Don't ask me 'bout the train

Let's just say the train is in the shop for maintenance this week shall we?

MMMkay.

I don't even know where to begin.

Have I mentioned yet that I don't always care for the beginning of the school year?

I bet that if you look back on the nearly 5(!) years I have been writing this blog at some point in mid-September to early October there is a post where I whine about how hectic the schedule is, and how I miss my house husband.

Well I ain't about to stop now.

I hate this time of the year.
I hate feeling like the wicked witch who does nothing but crack the "oh my God we have to hurry and get everything done and we have no time" whip.
I hate feeling like my only interactions with my children involve me reviewing the checklist to make sure everything is done.

I could list several more things I hate, but I am beginning to hate writing about things I hate.

Let's just say the past two weeks have been hectic, and adjusting to school and activities in full force life blows.

Hopefully my next post will have less grouch and more hooray.

Until then......

Pbbbbbffffffttttttt!

First week back on the train

Ok. So....first week back on the train. I exercised 6 out of 7 days. 5 out of those 6 I got in a whole hour of exercise. Win!

I started doing a 20 minute Pilates workout this weekend. Ow. Owie. Ow. But again...Win for toning!

Healthy eating...healthy eating you evil evil beeyotch.

I did GREAT all week. Then came Friday. Ohhh Friday. Then it was Saturday. Friday was going well until we made an unplanned trip to On the Border. I have no willpower when it comes to Mexican. N.O.N.E. Chips and Salsa are like crack on crack to me. I will continue to eat that shit even if I am stuffed so full of it chips and salsa are coming out of every orifice. Then I had a huge soda too. I can not and will not drink diet soda. Icky Poo. I did not order a soda. I started off with a large glass of water with lemon. However my fair city is currently having a water quality problem. In a nutshell our tapwater smells and tastes like dirt. Yes a lovely musty dirt. It is not palatable and apparently is not going away any time soon. At any rate after one swallow of the dirt water, it was soda for me.

So yeah. Saturday. Hmm..where shall I begin. Smoothies....while tasty, the pack fairly high wallop calorically speaking. Even the ones that are all fruit like I had. Big soft pretzel.....Jesus H. Christ on a popiscle stick. I may as well have eaten a cheeseburger. Those things are off the fraking chart! Then there was a party with pizza rolls, cheesy potatoes, tiny cheesecake, cheese, peanut m&ms. Oh all hell just broke lose. Not to mention the Cosmo, AND another coke consumed as an effort to avoid dirt water. Oy. Yeah....Saturday was a big ol' fail.

Weight. My scale can suck it. Seriously. Saturday morning, Hooray! I lost two pounds. Which apparently all came back today. Whatever. Geez I wasn't THAT bad and I exercised! For an hour Saturday and Sunday!

So this week's grade fo the Journey. Slightly above a Meh. Some definite positive strides made.

Now...I must torture my core.

Derailed

Friends, I have not discussed my "Journey to Better Health" for several months now.

There is a reason for that.

Not a terribly happy one either.

The reason is because my Journey has been derailed.

Big time.

Well....I guess it could be worse.

Exercise. This has not been too bad actually. I am usually putting in at least 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. Some weeks I have even managed an hour a day. I really need to shake up my exercise and get in toning. But at least I am exercising.

Eating. Ugh. Not taking much care at all with what I eat. I usually do great at breakfast and lunch. Snacks..ehh somewhat hit and miss. Dinner...bad. After dinner....still bad.

Once I lost my mojo at the beginning of the year, I have never gotten it back.

So the couple of pounds I gained back are now up to 7.

Yikes.

Somewhere somehow I have to get my mojo back. I worked too damn hard to let things go back to where they were.

So what am I to do.

To start off with I am going to review all those scary lab results that got me started on this in the first place. I have not had my labs re-done since I lost the weight. I wanted a full year to pass, and get back down to my goal weight before I had them re-done. Well...I am not getting there so I guess it is time to give myself an ultimatum. I am giving myself until Oct 1 to get back down to my goal weight. Whether I am there or not come Oct 1 I am calling the doctor and scheduling the lab work. If I have met the goal then we will see if all this paid off. If not...well either the news will be good, or bad and if it ain't good then maybe that will put me over the edge and get me back on track. Or it may mean I have to start taking medication for high cholesterol. I am not thrilled at all by that prospect, but am bracing myself. Genetics is not in my favor here.

The next thing that has to happen is a change in mindset. I seem to think that I must eat what my family eats and that sadly is all to often not good choices. I am going to have to let go of this idea and start eating what I know is good for me regardless of what they are doing. This got me through before. It was not without some serious grumpiness on my part at times,( I might have had visions of stabbing people with forks as I watched them shovel in cheese fries as I nibbled my salad.) but it did encourage BH at least to start being more healthy too. So hopefully the same will happen again.

I have to religiously track what I am eating. This was a huge help before. It gets on my nerves at times, but it worked great for me before.

Lastly I have to stop beating myself up and letting everything go to hell just because I made one bad choice. That thinking causes me a great deal of defeat.

7 pounds is a drop in the bucket compared to where I was almost a year and a half ago. So I know this is do-able.

I just have to start....

Now.

Time for a Change

I decided it was time for a new template. I think after a hundred or so years it is good to spruce things up a little don't you?

Not sure if this will be the final product, but it is a start.

Now on to other things.

Whew! It has been a VERY busy summer, filled with travel, trips to the pool, theatre camps, work, 20 year high school reunions and other assorted activities. Suffice it to say there was no slowing down at Chez Babble for the summer.

Despite the 95 degree temperatures, for all intents and purposes summer is o-v-e-r for us. School started this week.

#1 has started Middle School. If I could figure out a way for there to be dramatic music there I would add it in.

I am fairly certain that I am more anxious about this transition than she is. (ME?? Anxious!! Surely not!) I view that as a good thing.

#2 is now in the 4th grade. I am waiting to see how things will go for her. This year there are very few kids that she knows in her class. Her best friend is not in her class for the first time ever, AND big sis is not there this year . #s 1 and 2 are pretty tight with each other for the most part. I am sure it will all be fine, but in a couple of weeks once this has all soaked in for her, I won't be at all surprised to see some extra emotional stuff from good ol' #2. It takes a while for the full impact of a transition to hit her sometimes.

Me? I am as boring as ever. Still private practicing, still wishing to win the lottery so I can be a woman of leisure at home, but failing to buy a ticket nearly every week. I am currently coveting a Macbook. I don't see one in my near future however.

So what's up with you?

Vacations and HS Reunions and Enrolling Children in Middle School Oh My!

That title pretty much sums up all that has gone on since I last posted.

Details to follow.

Soonish.

Themeparkalooza Days one and two

I didn't quite make that goal of blogging every day of my vacation. But guess what? I am on vacation dammit so I will not blog if I want to!

I think I have decided that pictures will be waiting too. They take forever to upload and I haven't the patience after 8+ hours of sun, heat, humidity, crowds, waiting in line, and doing thrill rides. I'll upload pictures later.

So Day One. Last day at Cocoa Beach. #2 and I got up and had an early morning swim in the ocean. No porpoise today, but we had the beach virtually to ourselves AND we got to see the beach vacuum cleaner and a guy who had a way with the sea birds.

BH drug the two of us back to the hotel so that we could leave for Orlando and theme park one of THEMEPARKALOOZA 2010!

First up: Animal Kingdom!!

Not my favorite of the Disney Parks. It is kind of like a zoo on steroids and I am not that fond of zoos in general. I did get a lot of lovely animal photos. My girls however are hugemongous animal lovers, and this place was right up their alley. Did I mention that it was hot? And humid? Now being from Kansas I am no stranger to humidity, but Lord Baby Jeebus. I don't typically spend all day traipsing around in it. Sucks the life right out of you. Thank goodness for many air-conditioned attractions to help break up the heat. Thankfully most of the day was overcast too. Some favorites for me were the Finding Nemo show. It is done with puppets, but you see the puppeteers, as they fly the puppets on large sticks. It was quite the spectacle. I also enjoyed the 3-D movie, "It's Tough to be a Bug." Short but fun, and complete with smell, movement, and live action sorts of stuff. If you have the chance I would suggest you hit both of these attractions. Last time we were there about 6 years ago we saw the Lion King show. We opted out of it this time to do other things, but it was really good and worth a see too.

THEMEPARKALOOZA 2010 DAY 2! UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!!

This was the first time any of us had visited Universal Studios. I would definitely go back. Our main objective was to of course see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. As everyone in our party with the exception of yours truly are HUGE Harry Potter fans. I have to say that it was pretty stinking cool. AND RIDICULOUSLY BUSY. There are only about 3 rides, and the rest is pretty much stores and the like. But you had to wait in crazy-ass lines to GET INTO STORES! Stores! People! That is 10-different kinds of ridunculousness. But the stores were cool and full of every imaginable Harry Potter item. I have never been part of crowds like that before it was crazy. I highly recommend it, but I also highly recommend that you either wait a couple of years, or go in the way off season. The rest of the park was about what you would expect crowd-wise in the summer. I thought the Dr. Seuss area was fun. It was geared towards smaller kids, but the design was amazing. Of course we spent a fair amount of time in the Marvel Comic area, and rode a 3-D Spiderman ride. I couldn't tell you much about it. Between the 3-D and the movement I had to close my eyes or hurl from dizziness. I chose to close my eyes. Those were the highlights of today. Weather was similar to yesterday only with SUN. I am pretty sure I have never sweat so much in my life. I may never get the smell of sweat, sunscreen, and BO out of my nostrils. If the sun is out tomorrow, I swear that I will be reporting about the best $20 I ever spent on a battery operated fan-spray bottle combination that is filled with and kept in ice water, it will have Disney characters on it!

Now I must rest. This theme-parking is tiring. Fun. But tiring. Oh yeah...

Sweaty.


After Animal Kingdom

Day 2. With Ibis! I think.And porpoise! But no proof of porpoise.

So! Day 2. Started off with Ibis after breakfast. I think they are Ibis. Anyone out there able to identify birds? We don't see these kinda birdies in the Midwest so it was exciting.


After the mystery to us birds it was off to Kennedy Space Center! We saw many cool spacey things. I think my favorites were the Hubble 3-D IMAX movie. Even if Leonardo DiCaprio's mellow voice and many dark shots at the end nearly lulled my slightly sleep deprived self to dreamland. I also found the Rocket Garden to be pretty cool.

After the space center it was to the Beach. Alas my precious beach time was cut short due to a thunderstorm. But if there hadn't been a thunderstorm, we wouldn't have gone exploring and found this little gem!

Eventually the rain moved off and it was back to the beach! Much frolicking in the waves. There were even two porpoise swimming nearby. Unfortunately I was not able to capture them on film. But it was very exciting!

Tomorrow we depart Cocoa Beach and head for Orlando, and Themeparkalooza 2010.

But not until after I get my toes in that ocean one more time. Think we have decided to come back to visit Cocoa Beach one more time before we depart Saturday. LOVE IT HERE.

I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from making ridiculous calls on real estate I saw available near the beach. But man would I love a beach house. Lottery where are you when I need you?

Vacation Day One does not need to suck it.

So fellow follower of Babble. I am on VACATION.
Logically one might think that meant an absence of blog posts.
I am not always one for the logical.
In fact my plan is to blog every day I am on vacation.
I am sure you ask why.
There are several reasons, however I will only bore you with the primary. As much as I would like to think that I am going to print photos and make some lovely scrapbook pages, the truth is that I likely won't do it. Unless I win the lottery and can quit my day job. What is real is that my free time is not going to be used in such pursuits no matter how cool I think it would be. I don't find it cool enough apparently to do anything about it.
This blog has really been my scrapbook. Neglected too often, but kept up better than anything else I have tried.

So! Vacation Day One!

This year the Babble Family is visiting Sunny Florida! Today was spent seeing a movie at my favorite theater in Olathe where they bring you food while you watch a movie. We saw Despicable Me. It was better than I expected. It was not our first choice, but as we had a plane to catch later in the afternoon it had the best show times for us.

After the movie it was time to head for the airport. We had a smooth and event free flight. My favorite kind.

Our first night is in Cocoa Beach. After a very LATE dinner at a fine dining establishment (Yes it was McDonald's. 9:30 dinner time calls for quick and desperate measures.) We then made our way to the beach and splashed a bit in the Atlantic by the (very pale) moonlight. It was heavenly. The water was perfect. I wish there had not been a band playing nearby to interfere with the ocean sounds, but other than that....Heavenly. I wish that I had been able to record my children. They were blissfully happy. It was beautiful to see.

I swear if I thought I could get away with it I would sleep on the beach tonight. I already feel like I can't soak enough of it in.

Tomorrow we will tour Kennedy Space Center and then spend the rest of the day at the beach. I plan to wear my swimsuit to the Space Center, and shall request to be dropped of at the beach on the way back. Don't want to waste a minute of precious precious ocean time.

Oh yeah, that band playing. As we walked up they were playing "Pretty Woman" which then segued into "Blister in the Sun." On the way back they were playing some Pink Floyd. Interesting I thought.

Pictures tomorrow. It is very late and I must not sleep the day away.

Summer Colds Can Suck it too

I have stinking miserable summer cold, and I am more than a little grouchy about it.

So yes add this to the things that can suck it.

Better and less grumpy post coming as soon as I can stop sneezing, and blowing my nose.

Dementia can suck it

Hello all you Babble Faithful.

I was doing so well there for a while keeping up with regular posting.

Then the end of May hit and all hell broke loose.

A lot of stuff goes on in May.

So anyhoo... get ready for a ramble.

#1 has successfully completed 6th grade. An offsite after school hours party was held for the entire 6th grade at her school. Everyone had fun, and problems were virtually non-existent. Apparently that was not the case for another school in the district's party. Whoo-eee. Let's just say apparently the hormones among the children at my kid's school are lagging behind. I do believe all the parents are ok with that. The promotion ceremony was held the last day of school. I managed to make it through without bawling and wailing in front of everyone. I think it helped that the ceremony lasted all of about 20 minutes. Not much time to get teary. I do believe this parent was ok with that.

School has ended, but I don't think Chez Babble will be experiencing much of a laid back summer. BH has been cast in a show at the local university where he is chipping away at a Masters Degree. He is also taking a more lengthy summer class. The past few summers his classes have been about a month long. This one is two months. There are vacations, vbs, camps, violin lessons, piano lessons, and possibly another show thrown in there too. So busy business as usual for us this summer. I have just enjoyed my first day with the return of the house husband. Given the HH's busy schedule this summer my expectations were low, but of course BH the HH surpassed my expectations by a long shot. He's pretty good for that.



We just returned from a long weekend in Ohio to visit BH's grandparents and other family. It was a tough trip. His grandmother is suffering from some very sudden and serious dementia. Still trying to figure out what is going on. She was very paranoid, and at times verbally aggressive over the weekend, and obviously not herself at all. It was very heartbreaking to experience. Hopefully some resolution will come soon. Getting old sucks donkey balls sometimes. This would definitely be one of those.

In Shocking! And! Exciting! News!

I am headed to NYC in a week. Alllll by myself. To visit my good friend Ali. and maybe Dan if he feels he can squeeze me in. Hopefully some other friends too. Other than that I have no idea what I will be doing there, other than praying daily to the GPS God/Goddesses that I do not get lost 40 different times a day. Have I mentioned that I have absolutely NO SENSE OF DIRECTION WHATSOEVER??? BH who has been with me for a damn long time is still STILL astounded by my ability to always choose the wrong direction when given the opportunity. I am hoping to find some kind of GPS application for my Blackberry that will help guide me while I am there. This was a very spontaneous trip and that is worthy of a whole post itself.

There is some other stuff happening, but I think I will turn those in to their own posts. I got my Blogher gentle reminder today, so this should appease them. I just received my first check from them after about 3 years of running ads, so I guess I better keep em happy.

Later Gators.

For BH

I had a GREAT Mother's Day.

Let me tell you all the awesome things that happened!

• I got to sleep in!
• I got a gift certificate from by wonderfully fabulous Beloved Husband to a local spa for a ONE HOUR MASSAGE AND A PEDICURE!!!!!!!(Both! I could even do them on the same day if I wish!)
• I got a lovely cookbook from #2
• I got lovely pictures and helpful coupons from #1
• I got to lie around the house
• I got taken out for breakfast
• I got to eat whatever the hell I wanted. And I ate a LOT people. Hello lovely french toast, sausage, and hashbrowns. You were worth every delicious excessive calorie.
• I got to be with my most favorite people in the whole world.

What was your Mother's Day like?

Cranky Gift Horse

Mother's Day is near.

I typically enjoy giving gifts. But I wonder if lately my enjoyment is beginning to wane.

The last few gift giving occasions have caused me to say, "Oh Crap!" instead of "Oh Good!"

Particularly those occasions that involve gifts for the parents.

I seem to be completely void of creative gift ideas. BH is no better.

We have avoided discussing Mother's Day because no one has a single decent idea.

Father's Day looms. Oy Father's Day. It makes Mother's Day look like something, well you can just make up your own metaphor here. Our father's are so difficult to buy for.

"But Missy," I know you are saying, "Just ask them what they would like."

Oh nonononononononono NO.

Not only is this a fruitless endeavor, it is one guaranteed to make my head explode loudly enough to be heard in Canada.

I won't bore you with the details, but I swear I am going to punch my dad the next time I ask him if there is anything he would like or need, and I hear, "OOhh it's just another day. It doesn't matter to me." Every. Single. Mother. ##$*&^.Time.

I had a gem of an idea yesterday while lying around and putting off getting myself around for the day.

Our girls love to pretend that they are wait staff at a fancy restaurant. So, thinks I, howz about we turn our house into a fancy restaurant and serve our moms a fancy dinner served by their very cute grandaughters?

It will work like this, on Sunday we will deliver fancy invitations and a bouquet of flowers to our mothers for a fancy dinner at Chez Babble in two weeks.

That gives us two weeks to plan, shop, and execute our fancy dinner.

Brilliant!

Now, what to put on the menu.......

Snack vs. Treat

Included in a recent post I talked about how my children, or more accurately their grandparents seem to be confused by what is a snack vs. a meal.

We often have umm.."discussions" with the children about what they should have as a snack.

When they are out from under the influence of junk food wielding grandparents, err..umm... I mean when they are home with us we don't often have the snack portion argument. I think they get it now that we are not offering after school meals.

However....

we have a lot of ummm..."discussions" about what is an appropriate snack.

Our first question to the children when they ask for a snack and then follow up with, "Can I have this bit of junk, or not so healthy option?" our response is, "How many servings of fruits and vegetables have you had today?" The answer to this question on a good day will usually be, "One." Unfortunately the answer most days is, "None." We are then forced to insist that the snack be of the fruit or vegetable variety, which is met with much grumbling, huffing, vulture posturing, and various other ways they like to make their unhappy feelings known. (My personal favorite is a note with a mad face sticking it's tongue out. That is a favorite #2 way of expressing anger. It always makes me laugh, and well if you have children I don't need to finish this story for you.)

The children will grudgingly get their fruit/veggie and then invariably ask if they can have the earlier requested junk/not so healthy option after consuming the fruit/veggie.

By now we are typically a bit worn down and just so damn happy that they are actually eating a fruit/veggie that we say ok.

So I guess the grandparents aren't the only ones to blame for all this. Damnit. I really wanted it to be all their fault.

BH was reading the US Today insert in the paper yesterday. He found a little article that discussed snacks vs. treats.

In a nutshell the article said that most people now don't know the difference between a snack and a treat. They pointed out that a snack is for warding off ravenous hunger bewtween meals. A treat is something like cake, ice cream, chips, candy bars, etc. that you eat every once in a while. The problem is that many people eat treats for snacks every day.

Hmmm...this sounds familiar.

So we had a bit of a discussion about that article last night.

Went over pretty well.

We decided that our treat this week would be shakes at the Fork and Dine movie experience we are planning for Saturday.

Tonight #1 asked if she could have the last of her chocolate Easter Bunny today. At first I said ok, because I honestly want the temptation gone. THEN #1 stopped and said, "Oh, but will that be my treat then?"

After I picked myself up off the floor, I said it would, and suggested that she save it for another time. She agreed without fuss.

Victory may be within grasp.

Cryiyiyiyiin...

#1 will be making the transition from elementary school to middle school next year.

I don't need to expound any more about fears and anxities.

Let's talk instead about my immense distaste for crying in public.

With the abovementioned transition comes the obligatory ceremonies and celebrations.

All to remind me that my baby is not a baby anymore and soon she will be a grownup and move away and and and and....

Waaahhhhhh!

Tonight I successfully made it through her final elementary school orchestra concert. This was really not difficult at all beause first, she will continue to play next year so it is not her last concert ever. Two: they made no mention of this being the last show for the 6th graders, so there was no trigger there either.

In a few weeks however will be the dreaded promotion ceremony.

Oy. I get teary just thinking about it.

This disturbs me greatly. I HATE crying in public.

I know I know, I am a therapist I should be comfortable with expression of emotion, blah, blah, blah.

At any rate it doesn't change the fact that I prefer my most profound emotional expressions to be in a private arena.

I am on the committee for the promotion celebrations, and so will have some work to do to keep me distracted, but all of that work is pre and post ceremony. There is nothing to keep me distracted during the ceremony when the power point with baby pictures comes up and all that other goodbye stuff.

Those baby pictures come on and somebody better pass the puffs.

Maybe I will use the ol' Twitter account and tweet my way through it.

(I would never be that rude, by the way!)

Maybe I better just get used to the idea that I am prolly gonna cry and I likely won't be the only parent to do so and it is ok.

I still hate it.

Pet Healthcare Reform Needed Here AND I now am diagnosing cat anxiety.

We have had more pet health issues in the past year than I can recount at this point.

I don't think I would be in danger of exaggerating if I were to say that I bet we have not gone longer than two months without a vet visit.

We will be making another visit for our middle cat, who seems to have some serious anxiety issues.

Because ceiling fans are evil dastardly beasts that are out to get her!

This means she won't come upstairs.

Which means eating and drinking has likely been limited, and don't get me started on the pee...

I think she should meet criteria for Kitty Prozac. Serious anxiety that is impairing her ability to carry out daily functions.

That is my professional opinion and I am sticking to it.

Teen Angst

So #1 is going to be a teenager soon-ish.

I can not honestly say that I am excited about this.

Unfortunately #1 is not excited about it either.

She really has nothing good to say about aging. This has become somewhat bothersome to her father and I.

Right now #1 seems only able to focus on what she can no longer do because she is getting older, and sees no benefit to becoming a teenager at this point.

This MIGHT be a teeny bit our fault. Maybe.

Could it be that she took all of our tease intended moaning and groaning about having a teenager to heart?

OR is it that we are just having a hard time figuring out how to let her grow up?

The world is scary. There are scary people out there who want to do bad things to unsuspecting young girls.

#1 is cursed with an anxious mother who has a unique ability to ferret out every possible danger out there.

I am finding it REALLY REALLY hard to decide what freedoms are ok. I have to sort through all my anxiety and be REASONABLE for God's sake.

That is a lot of work my friends. You just have no idea.

BUT the good news is that I am working on it.

This weekend BH and I were able to nail down a few perks and incentives to help #1 see some benefit from growing up.

The incentive package was small, but well received.

Baby steps to teenagedom.

Did I also mention that I have recently discovered several new gray hairs?

Wonder if there is any correlation here?

It is wrong to throw out cupcakes. Right?

I am trying really hard to be vigilant about eating, so's I can drop the couple pounds of winter weight I put on.

SO WHY IN THE HELL DO PEOPLE BRING THINGS LIKE CUPCAKES TO MY HOUSE?

I have been pretty vocal about my work here. I have been equally vocal about what seems to be my total inability to ignore things like baked goods when they are in my house.

Just two days ago I announced a ban on such things until these few pounds are gone.

Yet today here comes my MIL fresh from the dessert auction at church with a beautiful plate of cupcakes. (Proclaiming that she knows we don't want them, but she couldn't resist buying them because they were so pretty. We try to be good children. Why WHY, does she insist on punishing us like this? BH is watching his eating too. His goal is to get below Spiderman weight. How I love my geeky man.)

Jesus Mary and Joseph.

They are very prettily decorated and delicious looking.

AND those evil bastards are taunting me all the way up here in my bedroom.

They don't respond to my firm, "Shut the hell up cupcakes!"

I just may have to go all trashcan on their asses.

Running Marathons at inopportune times.

So the stomach ache has apparently migrated.

Here is what happened at ridiculous o'clock last night/this morning ohwhothehellknows?

(Knocking on our bedroom door)

BH: (mumbles something that resembles, "What is it?" I think)

#2: My feet are hurting really bad and I can't even think.

Me: It is sleeping time. There is no thinking required.

#2: They hurt so bad I can't even sleep.

Me: What would you like me to do?

#2: I don't know. (Said as she climbs in next to me. Always next to me. Her dad is a cuddly guy, I think she needs to share the love.)

Me: Zzzzzzzzz

Me: (At some point later hopefully it really was only the few minutes I thought it was) Are your feet better now?

#2: Yes, only one hurts just a little.

Me: Will you be able to sleep?

#2: Yes.

Me: Get out.

BH's lines throughout this entire exchange: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Since the pain has migrated to her feet, let's hope toenails are the last stop before we are pain free.

If we were on an episode of House I would have a tantrum until we got the full body scan

#2 is about to do me in.

For reasons I fail to comprehend she has to tell us about every little tweak, squeak, and possible malfunction her body makes.

This leads us to make very little of it when she complains about not feeling well.

This has lead to us blowing her off at times when she really was sick.

This has lead to me having one foot in the door of the looney bin.

Our latest issue(s) have been that good old standby the stomachache.

She complains that her stomach hurts, but it never seems to slow her down. (Except at those most opportune times such as chore time or getting ready for school in the morning.)

There is rarely if ever anything else that goes along with these stomachaches, such as diarrhea, vomiting, and the like.

So I give her a Tums, and send her on her merry way.

This child's eating habits as I have discussed numerous times on this blog are atrocious. I believe that these poor habits may indeed be part of her problem.

So I told her that I did some research about stomach problems and determined that what we needed to do was make sure that she was eating healthy food most if not all of the time.

This includes after school snack at grandparents homes. (A grandparent who shall remain nameless took her to McDonald's last week for a "snack" after school. The "snack" consisted of an ice cream cone AND a medium order of french fries. That is a crappy meal, not a snack. This happens more than once a week too. Makes my head EX-PLODE. Another grandparent who shall also remain nameless regularly makes a huge bowl of excessively buttered popcorn AND a bowl of ice cream for the "snack." Then has the audacity to comment on the fact that the child does not eat dinner. Makes me say BAD BAD BAD words. No amount of straightforward comments or requests to stop make a difference either. Not even if I say them while beating my head against a brick wall at the same time.)

So we are going to try eating healthy food for a while (Hoepfully. Maybe the threat of illness will help curb the grandparents ridculousness.) and see if that doesn't end the complaints. I am also insituting an early to bed rule on days that she complains of stomach problems. She needs rest so that she can get better.

If after a week or so we see no improvement, then I guess it is to the doctor we go.

I just hope this doesn't turn in to one of those my disbelief that there is truly an issue biting me in the ass situations.

Parenting is hard sometimes.

The Demon is Out!

Because I knew you were all waiting with bated breath...

After test driving EIGHT vehicles, and one failed deal....

I am happy to inform you that my demon has been exorcised.

It came out in the form of a 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

It is shiny, black, sporty, with SIX SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION. (This makes me feel like a race car driver!) It sports a 200 horsepower engine which ain't too shabby for a 4 cylinder. The extra power will take some getting used too. I was way over the speed limit all the way home and didn't realize it.

I am VERY happy with my purchase.

So who wants to go for a ride?