am making changes...because this apparently is what consumes me and makes me a cranky bitch.

Enjoy.

Is it better to say nothing at all?

If you really don't have a blog post in mind, is it better not to post at all if the only thing you can write about is how you don't know what to post today?

These are the things that make me lie awake at night.

Sign of a good day

It is 10:13 AM and I have been up for just about 1 hour.

Sleeping in....GOOOOOODDD.

Now if someone would just take me out for a yummy breakfast...err..brunch I would REALLY be off to a good start.

It doesn't take that much to make me happy.

The weather man apparently has BH's back

So about 3 AM today we had a very long and loud storm roll through.

BH got up to reassure the dog and decided to check the TV to make sure a trip to the basement was not imminent.

When he got back to bed I asked him what the weather man had said.

He informed me that it was just a severe thunderstorm AND the weatherman said that BH and I should have sex.

I laughed and laughed....OH how I laughed!!

A Good Tired.....I think

House cleaned...check

Extra tables and chairs procured....check

Veggies purchased.....check

Yard made to look MUCH less ugly than it did before...check sort of, still some de-junglefying to do in the back yard.

TWO Mayonnaise cakes made and frosted.....Nope, but here is hubby back from the store with the mayo. Shhhh!!!!! I made him get fat free mayo. No one but us will ever know....the frosting from a can will make up for the fat free mayo. I said f-you to making frosting this time. I have spent the entire day trimming, pulling, digging, and planting. I am beginning to hurt and people are lucky I didn't buy a damn chocoloate cake from the store and try to pass it off as the real deal.

Crabby and tired...check

Another chapter of "Tales From the Nurses Office"

Both of my children have had a fascination at some point during their school career with going to the nurse's office. #1 has outgrown it. #2 is doing better. #2 is having Far fewer incidents than last year, but still more than I deem acceptable.

Last year she would often go because of the ever popular "tummy ache." In truth she did have tummy aches. Because #2 is picky about where she poops. Meaning she only likes to go on her own throne in the palace so to speak. So when the issue would arise at school, she would plead a tummy ache, go to the nurse and try to get me to come and get her. We have pretty strict rules at our house about what designates a sick day. That is a fever, throwing up, diarrhea, or other communicable disease. If those ain't happening you ain't coming or staying home. Besides that, I knew what the deal was and I told her in no uncertain terms that I was not picking her up from school so that she could come home and poop. Everyone has to draw the line somewhere and that is mine.

Today I took #2 to the nurse before shcool to explain what was going on with this allergic reaction/itchy rash deal. I told her that if the rash became more (emphasis on the MORE here) bothersome, or she was getting much worse to call me. Well sure enough about noon my phone is ringing. #1 is itchy. Only on one leg I come to find out. This does not meet criteria for much worse, and we only have 2 hours till the doctor.

My verdict:
If I refuse to bring your sister home to poop, then I can't justify bringing you home to scratch your leg. Request to come home is denied.

You will all be relieved to know that she made it through and is still around to tell us about it.

I'd Like to place an order for some convenience please

Add on a side order of Enough Already too.

If I have from 9-11 and 3-4 free why can't it be that the doctor can see us during one of those times?

If my child has an illness that requires antibiotics, can she please not be allergic to the medication? If she is can we just stop it and give her something else without the doctor's appointment?

I think I am done whining now.

How 'bout some good news? Good news for me any way!

Remember those Coldplay tickets I was coveting?

I am so going.

Yippee!

How 'bout some HOLY SHIT news?

This Sunday...the date for the monthly family dinner...head count for attendance so far....

OVER 40 PEOPLE.

Dessert on the menu this time???

Mayonnaise Cake.

'Cause if it ain't full o'fat and sugar my kin AIN'T interested.

Anyone got a good recipe for cream cheese frosting? (I'm looking at you Hatchet!)

Now I want tickets to see Coldplay

Perhaps signing up for that Live Nation e-mail alert thing was not such a good idea.

On the very heels of the Elvis Costello and The Police, I get a notice that tickets for Coldplay go on sale this Saturday. I skipped out last time they came around and moaned about it for a long time.

I just need someone willing to shell out the big (but not as big as they were for the Police) bucks to go with me. BH likes Coldplay, but not as much as I do and ain't too interested in spending that kind of money for a band he just likes, but doesn't Lu-HOVE. He however is not protesting at the thought of me spending that kind of money so I can go. I just don't fancy attending concerts by myself. That is no fun. I am old enough now that I don't want the cheapy nosebleeding seats either. I am not going for top price range, but mid-range which is still pricey. Ridiculously pricey really, but I guess we all have things that we are willing to spend amounts of money that seem ridiculous to others. Live music happens to be that item for me. I don't go nearly as often as I would like. The Police was the first concert I have been to in at least 5 years.

Concerts are almost always interesting experiences and this was no exception. I did not feel like I was the oldie at this particular show. People were on their feet, but there was little dancing, in part I think because the seats and aisles are close together. This was the first concert I have been to (with the exception of Harry Connick Jr. )where there was no pot aroma in the air. Maybe the ventillation is just really good or something at the Sprint Center, but I tell ya I am always seated next to the big toker at nearly every show I have gone to. But not this one. For which I was grateful. The smell of weed makes me quite nauseous. While we were by no means bored, by about 10:00 both BH and I were stifling yawns. Which was a little sad, and a testament to the fact that we are old.

I have learned that having the aisle seat at the Sprint Center is not a good thing. For whatever reason people did not arrive on time to see Elvis Costello. Which I can't understand. I did not feel he was getting enough love in KC. His set was far too short in my opinion, I think his repetoire of material is just too vast for an opening act. Hopefully he will come around and headline in a smaller venue sometime. I will be there if he does. Anyway back to the aisle seat thing...people were constantly coming, going, stopping on the steps to talk to their friends and rather effectively blocking my view. I kept my temper in check, but I was dying to yell rude and passive aggressive things at these people. BH was upset at the lack of turnout for EC, very surprising to say the least.

All right. I guess I have rattled on about the show long enough. There are lunches to be made and other chores to do. Only 5 more lunches to make after today. Thank GOD. I am ready for school to be over so that children will settle down. Not my own this time. They are doing fine. The children I work with however are not doing so hot and my phone at work is constantly ringing, kids are flipping out all over. Yeesh. SED children DO NOT take major schedule changes well as a general rule. The end of the school year sets many of them off. Makes for a tired me. And a busy and behind me too.

Oy.

Hold on EC we're comin to the station!

Tonight is the night!

At long long last I will be in the company of my man Sting and his law enforcement counterparts, and to top it off I will get to listen to the gentle croonings of the only Elvis I am interested in listening to. That Elvis being Elvis Costello of course.

This promises to be a most excellent show and no doubt well worth the fatigue and voicelessness I will experience tomorrow.

Worth. It.

Will excessive sweat hamper the therapeutic process?

I have been pondering something lately.

Riding my bike to work this summer.

There are a lot of reasons that it would be a good thing:

• Exercise exercise exercise
• better for my checking account
• better for the environment
• exercise
• more exercise

There are also a few things keeping me from comitting at this point:

• Kansas is fucking ridiculously humid in the summer. This equals sweat and B.O.
• I would have helmet hair
• Nobody wants to be in a small office with a stinky therapist
• I probably wouldn't be able to come home for lunch anymore
• Helmet hair

Yes most of my reasons not to are vain and selfish.

But come on people. I have curly hair...between the humidity and the helmut I will look like a sad drowned poodle.

Let's hear it for Downward Dog

So I did it.

Followed through.

Started that Yoga class that I have been talking about doing for quite a while now.

I came thisclose to not following through. I am pretty famous for that these days. I had all kinds of excuses about why I couldn't shouldn't go:

• No yoga mat
• I wouldn't be home until 7
• I'm too tired
• It cost money
• blah blah
• whine whine

My downfall came when I mentioned to my BH that I had pretty much decided against it. Now BH is not one to be forceful, or tell me what to do but this time he decided he was going to put his foot down so to speak. Basically he told me I was full of crap, had pathetic excuses, and needed to just take the damn class already. (He said it in a kind and loving way, but I got the subtext.) He then proceeded to march my hiney to Target knowing full well that I am powerless against the siren's call of my beloved red bullseye mecca, and suggested again in a kind and loving way that I not return to the car until I had purchased a yoga mat. So I did.

Then the next day I went to class and guess what????

The world didn't end, my family did not feel neglected nor did they hate me, AND I felt more relaxed than I have in months.

I have to battle tremendous guilt when it comes to doing things that are strictly for my own enjoyment and benefit. Seriously. It is bad. This yoga class? One hour a week, AT MY PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT right after my last appointment on Thursdays, and I had 10 excuses why this was a bad idea. All because of the guilt. It is nothing short of amazing that I have actually been in community theater productions at all. When I do finally audition, I almost immediately start hoping that I won't be cast because I hate dealing with the guilt. For that kind of commitment it is almost crippling. It takes me weeks to stop thinking that I need to quit the show. Since I work all day and have only a precious few waking hours with my children in the evenings I feel that they should have me all of the time that I am not at work. Not exactly reasonable or healthy. Unfortunately this apparently is how I operate. There are reasons behind this and I am very aware of them. Doesn't seem to stop me from experiencing ridiculous amounts of guilt however.

So if I actually manage to follow through with that cake decorating class......I might be on the road to recovery.

Missy is a graduation girl

Whew!

Today officially marks the end of my monthly weekend sacrifice.

Today I graduated from my Play Therapy Certification Program!

Hooooorrrraaayyyyy!!!!

Soon there will be more initials to add after my name.

You can't have too many initials you know!

On the good side:

So no more weekends sacrificed for class time!

No more expensive payments to pay for the classes!

On the not so good side:

No more time with all the great people in my class.

Not to be a Negative Nancy here, but it has been my experience that when one participates in classes for adult professionals there is almost ALWAYS one person who is really fucking annoying. They ask a million questions that are not pertinent, stress out over things that are not important and take up class time about it, if you have ever been involved in a continuing education class I bet you know what I am talking about.

This class was exceptional in that there was no one who was irritating or annoying, and we all got to know each other really well and have a good time each LOOOOONNNGGG weekend we spent together. So I am a little sad about that tonight.

I have sucumbed to Facebook now, in an attempt to keep in touch with my classmates. It is kind of fun. If you have a Facebook account let me know and we can be friends!

I also have a Myspace account too, but I don't do much with it. Really my initial purpose in joining Myspace was to be able to see Zach Braff's myspace page. He is one of my friends. So it makes me look cool. Or maybe pathetic, probably a loser, hopefully not a stalker. 20 or so messages a day professing my undying love doesn't make me a stalker..... right?

So what will I do with all of my spare time and money?

I think I am going to start taking a Yoga class. They have one once a week where I work. I have wanted to try yoga for a long time now. May as well do it while I am at work!

I also hope to take a cake decorating class. Hopefully some instruction will lessen my frustration twice a year when I attempt to make fancy decorated cakes. At the very least I hope it will lessen my use of vile and profane language while attempted said cakes.

The money gets to go to BH's graduate classes that we hope will begin this summer.

Maybe if I am feeling brave later I will post a picture of me in a gold crown and lei with my play therapy classmates getting silly stringed by the instructors.

Why did they do that?

Because that's how we play therapists roll.

A not so Harry Potter moment

I think I will give up the Harry Potter title thing soon. It still makes me giggle a little tho...

Right now I am fantasizing about just not going back to work for the rest of the day.

I do that when I am home at lunch sometimes...come up with elaborate lies about why I didn't return, or call.

Today if I were to stay home I would take a nice long nap.

Anybody else have weird fantasies like this?

Wizard Hat Cupcakes! I need one more day

Oy.

I still feel like I am playing catch-up 'round here, and thus follows a request for one more day before I have to go back to work.

Unfortunately it is not to be.

So on to other stuff.

I can't remember if I mentioned starting up a monthly have the family over for dinner thing. And by family I mean all 800 of us who live in the area, aunts uncles, cousins, hangers on..

So this monthly family dinner thing was my idea. When I was a kid we ate Sunday dinner every week at my grandma's house. There were far fewer of us then, and the meal did not seem like such a production. Maybe it was, and I was just too young to get it.

At any rate, after I made my suggestion we decided it would be fun to drag out all the old recipes my grandma used to make.

I have been taking on the desserts. There are recipes, because at some point my grandmother got a recipe from someone, or attempted to write down her own. Y'see my grandmother does not really cook by a recipe. Which is fine, and a talent I wish I had, however when one is trying to recreate one of these recipes to suit the memories of AN ENTIRE FAMILY, it is a little stressful when the RECIPE IS NOT RIGHT AND BY THE TIME YOU DISCOVER IT.....TOO LATE TO FIX.

Today marked the third dessert that I had difficulty with. I am no master chef, but I certainly do not consider myself to be a slouch in the kitchen either. These recipes are not complicated. But I dearly wish my grandmother could remember how she doctored these damn recipes. She remembers after I have already finished the dessert usually.

The dessert I made today was called a Coke Cake. I have to say that I was more than a little appalled when I read the recipe. TWO cups of sugar, TWO sticks of margarine, TWO cups of minimarshmallows, AND one cup of coke. That is just for the cake. The icing....ONE cup of coke, and ONE POUND OF POWDERED SUGAR...sort of. Here was my issue. I am following the recipe for the icing. Boil remaining coke in bottle, (Here is one of the issues with these recipes. They are 30+ years old. They call for things like using a King Size bottle of Coke. There is no such thing any longer. So I am on the internet trying to figure out how much damn coke would have been left if I had used a King Size bottle. For the record a King Size bottle was 16 oz. Shows how out of whack our portions are now but that is a post for another time.) ANYWAY... boil remaining coke, 3 TB cocoa and one stick of oleo. I do this. I then pour it over the 1 pound of powdered sugar, and mix. This shit is the consistency of water. It is supposed to be a thin icing poured over a hot cake, but not this thin. So I add more sugar, more, more, more, and more. By the time I got it to a reasonable consistency there had to be well over two pounds of powdered sugar in there. BH and I give it a taste test, and surprisingly it isn't too bad, but definitely sugary. I add pecans, pour it over the cake and hope for the best.

Went over well. Seemed to satisfy everyones beloved memory of this dessert.

We are still peeling people off the ceiling though...and trying to rouse the rest from massive sugar comas.

Afterwards my grandma tells me that she is pretty sure she only used half the remaining coke in the bottle and then added the powdered sugar until the consistency was right.

Good to know.

Crazy Cat who's name is not Harry Potter

I need a bionic man/woman camera (better, stronger, faster).

After I get the bionic camera I need to keep it with me posed to shoot all the time, so that I can catch the crazy antics of this kitten we have.

This afternoon she jumped on a table that has a plant on it she likes to try and eat, knock over, have catnip with or something. While on the table she discovered the window, where she could see tree branches blowing in the wind. This cat must attack all moving or perceived to be moving, or maybe has a microscopic chance of moving objects.

She was trying so hard to get those damn trees that she tried to jump on the window sash to get closer. Seeing as there is only about an inch or two for her to stand on she was hanging from the top of the sash by her two front paws.

It was high comedy let me tell you.

If I was cool and talented like The Bloggess, I would take a picture of the window and then do funny drawings to give an actual illustration. But I am not that cool or talented so your imaginations will have to suffice.

From now on I will include Harry Potter in all blog titles

Apparently that is they way to get more readers to my blog. From what I can tell from my site meter, the post I did last December showing the wizard hat cupcakes for #2's party gets at least one or more hits EVERY DAY. I figure if I am more bold about it then I will get bazillions of readers. Disappointed readers, because having not read any of the books nor seen any of the movies I have precious little to say on the topic other than to occasionally rant and rave about #2's fixation. Which thankfully has cooled considerably in recent months. Which is good for my sanity and our relationship.

So here is to more hits on my blog!

Randomocity

I can't seem to come up with a post that involves just one idea, so I have decided to post some random crap that is in my head.

Because this is more fun than cleaning my house.

1. Travel is really expensive. The airline we booked for our summer trip went belly up a few weeks ago. We have gone from flying to Ohio, renting a van for the Ohio-Tennessee portion, and flying back home, to us driving our car, BH's parents driving their car the entire 5,000,000 mile trip. Why? Because to go by the original plan on those other solvent money sucking airlines will cost us $10,000,00. There is no hyperbole here.

2. Have I mentioned that I don't enjoy long-ass drives in the car?

3. Because I hate them.

4. Really. But I am sucking it up to save millions of dollars.

5. One of my suggestions when it became apparent that renting a van to avoid taking two cars was going to be ridiculously expensive? By our own SUV. Because that wouldn't be all that expensive, and I get nutty like that.

6. The next day after my wild suggestion I spent $40 to fill up my Hyundai Elantra (small 4-door, fairly fuel efficient) and declared that I will NEVER own a SUV. (The next time we need to cart both kids and their friends around in our two cars I will change my mind and declare that we must go buy a larger vehicle as soon as we drop off the kids at their destination.) I tend to go back and forth on the issue.

7. Buying a cell phone outside of my "new every two" deal with Verizon is fucking expensive.

8. I am STILL upset about my stupid move that killed my phone.

9. I have a really hard time deciding on ringtones for my phone. Apparently this is a big deal to me. I need songs. I need the songs to be pertinent to me and mine. I need the songs not to be annoying me every time my phone rings. Do my ringtones annoy others? Does it matter? Do other people have this issue? Am I shallow and stupid for being so concerned? Most likely....yes. I guess we all need something to be shallow and stupid about.

10. My house really needs to be cleaned. I really want my cleaning people back. I miss them. More now than ever. We are way behind. It is dirty dirty and making me crazy crazy and avoidant AVOIDANT.

11. I am not so secretly sorry I started this have my entire huge family over for Sunday dinner once a month thing. It turns in to a lot of work for me and mine, and truthfully people...I got a streak of lazy that runs the length of the US.

12. Will my family notice if I don't clean my house before they come over Sunday?

13. The online version of my local newspaper now has a space for comments on each story. The people who comment seem to be well......dumb, and angry. It annoys me to read those comments, yet I continue to do so.....

14. I think this is enough for now.

Business Time

This song is for all of you people out there who have been in a relationship for an extended period of time.

File Under Things to remember

It is important to empty pants pockets prior to putting them in the washing machine.

If you forget to check you just might do something totally moronic....

like washing your cell phone.

They don't work so well after.

So....

don't call me tomorrow until after the Verizon store opens.

Feverish Accusations

Gentle Readers,

I thought it would be prudent of me to check in with you as I have failed miserably in the area of blog posting for the past couple of weeks.

The past two weeks have been long and fraught with fatigue, illness, frustration, impatience, ruminating, and various other unpleasant activities.

I promised that I would not spend too much time complaining and I will do my very best to honor that promise.

BH has been sick for almost two weeks now. I am talking the running a fever for about 10 days, staying home in bed, wife calling during the day to make sure he is still alive kind of sick. He made it to work two days this week, and two days the previous week. He seems to be on the mend now, but as you can probably imagine he gets tired out pretty quickly. A few nights ago he woke up itching terribly, no rash just itching. Apparently he and Mucinex do not get along. In his sleepy and somewhat feverish state he dreamed that I had put itching powder on his side of the bed, and according to him, he very nearly woke me up to let me know what he thought of my actions. I am not sure what this dream could be saying, and truthfully I am not sure that I want to. Probably subconscious anger at me for not being home all last weekend at the height of his illness to take care of him in my usual manner. Or maybe he is just a little weird. Yeah...I think I will vote for weird.

We got moved in to the new building at work. Since I don't believe that it is a good idea to complain about work on the internet, I will leave it at that. My office is still not completely unpacked due to a lack of shelves and that is making me more than a little crazy. Hopefully by the end of this week that issue will be resolved. Between massive dissarray in my office at work, and the massive dissarray at my home I have been holding on to my sanity by a teeny tiny nearly invisible thread. I do not play well when everything feels disorganized and I do not have the time to remedy the situation. It is a pity there were no hidden video cameras in my office on Monday. I think it might have been amusing to watch me make about 50 laps around my office, picking things up and putting them back down, bumping in to furniture and boxes without actually doing anything. I am certain I looked like some kind of derranged video game character. It is what I felt like at any rate.

I apparently have not completely pissed off any higher powers, because my children have been VERY patient and well behaved the past couple of weeks despite the disrupted nature of our household, and by disrupted you know that I mean having to deal with a mother who had all the patience and impusle control of an hyperactive hypoglycemic off her ritalin and guzzling a chocolate bar. I should probably buy them a pony or something.

Ahh...I hear BH playing Rock Band now. Haven't heard that in over two weeks. Must mean he is truly on the mend. It also means that I will likely have to help him down the stairs when he is done and lead him to bed so he can take his second nap of the morning. He would have to choose the drums...maybe I can go convince him to switch to the guitar..less engergy expending required. He is so bored. Would it be inhospitable of me to suggest that if he is up to playing Rock Band drums, then maybe he could help out with a few cleaning chores.......

Speaking of chores I have been idle for over an hour now and should get back to work. I still have a very LARGE bakset that holds about three loads of last week's laundry and one load of this week's too. I should at least vacuum the floors before we have guests over for a meetng this afternoon.

Maybe I will be caught up on household duties by the end of next month.

Can someone explain the math here? How is it that two days of missed household chores takes 10 days to catch up on? Or maybe more for that matter. Anyone?

Stay Tuned

I will do a longer post later this week and I promise it will not be filled with massive whining about the crappy, poopy, stinky, mess that has been the last week. I don't anticipte the mess being cleaned up soon either.

In more exciting news....AMBRE is the Rock of Love!!! Bye Bye to massively annoying crybaby Daisy.

Yes friends THAT was the bright spot in this very long week.

Now I must try to go to sleep and stop ruminating about the days ahead.

Creeping closer to that corner

Knowing that I have a tough week going on I decided Sunday that I was going to be proactive and do things to help promote personal well being during a stressful time.

My Plan:

Eat Healthy Meals
Drink Plenty of Water
Take my vitamins every day
Go to sleep at 10:30 every night
Try to get in some exercise every day

Stats so far:
Eat Healthy Meals: 0 for 2
Drink Plenty of Water: 0 for 2
Take my vitamins every day: 1 for 2
Go to sleep at 10:30 every night: 0 for 2
Try to get in some exercise every day: 0 for 2

Yeah I am rockin' the plan!

Now for news that is sending me closer to that corner to rock and talk to myself:

Sunday my leg starts to itch. As I scratch I notice reddish swellings appearing where I am scratching. There appear to be three bug bites of some kind there. Which was odd seeing as how I have not spent significant amounts of time engaged in activities that could lead to bug bites. Later in the shower I notice several other similar spots on my leg, hip, and stomach. Curiouser and curiouser. I have not taken any medications, nor tried any new foods or anything like that. So I put some benadryl cream on them and figure they will go away. Yesterday they were still there. A little itchy, but no new ones. Today, about 10 new spots pop up on my back. I decide it is time to seek medical advice. To shorten this up. I am having some kind of allergic reaction to...something. May be an insect bite. We don't know! So I am given Prednisone and some samples of an antihistamine that won't make me drowsy. The doc then tells me about the big side effects of Predinsone being irritability and insomnia. Hmmmm.......these are two things that I DO NOT NEED THIS WEEK. So for now the prednisone sits on the counter untouched and we will just see what this antihistamine does for me.

Also...
It would appear that BH is coming down with something that involves a fever. Worse for him than for me obviously, but just one more thing to add to the list.

Is it next week yet?

News on the cute front:

#2 has had her magnifying glass, notebooks, and pencils out this evening trying to solve the great mystery about my red itchy bumps. She has scoured the house with her magnifying glass, made notes, and come to the following conclusion:
The red itchy bumps are caused by a bug. This bug is only biting me because I smell so sweet and good all the time, and it likes things that smell good and sweet.

This is why I keep her.

Do you think they are getting overtime?

Glad I am not a foster care case manager in Texas right now.

That is some freaky stuff.

A thought that has percolated for a while

For those who don't know I live in a town that is home to a certain "religious" group that enjoys carrying signs around that have hate messages about homosexuals as well as a few other things.

Last week a march was held here in protest of the above mentioned individuals.

Now please be VERY CLEAR that I in no way appreciate, agree with, condone, and any other similar word you can think of the message shared by the so called "religious" group. I have seen their signs at least once a week for more years than I care to count.

However......

I was in no way really excited about nor did I plan to go out and participate in the march last week.

The reason being is that I believe the only way to shut this group down is to ignore them.

I mean IGNORE THEM COMPLETELY. As in pretend they do not exist, pretend you do not see them, make them invisible.

I know that people say this all the time. I have also read it or heard it said somewhere that ignoring them doesn't work. To this I say, we do not know that ignoring them does not work because they have never TRULY been ignored. Some one somewhere gives them attention constantly, which they openly admit to thriving on regardless of the type of attention it is.

Admittedly this is a hard group to ignore, particularly if you are resident of this fair city. Their signs are bold in color and in statement. There are a lot of them. They are amazingly faithful to their cause. They are fanatical, and I think more than one of them are likely mentally ill. They will yell hateful and disgusting things at you merely because you walk past them on your way in to a venue they have decided is worthy of picketing.These are things that are difficult to ignore because for many of us the above mentioned behaviors fan such a huge roaring fire of anger and outrage that it feels absolutely impossible not to respond in some way, because surely SURELY this time, this report, this comment will put an end to the hate.

Unfortunately your response to them fans their huge hate-filled fire too, and keeps it burning long after your comments and or actions have faded in to the wind.

I know that my hopes for total lack of response are futile at best. Maybe I am wrong and they would continue on anyway. But if at least.. AT LEAST if the local and national media ignored them a few less people would be exposed to their ugly words and not see their sad misguided messages.

For me...I will just continue my own IGNORE! campaign, and pray that someday I no longer have to.

Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride

I am not much of one for fantasy or sci-fi, but right now I would gladly offer up (enter something really appealing here) to have a magic remote control that would allow me skip over the next week.

I have been dreading next week for quite some time now. Unfortunately the closer I get to the week's arrival it seems I have more and more reason to increase my dread.

I first was dreading the week because it is what is known to theater folk as production week for BH. As most of you know he is the drama guy at a local high school and the spring play opens next week. I refer to this week as Single Parent Week. During Single Parent Week BH leaves the house before 7 AM and does not return until after 10 PM. That in and of itself is never much fun for the girls and I. We really like having BH/Daddy around, and we are all a little bummed out when he isn't.

A couple of months ago, my dread of this week increased when I realized my 4 day Theraplay Class is this week. That means a two plus hour commute each day, and the training is fairly intense from what I hear. The four days are from Thursday-Sunday. Which means essentially no weekend for me. That always makes for a happy Missy.

Two weeks ago my dread went off the charts when I found out that date for moving in to the brand new building at work was moved from today to next Friday. That means I have to have my office totally packed, labeled, and ready for the movers before I leave work on Wednesday. I also have to make sure all of my paperwork and phone calls are caught up as well. As I am only working in the office three days next week, I did not feel that I could switch around my clients anymore to have packing time and thus will not be able to begin packing until 5:00 Wednesday evening. It is important that a play therapist have toys available for clients, and of course the bulk of what needs to be packed is toys. Moving is stressful no matter what kind or how beneficial. I had really wanted to move all of my toys myself, but given the circumstances I just can't do that without causing myself more stress, so I am letting go and hoping for the best. This is not easy for a person with my...control challenges to do. It all feels very rushed now, and I am concerned about important things getting lost in this rather large move.

I think that is it. Hopefully nothing else will rear it's ugly head. If so you can find me in the nearest corner rocking back and forth and mumbling to myself.

If anyone has a line on magic future jumping remotes, drop me a line.

The Bird

Today my children had dental check-ups. At the end of these appointments the dentist always makes a balloon for each child out of a latex glove and ties it off with dental floss.

As BH was driving the girls home from my parents house this evening they were playing with thier latex glove balloons. He hears one of the girls say, "Let's make it stick up it's middle finger!" and then they worked together oh so nicely to make this happen. If only we always had such cooperation and togetherness!

Now we are perplexed about where they have learned about this gesture, because I make damn sure the kids are no where in sight when I flip the bird to their dad. I have that much control over my impulses at least.

They tell us that apparently on a recent trip with their Poppie to Walgreens, someone apparently disagreed with Poppie's driving, honked their horn and gave him the finger.

Nice.

So they had a discussion about what it meant and how it is just as bad to do that as it is to say a bad word, because it is like sign language for a bad word. He then asked what they thought they should do about the choice they made.

#2 wanted to hunt down the man who flipped Poppie the bird and tell him about how it is wrong to do that.

#1 wanted to pop the balloon.

BH decided they just needed to tell me about what happened.

So they did when I got home. I reiterated what had already been said, and added that it was a sign for a really bad word.

AND thus began the questions.

"Is it worse than the SH word? " asks #2.

"Where did you hear about the SH word?" I exclaim in a remarkably calm tone of voice.

"You know...the Shut Up word." answers #2

"Oh....well....ummm...yes it is worse than the SH word." I stammer.

"Is it worse than the A word?" from #1

"Yes it is worse than the A word." says I fighting back the giggles.

"How about the CR or maybe it is KR word?" again from #2.

"?"

PAUSE

"Oh you mean crap?" I state.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHhhhhhhh! You said a bad woooooorrrrddddd Mommy!" Chorus #1 and #2.

"It is time for bed now children." I declare.

Good to see that they are still fairly innocent.

Oh yeah, apparently when they got home they popped the balloon AND cut off it's middle finger too, just for good measure.

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!