Vacation time

I just wanted to warn you that you won't see a post from me until after the new year. I'm visiting family who don't have internet access, and don't really understand it. My mother told me that she finally has an email address that my brother set up for her, which I thought was great. I told her I would email her some pictures, since she is always geting on my case about not sending new pictures. I figured that she could ask my brother for help to figure out how to open an attachment.
"So what's the email address mom?"
"It's P-------"
"Ok, but what about the rest of the address? You know,the @aol.com, @gmail.com, etc."
"There is more than just the name?"

I'll be bringing hard copies of the pictures for her to look at!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

Stressful time of year

This time of year is very stressful for me. Along with the holiday hooha, it is one of the busiest times for my work. I work at a college bookstore, where we try to buy back many, many, many used books so we can sell them next semester. We also have to get in all the new books that we will need. It is my job (along with several others)to check in all these books, verifying ISBN's, correcting misships, tagging, pricing, etc. Unfortunately, it seems as though it is my job alone, where in the past there was always at least two people, sometimes three. We're growing as a store, yet my boss keeps hiring fewer and fewer people. It is very confusing and frustrating for me.

Today, someone actually asked me if I had a textbook in. I looked at her and laughed (yes, very unprofessional). I have literally over 500 boxes to open and process, 1000 buyback slips to go through, and she wanted to know if her book would be on the shelf by the next week. Ha,ha,ha,ha. As it is, my backroom looks like a maze a mouse would be forced to navigate for a piece of cheese at the end. You even have to crouch down to get by some of the boxes, since the pallettes have taken on a "Leaning Tower of Pisa" look. I have other college employees who come by just to laugh; because unlike me, they are getting less and less work to do since the holiday break is coming up. Let me try to sing a Christmas tune to bring my spirits up again. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

First, still no keyboard fix, although I'm almost tempted to try Envoyette's suggestion; afterall, it can't get worse than what it is. Hubby still wants to fix it himself; but really, if there is a chance it will get broken shouldn't we take it to a professional who will have to pay for the cost of repair?

We finally put up our Christmas tree yesterday. In my neighborhood, we are one of the last. Thanksgiving day is the day to put up your decorations, since I guess it takes that long to get in the holiday mood with the warm weather we have. I was reluctant to put up any decorations, since we're going out of town for Christmas, back to New England to visit the relatives. Alas, the men in the family won out and up went the artificial tree (much easier to care for, no dead branches catching fire due to a short in the wire caused by the bunny chewing on stuff he shouldn't be chewing on). Out go the holiday table clothes and we get to see the coffee table in all its naked glory for a brief moment (so that is what the furniture looks like when it is not covered in junk).

Off tune singing is started while I put up the lights on the tree. I really don't like to put up the lights, but I grumble the least while doing it. Hubby puts on the garland and then everyone does the ornaments. "We are not putting out your box (from childhood) of ornaments, are we Honey?" There is a place for a L'Eggs egg decopage decorated egg, but it is not on my tree! Ok, ok, ok, I know they have sentimental value for my husband, and that I should embrace the happy memories they bring forth, but a half decorated, sequin covered Styrofoam ball just is painful to look at. Besides, we have my son's homemade ornaments that need to find a place on the tree.

Our angel tree topper seems to have disappeared, which is odd since she is always stored in the holiday closet. All I can think of is that is the closet we were prepared to live in during the hurricanes and she must have been displaced somewhere along the line. That leaves a bobble headed, floppy handed, reglued three times angel from Hubby's past to put on the tree top. You know, it doesn't look too bad with a bare top, we'll see how that goes.

spelling errors

As you may have noticed, my last few blogs have had many spelling errors. This is not because my mind is going but because my son spilled juice (laptop is at the kitched table) on my keyboard last Saturday and the keys are getting more and more stuck as the week goes on. Any ideas on how to clean it out?

Tone of written word

Have you ever been incredibly frustrated by an individual but still had to work with them, so that every time you talked to them or emailed them you had to be very careful about what you said/wrote? I'm having that problem right now.

I volunteered to be my school PTO's treasurer, which entails jobs like paying invoices. I received an email from one our committee chairs saying the following:
Mind you, she sent this to me today DECEMBER 1.

Hey ,

I wanted to let you know that I put the initial bill
in the PTO box. I've actually had it for awhile so you might need to act on it
pretty quickly. Sorry about that.



So, I go to the school and see that it was actually due NOVEMBER 1. This is the deposit for our yearbooks. No money = no yearbooks. I was rather upset with her, since if the yearbook doesn't get done in time I can be blamed for not paying the bill on time. So I wrote back the following. Now I tried, tried my best, to be professional and not let my emotion show through:

Hi ---,

I picked up the invoice today - it was due NOV 1 ?!? I don't know how long you have had it, but if we are late on paying them our yearbooks may be delayed in being published. We try to maintain a professional relationship with these companies so that they want to continue to do business with us in the future. Plus, with large checks, I have to have 2 signatures, so I need invoices as soon as you get them. I know this is your first year doing yearbooks, so you probably didn't realize this.
I just want to stress the importance of that, especially since we'll be ordering more with the renewed sale of yearbooks.

If you talk to ---- Publishing, please let them know the check should be in the mail by the end of the week.

Thanks for your help on this,

ME

But then she wrote back. I guess I didn't hide my feelings very well. Read on.

---,(No hi, hello, just my name)

I think you could've gone about stressing how important you think being prompt in paying them is in a much less condescending way. I certainly don't need a lecture in being professional but I'll keep these things in mind in the future.

Thanks,
---

I wrote back again and apologized that she took my email the wrong way. I certainly don't want to ruffle people's feathers. I've already decided I won't do this job again but still... What do you think - was it condescending? How could I have written it differently?

Overstuffed

I can finally fit myself behind the computer again, now that Thanksgiving dinner has finished digesting. It was a very nice time and even though it was at someone elses home, with none of the food I grew up having for Thanksgiving, it was still delicious. Plus we had good company with whom to enjoy the meal. I'm thankful I have our friends who invite us to every family holiday get together they have. We would be very lonely without them. I have got to make sure we don't piss them off, especially around the holidays!
I did not get to go out "Black Friday" shopping until much later in the night. Hubby had to work and I had to do taxes for the school PTO. OK, I am never being the treasurer again for any organization. 21 forms printed out by the time I was done, and I'm not sure if I did all tax forms I was supposed to do. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Then, on the next to last page, the server of the sight I was using went down. Arrgh! Luckily, I'd been saving all along, but I couldn't finish until today.
Time for a break - I think there is some leftover pie calling my name.

RAD kids

While I've been at work this week, the little monkey I call my son has had vacation. Luckily, the college I work at offers a "Discovery Kids Camp" which has all sorts of courses for the kids to do. Besides cooking and computers, the kids are learning what to do in dangerous situations, like attempted abductions.
Today, I got to watch the demonstration of the skills that my son had learned. He did a very good job defending himself, remembering to aim for the eyes and to kick at sensitive areas while screaming "no" and "you're not my dad". However, as I watched the padded "attacker" go after my son, lunging at him and grabbing him, I had such a feeling of distress. I assume it was similar to the feeling I would get if my son ever actually was attacked. I was close to tears. I felt so silly, yet I couldn't stop myself from felling that way. It is funny how the "mama bear" instinct kicks in, even when you know things are perfectly safe.

Snow day

Here in southern Texas, we do not get to see snow, it is just too warm. However, one day out of the year our home owners association has a "snow day". They truck in a machine like the ones that are used by ski resorts and make snow for the kids to enjoy. It usually is for only a few hours, since by the end of the event the snow has tuned to slush.
Today was snow day. There are different types of joy one can experience during his life, and I think playing in the snow ranks high on the list. We moved here from New England, so we are used to feet upon feet of snow, but to see the smile on my son's face as he ran to the small 2 inch layer of icy slush snow was priceless.
Never have I been one for snowball fights, as a child I was the one who would run and tell mom when my brother and his friends were throwing snowballs. However, today I could not have been happier than when I was being pelted by icy snowballs. Hearing my son' evil manical laughter just before the thump of a snowball had me laughing hysterically. Even the snow down the back of my pants (a tradition in our family - get snow down other members necks and pants), which made me look like I had a bladder control problem once it melted, was almost enjoyable.
To follow the theme of a cold winters day, the HOA also provided hot chocolate, coffee and lemonade. While we were waiting in line, I heard the server tell the folks in front of us there was no more hot chocolate. As I was preparing my son for this disappointment, mentioning how lemonade would be just as good and that we could make hot chocolate at home; one of the servers said to us "I think there is enough for one more cup if you are willing to wait a moment". So the little guy got his hot chocolate after all. It was a really nice ending to a great time.

Veteran's Day

Today, I honor my father, my husband, my uncles, my friends. They have all served proudly in the military, although if you say to most of them how proud you are, they will shyly demure and state that the real vets are those who have been injured/killed.

Growing up, I knew my dad had done his time in the military, but not in detail. Only after I married my husband, listening on one of their conversations did I find out he had been a drill sergeant (if you knew my dad, you would know how humorous this is). Not until last year did I learn that he actually qualifies as a veteran, since he was called back to duty during the last stages of Vetnam. I joked with him that this would have been very helpful to know when I was applying for scholarships, since so many exist for the children of vets. However, since he never had someone shoot directly at him, he does not consider himself a veteran and therefore did not feel that he or his family should benefit from these programs, his belief that there were others who more greatly deserved them.

Bing bang boom

Today was not a good day for me. I was at work, gathering boxes to put into our recyling bin, when "WHAM" a 15 foot medal ladder hits me in the head. Whomever put it back last did not put it back properly. So, with my movement in the general area, the little bit of vibrations I caused in the floor disturbed it enough to cause it to topple over on top of me.

It was behind me, so it was completely unexpected. Do you remember those Tom & Jerry cartoons were Jerry would hit Tom over the head with a wooden mallet? Stars and little birdies would circle his head? That is exactly how I felt. For the next two hours every time I went to walk a straight line, I wobbled a bit to either side. If it was a sobriety test, I would not have passed.

No I didn't go to the emergency room. I stuck an ice pack on it and took some Tylenol. My boss (well temp. boss - the other one is on leave) wanted me to go as did my district manager who was around today. Yes, I did do the paperwork for workman's compensation in case it gets worse, but I hoping it doesn't.

School joy

The other day I got a note home from my son's teacher. The very first words of the typewritten note "Today **** yelled at me" What?!? My son is yelling at the teacher, what the heck is going on here? Then I continue reading. He didn't start off yelling. It seems they were doing some editing work, and he spelled "when" incorrectly. They correct the papers in class, and he thought he heard the other student spell it "wen". So when he teacher approached him, he told her "I did not spell "wen" incorrectly". Ok, that is being disrespectful to an adult, and is not acceptable. What followed was also not acceptable.

This teacher then decided that the class, yes the whole class, should spell "when" for my son. That is when he yelled "I'm doing it now". Let's see, embarrass my child in front of his peers, that'll get him to do the work. Plus, he has an educational modifications in place, called a 504 plan, in writing which states that he is to have "private discussions regarding his behavior". To not follow this plan is breaking federal law.

The teacher then states that she was going to take him to the office, but didn't have time so she sent him to the reading corner. "While sitting there he finished his work and came up voluntarily and gave me a very nice apology. Therefore (she) did not take him to the office." Another part of his plan, he is to be allowed a "cooling off period" which she inadvertently provided which works as you can see from his behavior after the incident. This teacher drives me batty. She has stated in the past that she does not have time to give students (these are 2nd graders) individual attention. She has expressed reluctance in providing my son any modifications, even though they have been instituted with both the vice-principal's and the principal's knowledge and recommendation.

Part of the problem is that my son is very bright, which she knows and therefore believes should overcome any of his emotional/physical problems (his ADHD and immaturity - he is the youngest in his class). The other problem is that she has a mindset from how she was raised as a child and believes that it is the only way to go. She told me that she can not believe how fresh children are today and that when she was a child she would have "gotten a pop on the mouth for being that way". She quickly added that she wouldn't do that to a student, but boy it sure sounded like she wanted to do it.

She did apologize the next day to me, after my husband and I sent a scathing note to her about her lack of professionalism. Her excuse? She and my son are very much alike. (She has the mindset of a 7 year old?) and that she needs to be more professional. It is going to be an interesting school year.

1000 visits

I have had my 1000th visitor today - Whoopee!! True, if I take out all the times I've visited looking to see if anyone left comments (I'm a comment junky), I'd probably be on visitor number 312, but I won't, so yeah for me.

"Who is the 1000th visitor?" you ask. Again, it was probably me but if I take myself out of the running it looks like it was a dear friend in Miami (whose phone never gets answered as of late - what happened to your answering machine? Did the hurricane wipe it out?).

Gosh, I feel like I should be putting up some deep thoughtful posts in order to keep you visiting...it's not going to happen to don't hold your breath. Maybe I'll put up a few of my short stories, you can give me your opinions on them. I just have to figure out what "safe" storage spot they are in. I had better start looking.

Ghouls and goblins

I must rant about the quality of trick-or-treaters I saw at my door this year. The first person to ring my door - two teenagers, neither dressed or even pretending to be anything. Halloween is a holiday for little kids to get dressed up in costumes, not for older kids to demand candy as if it were their God given right. We had about the half the number of people come by as they did last year, which could be because there was a cold rain falling.
Still, if you ring the door at my house you need a costume, or quick imagination if you want some candy. I would pose the question and statement, "What are you? You are not getting anything if you can't at least come up with a good excuse." (I do this every year and have been lucky not to be egged by anyone as of yet.) Some, since they had their letter jackets on, said they were athletes, which although a lame idea, is at least an idea. One kid was with a friend who did dress up. The friend was Zoro, and the kid in regular clothes? He was Zoro's secret identity. I gave him 2 pieces of candy for that.

For the birds

Yesterday, my son and I decided to enjoy the glorious weather and go for a rollerblade/bike ride. The roads aren't too busy on Sundays and it is a perfect time to practice our bike safety rules, hand signs, etc. To get him motivated, I mentioned a nearby playground that he had not had the opportunity to visit since before this he would not ride his bike. So, off to the playground we go, me on my blades and him on his bike.
We arrive safely at the park, where he gets to play on the swingset while I explore the "tricycle" path that this development uses as a selling point for perspective new home owners. I start along the path that is adjoined to the playset. It's relatively smooth, with a few ups and downs so you can easily pick up some speed. Then there is a rather steep hill that leads up to a bridge that overlooks the playset. Oh look, there is the little monkey. "Hi sweetie, mommy is going to go down the hill, come watch" I'm ignored, but that is ok, since I've just now looked down the other side of the hill. It is not a straightaway, but an "s" curve with a severe hairpin curve at the bottom. This is a tricycle path, I'm sure it was designed with the little children's safety in mind.
Here I go. Made the first curve, lets put a little break on..whoa whoa, I'm not going to make that turn, I'm going to skid out...oh oh oh..crash.
I actually didn't skid out, but managed to launch myself over the earth berm at the edge of the hairpin curve. Luckily, the ground must have been watered recently since there was some give upon impact. After finding my glasses, which had flown off my face with my less than graceful landing, I was able to do a visual survey to see no real damage was done. The impact on my knee was on the scar from my last rollerblading accident, so that skin was already toughened up; my wrist seems to be moving ok and the shoulder I landed on just had a few more creaks and pops to add to the ones it already had from the first time I had separated it many years ago.
By this time, my son had wandered over and decided that it would be cool for him to give it a whirl (how Mommy on the ground, groaning in pain, is an incentive, I don't know). He with all the recklessness and invincibility of a 7 year old, went down that hill at Mach 3, missed the turn, did a jump in the air and managed to land safely on the grass some distance away. Was he afraid to go again after missing the turn and almost crashing? Of course not. Off he went again, to go faster around that curve, to prove that he could do it. And he did.

Fall is here

Ah, fall weather has finally arrived here in Texas. We have dry air with temps in the low 70's. I love this time of year. Even though our foliage does not change, it still is a fantastic time to get outside and enjoy life. It makes me want to bike, to run, to rollerblade everywhere. Which means, my blog suffers terribly. So, when you wonder why I haven't post, even though I do have things to say, it is because I'm out living life.

3am wake up call

3 a.m. and this is what I hear:
Knock, knock, knock,knock,knock, knock
plick, plick (stones against a window)
Knock,knock, knock,
plick, plick

What the #@&%?
I get out of bed and look out my bedroom window which faces the street. I don't see anything. I'll go back to bed.

Beebaw ,beebaw, honk, honk, beep beep.

A car alarm now? A rouse myself completely from the vestiges of sleep, puting my glasses on this time. (Without them I really am blind, there was no way I could see anything the first time I looked out the window, but I was still clinging to the thought that I would be able to go back to sleep.)It's my neighbor, the new ones who are renting the house on the corner. The kid sets the alarm off a few more times, knocks on the door and throws some more rocks. It's obvious he has managed to lock himself out of his home. It is not so obvious why he has chosen to not call his home to wake whomever is there to open the door.

I hear my son rustling in his sleep in the other room. Oh no, we are not waking him tonight, he is already short on sleep and I will not deal with a cranky kid in the morning. Hubby woke up too, but he has worked all night and really needs his sleep. Time for me to throw on some clothes. I storm downstairs, grab my phone and stomp over to the kid's car. Is he still in the car, I can't tell ...yes there, he's unrolling the window.
Me: Hi, what do you think you are doing?
Him: Oh hey lady, I locked myself out.
ME: I understand you are locked out, um hm, but you are waking up me and my husband and my 7 year old - cut it out!
Him: I'm trying to wake my Dad up, his bedroom is right there and must be jet lagged 'cause he doesn't hear me.
Me: Did you try to call him?
Him: Oh, no, my phone isn't working
Me: Hear (thrust phone into to his face). Call him.

The kid trys to call, but Dad doesn't wake up. He decides to try to call his brother on my phone, which appears to be long distance, and chats for a bit with him about how his father doesn't hear anything....I'm still standing there, waiting for my phone and the to go back to my cozy bed. The kid apologizes for waking me, gives back my phone, and says he will sleep in his car until his Dad wakes up. Good idea. It's a lovely night out for that, not to hot, not to cold. I head home, crawl back into bed, and stare wide-eyed at the ceiling for awhile. Guess who is the cranky one this morning?

Update: One of the sons used the "car alarm as key" trick again this morning.

Job update

I decided to stay with my old job instead of taking advantage of the fabulous new opportunities that were presented to me. "Why stay in a job you obviously dislike?" you ask. Simply put, my son. I asked him what he thought about going to daycare for a few hours a week and he did not want to go. He told me that he goes in the summer and that is enough, the kids are mean, it is noisy and they don't get to play outside.
Now, I am not a parent that caves in to my child's every whim, however when it may impact his development and progress in areas that he is already struggling with (ie. school)I do listen. Would my ADHD son have been able to do his school work in that chaos? What about when we got home at night, would it be too stressful, what with having to make dinner and do studying he was unable to do while in daycare? When would he be able to just play? When would fun time with us be? I couldn't do that to him. Being a parent does mean having to sacrifice and this is one of those occasions.

Job opportunity

I have a dilemma. I've been offered a permanent job from my sometimes weekend position of house sales assistant. That would mean leaving my current position, where I just received a promotion and there is plenty of room for advancement if I want it. The pro's the new job would have are a 50% pay raise with bonuses, I would work three days a week instead of 4, and I would be away from my current boss. The cons to this new job - it can be very boring, days of no customers coming in, I would be working until 6 pm which would mean my son would have to go to daycare after school. I asked him if he would like to do daycare after school, to see his friends and play. He said "no way". Hmmm. Plus, because it is in house sales, I would not be close to home forever - eventually all the houses would sell and we would move to a new location. I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

Ant bite

Here in Texas everything is bigger, which seems to include insect bites. We have fire ant season, which last approximately 10 months out of the year. If you'll notice, the stuff that you buy at Home Depot to kill these ants says that it lasts a season. I guess it refers to a typical length season since my fire ants, having been gone for the spring and summer, have come back with a vengence and they are seeking revenge.
One teeny, tiny, little ant bit me between the big toe and second toe of my right foot. I can barely move that foot today, it is so swollen. I'm even contemplating calling into work, since it will be difficult to stand on it all day and I'm not sure if I can even get a shoe to fit on my foot. I probably still go in, I have to be really sick not to show up for work. But my foot really hurts and it itches like the devil too!

100 things about me, part II

51. I once stepped on a priceless kaolin pipe that I had discovered earlier in the day.
52. I've always wanted to shave my head
53. and pierce my nose
54. and get a face tattoo
55. Saner folks have convinced me not to do any of those things.
56. I lived in 6 states and two countries
57. I've visited at least 15 states and 7 countries.
58. When I was younger, my sister and I tried to get into the Guiness Book of World Records by see-sawing. We lasted all of an hour. We didn't get in the book.
59. I'm an introvert.
60. I've been told my twin and I had our own language as children.
61. I've always wanted superpowers.
62. Maple walnut fudge is my favorite type of fudge
63. Mowing the lawn and weeding my flower garden is very carthargic for me.
64. Baking brings me joy as well.
65. I am a "swamp yankee" at heart
66. living in a good ol' boy state.
67. Every temp. position I've had has resulted in an offer of a full time position
68. I have "failed" at only one thing in my life, everything else is still in progress.
69. Honda CRX hatchback; my first car, my favorite car
70. My guilty pleasure is to watch UPN "America's Next Top Model"
71. and am embarrassed to admit that
72. I am not a patient person when it comes to ignorant people
73. In emergencies I act, I don't just stand there.
74. I attempted to stop a ring of shoplifters once
75. I was not 100% successful
76. I saw my husband about 3 months out of 12 the first year of our marriage
77. The herb "lemon verbena" is incredibly aromatic and invigorating
78. I went an entire New England winter without once wearing a winter coat (it was cold, I was stubborn)
79. My childhood nickname was "Rocky"
80. My high school nickname was "Foof"
81. My college nickname was Snail
82. Deep forest green and brown are my favorite colors to wear
83. I am a morning person
84. I stay up too late most nights
85. I need one cup of coffee to get me going in the morning.
86. I will not lie to you if you ask me a direct question.
87. I will circumvent the truth and use "lawyerese" if I don't want to tell the truth
88. Seeing my son unconscious after surgery, not waking up easily, was one of the most painful moments of my life. My heart literally hurt.
89. I wore a MIA bracelet until the soldiers body was recovered and I had contacted his family. It was part of my wedding jewelry.
90. I am physically stronger than I look.
91. When I get an idea in my head, I want it done now, not in 5 minutes.
92. My friends are my family
93. I like to think the weatherpixie on my blog looks like me
94. She doesn't really
95. My soul mate thinks I am the smartest person he ever met (I was fishing for something to add to the list)
96. Bad grammar makes me cringe, but I totally understand bad spelling.
97. I like to buy gifts for people for no reason, but will hold on to them until a holiday comes up.
98. I must have a well stocked pantry - at least 3 types of sugar, 5 vinegars, numerous extracts; you get the picture.
99. I refused to change my maiden name when I got married(and it is a doozy to spell)
100. I don't mind strangers reading my blog; but if I know you I have to trust you completely to let you read it. Don't ask me why, it is a complicated thing.

100 things about me, part 1

1. I am an identical twin
2. I used to be an archaeologist
3. and an EMT
4. and a postal worker
5. and a substitute teacher
6. and a medical assistant
7. I want to win a Nobel Prize, I don't care in what subject
8. I have written a children's book; it wasn't published, but not for lack of trying
9. I would like to have some of my short stories published
10. I have broken my arm/hand/elbow three times
11. I am a klutz
12. I love Elvis movies
13. I have one son
14. I don't want any more children
15. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up
16. I finished college in three years
17. I wish I was still in college
18. I met and married my soulmate
19. I love to read
20. If I don't do some sort of physical exercise every day I get cranky
21. I don't exercise everyday, so I am not a nice person to be around
22. If I am your friend, you can count on me to help you as long as you ask for help
23. I don't ask for help
24. I have no regrets in my life, every experience has made me stronger in one way
or another
25. I don't like birthdays
26. I expect everyone to work as hard as I do and am often disappointed
27. I can waste a whole day reading other people's blogs
28. Autumn is my favorite season
29. I've never taken any illegal substances
30. I've been stalked by two different men
31. I always can see the other person's side
32. I believe you are only given as much as you can handle
33. I've been in an art show (literally, I was one of the subjects)
34. My sister used to threaten to kill me when we were kids. She was serious.
35. I have a brother who I don't talk to and I don't know why.
36. I love to gamble with other people's money
37. I was on my college crew team
38. I own a dwarf rabbit
39. I am not living up to my potential
40. My favorite non-alcholic drink besides water is coffee milk shakes
41. I craved crab rangoons when I was pregnant
42. I have yet to find a hobby that I am good at
43. I'm 5'2"
44. I enjoy jobs that require some form of physical exertion
45. I love to rollerblade but have not been able to master stopping
46. Bike riding is also a passion, but only when I lived in New England.
47. I collect fountain pens
48. and cruets
49. I'm growing my hair for "Locks for Love"
50. I procrastinate

doughnut search

"Hey mom, Ive got an idea."
"what?"
"Let's go get doughnuts for breakfast!"
"Yeah, that sound yummy. Let's go. We'll go to Shipley's down the street."

No we won't. Even though our area was spared from any devastation from the storm, we are still in a "recovery zone" and supply trucks have not made it here yet. So business have not reopened. If you forgot to stock up on gas, meds or food, you are out of luck. Our local Randall's grocery store was open, but all dairy and meats were being removed from the shelves and shoppers were not allowed to buy any of it. The bakery had no food, there was no bread. The only thing you could find easily were fresh fruits (no one stocks up on those for a storm).
From a food safety point I do understand why it was done, but it certainly was an odd sight to see. This obviously is what happens all over when a disaster stikes. It was so weird not being able to just go to the store to get my doughnuts and gallon of milk.
We haven't had basic services like mail either. Again, I'm glad our local government took precautions, but it seems weird trying to explain to outertowners why we haven't received letters sent. I never thought of this side of disaster recovery. It makes you realize that victims of storms continue to suffer for weeks afterwards, that they are not even able to get their small pleasures.It is something to remember that next time nature strikes hard.

We made it

I know you are wondering how we faired through Hurricane Rita. Here you go:

Windows intact - check
Trees still standing - check
Power on - check
Backyard lake retaining its banks - check
Roof secure - check. Well I didn't really check since there are still wind gusts of 50 mph and I didn't think it would be a good idea to climb the ladder to look for loose shingles.
Cabin fever - check and double check

There could still be some flooding as the days go by if she stalls, but it looks like we made it through unscathed. Hopefully this will help alleviate some of my son's fears of storms. He can now realize that all hurricanes are not Hurricane Katrina.

We've got some windows to unboard and some sleep to catch up on, so I had best go now.

Hurricane Rita update

It looks like the storm is now a category 5, and we expect to see winds of 120 MPH hitting our home with strong possibility of tornadoes. Luck seems to be with us in that the storm surge should not reach us, although the wind will probably do damage.

Hurricane Rita

I just wanted to let you know that there is a good chance that I will not be posting for a bit. It looks like my area will be hit by Hurricane Rita, which means power will be out. My poor son is panicking at the thought of a hurricane hitting us. He keeps mumbling under his breath "why do we have to get hit by a hurricane, why does there have to be bad weather, it's not fair". We have close friends who lost everything they own during Hurricane Katrina and now he thinks the same will happen to us. I keep trying to explain to him that hurricanes can be "fun".

When I was growing up, I went through a few hurricanes. What I remember most is playing board games by candlelight and sitting outside as the eye of the storm passed over us. The clean-up afterwards was not always fun, especially since it seemed to include a severe case of poison ivy. We had tons of poison ivy around us, in bushes, trees, etc and it would blow down with the storm winds.Inevitably, you would end up picking some up without protection on your hands and *poof* an itchy rash would appear. That part wasn't fun, but it certainly was not the worst thing that could happen.

I do have to admit that I am a little nervous, since it is now forcasted to be a Cat. 4 hurricane. We're just going to stock up on supplies and tough it out.

Cardshark in the making

Today my dear son asked if we would like to play a game of "Sorry" with him, which we agreed to do after dinner was done. As we are prepping dinner we hear shouts from upstairs "I'm setting up the board" "What color do you want to be" and "I've mixed the cards around so don't touch them". "Fine, super, whatever you say dear" are our responses back to him. Yet he keeps going on about how he has shuffled the cards, how they are all set and that we should not touch them. OK, I'm getting a wee bit suspicious. Then we hear him call down "I got a twelve, I'm moving" "Dad, you have an 11, who do you want to switch with?" At this point we call up to him that we are not playing yet, wait to after dinner, then we will play. Oh yes, and put the cards he pulled onto the bottom of the pile. He insists that he can't do this, that he'll just keep them pulled and we can use them when the game starts. Hmm.

We have dinner and are cleaning up with prodding from him to "come and play". Luckily a call from Grandma distracts him for a bit, so we can clean up. Since he is still on the phone with Grandma, I sneak upstairs and shuffle those cards. He finished his phone call and we go play. 12 for him to start with, 11 for Dad, and a 3 for me.
We go another few rounds and he stops and says "hey, what happened to the cards?"
I ask innocently, "Whatever do you mean dear?"
"They are not the same, you're supposed to have the low cards, dad and I get the high cards so we can move faster."
Aha! "So you cheated?"
"No, I just arranged the cards so Daddy and I could win. That isn't cheating. How did you know?"
"Sweetie, I'm your mom, I always know"

Later my husband asks how did I know, since he had no clue. "Come on now," I say, "when someone is intent on you not rearranging cards in a game you know something is up." Dear hubbie looks me in the eye, pause a moment and says simply, "He gets that from your side of the family". True, oh so true. In fact, though I hate to admit it, I felt a little misplaced pride in my son's first attempt at a con job.

Popcorn time

It's that time of year - the leaves are changing, there is a nip in the air, and if you take a deep breath you can smell...popcorn. Yup, popcorn sales have started for the cub scouts in our area and my son is overjoyed about it. Not because he can raise money to support his troup, not because he can earn a patch for his uniform, not because he can display his salesmanship skills; no because he has the chance to earn prizes. Prizes that we could buy in the store at about a tenth of the amount of money that is needed to be raised in order to earn them.
At our pack meeting last night, as the popcorn sale was announced it was my son alone who jumped up, punched his hand into the air and yelled "yahoo". He is bound and determined to earn the lego sets that have in the prize catalogue. What is his goal? To sell $1350 worth of popcorn. This might be possible if we were a family where both parents worked for big companies and brought the order form into work and pushed our fellow employees to buy, buy, buy. We are not that type of family. Hubby and I firmly believe that if he is to learn anything from this experience he must do the selling. Luckily the boy is more than willing to go to all our neighbors and ask if they would like to support the boy scouts. In fact, he is planning on spending "family fun night" going door to door. I don't know how much fun it will be, but it's his choice and we will support him.

1 year anniversary

I just realized I forgot to celebrate my one year anniversary of blogging. I remember when I first started, so young, so innocent. I actually thought that I would faithfully blog everyday and would have a legion of readers following the trevails of my life story. I soon realized (1) My life is not that exciting, and (2) I have to learn how to post pictures to really draw the crowds in. Since I don't have a digital camera, the crowds will have to stay away and I will just enjoy the company of my faithful blogger family. I've also come to the realization that I'd rather read about what is going on in my fellow bloggers lives than come up with something in my own life of which to write. Luckily for you (or not so lucky, depending on how you view it), Wally has pushed me to write more often so I continue to blather on, even when there is absolutely nothing to talk about. I do try to post at least once a week and have on occasion posted several times in one day.

Now I will make the request that I seem to see on all one year anniversary posts. What would you like me to write about?I promise I will give each request careful consideration before deleting it to the trash can. I'm kidding. If you ask, I will write.

Wednesday

I told my boss that he needed to post for the accounting job I've been doing (along with my own by) by this Wednesday or I was quitting. He told me this morning that he posted it, which made me feel a little appreciated. Come to find out, it was my district manager who did it, not him, most likely from the strong suggestions of another manager who actually listens. It is OK, at least it was done. I don't know why I would expect my manager to get the work done - he doesn't listen most of the time anyway. I told him flat out "I do not know how to do this job". His response, "don't be silly, you are muddling through fine". "Muddling through" in an accounting position usually means trouble and audits. This is not something that should be acceptable.
I don't run the place, it is not my responsibility.

Flooding in

I just got back from volunteering at my son's school (I do it every Friday that I have off). There was a flood of refugee families coming in to register their children for school. The district has waived most of the normal requirements needed to register for school, ie. shot records, copy of the last physical, school records, etc., since someone with common sense realized that these people were not thinking about school when they fled their homes. Half of them probably thought that they would be returning in 3 days, not in the months to a year that it might actually take before they are able to go home again.

Most of the parents look worn and tired, with a few showing some stress and frustration, but under control. The children just look shell-shocked. Many of them have a blank look to their eyes, like they are in a dream state. As one child was being led to his new class, he looked around with a panic-stricken face and broke into tears. His mother was barely able to hold herself together as he was led away. Luckily, we have a very good staff of counselors and one of them was able to distract him and get him smiling again.

Some of my relatives up north can't understand why the children are being made to go to school so soon after this tragedy happened. It for the simple reason that these families need a routine, something to cling to, something that is part of a "normal" life. If they are allowed to sit in a hotel room, an overcrowded shelter, or a converted stadium; despair sets in. Giving them something to focus on gives the children purpose.

Rebuilding

So now that New Orleans has been pretty much wiped off the map; when they rebuild can they truck in some dirt so that it is above sea level? Every time a hurricane or tropical storm is predicted for New Orleans, the threat of flooding is real since it is 10 feet (about 3.2 m) below sea level. I know in the past they would not make it level because buildings had been there for centuries and you couldn't build up one section of the city while leaving another part of the city to collect the run off into its section. Now there is no excuse. Yes, it will add to the expense of rebuilding but wouldn't it make sense to rebuild with the idea of not setting yourself up to have to rebuild againthe next time a hurricane hits?

Selfish being

Over the past few weeks I've complained about my job and how I'm underappreciated and about school hassles. The last few days have woken me to how selfish I am. Obviously with the events of the past few days, my little problems mean nothing. We live in Texas along the gulf coast - the refugees from the hurricane are coming to our state. Tens of thousands of individuals are being relocated from the Superdome stadium to the Astrodome, where they will spend months living. Living with no privacy, no private baths, and no possesions. My son may very well have new classmates this next week, because those who have been displaced have to make Texas their home for the next year, at the very least.
On a more personal level, a friend's daughter has been rediagnosed with brain cancer. She is only 4 and has already been through surgeries and chemo from the last occurance of cancer. Her survival chances are not good. Her parents have to decide whether or not to give her treatment and possibly extend her suffering and she still might not survive or let things just take their own course.
It certainly makes me put things into perspective.

Power outages

Well, I had a very long post going about my baking fiasco from the baby shower (I opted to make everything), which if I do say myself, was quite humorous; then one of the worst things that could possible happen in a bloggers life happened. The power went out. *Sigh*. So frustrating. So now you get this lackluster post. Blame mother nature, she's the one who opted to host a three hour lightening storm outside my door, which made it very difficult for any of us to sleep. Our poor little retention lakes even flooded their banks.*Sigh* So this all you get. Good Sunday to you all.

Rise and shine?

My started much earlier than normal today. At 4:00am the phone started ringing - it is my next door neighbor saying "it's time" (I wasn't sleeping too soundly since I still haven't gotten that new mattress). She is pregnant with her 3rd child, so one tends to believe her when she says this. She was calling me so that I could watch her children while her husband drove her to the hospital. In the time it took me to dress and walk next door, she decided she would rather have me take her, since her husband was whining about needing "one more hour of sleep, couldn't she wait that long? Since you should try to avoid stress while pregnant and in labor, she rethought her plans and felt he could stay home while I took her, that way in case she didn't get admitted, he wouldn't miss his precious sleep.

The hospital she is delivering at is about a half hour away, and it is off a road that has been under construction for 2 years and will be under construction for at least another 5 years - it is a two lane highway being converted into a seven lane highway. So every time you travel this road, there is a good chance your exit has moved or that it doesn't even exist anymore. We discovered this as we were driving since last week there were 2 exits that lead to the hospital, but this morning there was only one, and I missed it. So with had scenic detour that added an additional 15min, and with a pregnant woman "who, who, ha, haing" next to me, that was a very long 15 min.

We made it to the hospital in plenty of time, and in fact were sent home after being there for 2 1/2 hours (her contractions weren't strong enough - at least the nurse didn't think so. If you asked my friend she would have strongly disagreed).

So we came home just in time for me to get my son on the bus (luckily, my husband could go in late to his work and was to get the boy going and keep him going), go to my PTO board meeting (it was at 2hrs long and counting when I left), and then off to work (on what would normally be my day off) to try to catch up on all the backlogged accounting work. I didn't succeed, but I did get a little bit done.
Thank goodness it is Friday. Of course, I still have to prepare for the baby shower I'm throwing tomorrow for this same neighbor. I had planned on doing the baking tonight, but I going to be so tired. Let's see if people can tell the difference between store bought and homemade ;)

Games post

Games
envoy-ette did this for me....and now I'm doing for it her! Here's how it works:

1) Put your name in my comments and I'll respond with something random about you.
2) I'll tell you what song or movie reminds me of you.
3) I'll pick a flavor/color of jello to wrestle with you.
4) I'll only say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5) I'll tell you my first memory of you.
6) I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7) I'll ask you something I've alway's wondered about you.
8) If I do this for you, you MUST post this on your blog.

envoyette:

2. "I am woman" Helen Redding - an old one but I can hear you singing it as you tackle your developer.
3. Black cherry - it will compliment our skin tones.
4. Sidewalks are for driving in Southern Italy.
5. She is so funny, I have got to add her to my favorites.
6. Leopard - you are graceful under stress yet are very protective of your brood. Plus you can blend in with whatever surrounding you are placed in.
7. Same question back to you - Where in the Midwest do you reside?

Insomnia

Not much going here. I can't sleep. I hate when this happens. I keep having the same dream over and over, related to some item at work; I toss and turn, until finally I'm forced to get out of bed to putt around the house. Tonight I got to walk down the street to check out why there were 3 fire trucks, an ambulance, and a police car on my street. It was "just" a rescue call, but since we use volunteers around here, everyone comes out of the woodwork, which I suppose is better than the alternative - no one responding to a call.

Of course, that doesn't help my sleeplessness. What would help would be a new mattress. Our mattress is the same lumpy one we've had since we got married. I bought it at the PX, not for comfort but affordability. After all these years and all the moves it's had to endure, I think it is time for a new one. I hate to spend so much money on an overpriced piece of foam and metal springs. I just have to remind myself that this is where 1/3 of my life is spent, so it is a good investment.

Fall out

Well, the joy in my promotion has been short lived. The woman who was passed over quit today. The promotion thing was the straw that broke the camels back - she has has several months of frustration, non-appreciation, and aggravation that has built up to this. So, I'm now faced with having to do her work along with my new responsibilities. Joy oh joy. It will be temporary, but since I've already been stretched quite far as it is, and I'm not elastigirl, I don't know how much more I can take before I break. It should be very interesting come Monday morning (I don;t work there on Fridays). I can't wait to hear how things have turned out

Promotion

Lucky day for me, I got a promotion at work. I'll be doing the same job that I've been doing, only now I have a different title and more money to go with it, plus a little more power thrown in for kicks. That is definitly a positive.
The negative is that another individual at my work should also have been offered a promotion (which she would have turned down) but it wasn't offered to her. Plus, my boss in his infinite wisdom chose not to speak to her first before doing the promotions. So now at work we can all stay cool from her icy gazes. Let me just state for the record that she is totally justified in her anger, but it takes away some of the thrill and excitement for myself and my coworker who was also promoted. We should be celebrating with cake, not tip-toeing around the office.

New neighbor

It looks like we have some new neighbors at the house across the street. It will be difficult for their friends and family to find them, since the street sign/stop sign was knocked clean out of the ground last night. I mention this in relationship to our new neighbor because their garage is showing some indications of a tramatic event as well as their car is showing a rather pole-shaped dent in it. There is also a remarkable lack of any skid marks, which is scary in its own right.

I've only seen one of the people who live there, a businessman by the looks of it. He drives an SUV, not the car that tried to defy the laws of matter. Should I go over and welcome our new neighbors and then nonchalantly ask about the half-raised crushed-in garage door? One thing I defintely know I'll be doing - parking off the street.

UPDATE: It turns out the teenage son crashed into the door this morning when he was moving cars around. There is still a mystery as to whether or not the sign post is the kids work.

First day of school, part 2

The rest of the day went a little better. Although my son did not enjoy his first day, he got through it. He came home saying he had a bad day. To quote him "recess was too short - they kept blowing that whistle. Line up, then go play, line up, then go play, then line up and go inside, no fair". Plus they had some writing assignments to do and he was unable to complete them (he can't focus long enough to come up with a story and write it).
Luckily, we were able to change his bad day to a good day by going out for ice cream after dinner. It was a long standing traditional in my family to go to the local ice cream parlor after first day of school, report cards, dance recitals, etc. and I think it is a nice one to continue. It always put a smile on my face when I was younger and it worked for my son as well - he walked out of the ice cream place saying that ice cream was a great reward for a good day.

First Day of School, part 1

It's the first day of school here and it's already off to a shaky start. Why? Because my dear son, having gotten himself up and dressed early, has now decided to have a meltdown over the placement of the transportation sticker on his shirt. This is occuring even as we speak, while his breakfast of scrambled eggs is getting cold and my patience is getting short. My reiteration over and over again of the phrases "we don't have time for this" and "you need to eat breakfast" is not working, so I felt it was the perfect time to update this blog. Either that or I may need to choke him, which is not a good start to the school year. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.

quote of the day

The best portion of a good man's life are the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
- William Wordsworth

Monogamy

I was just reading how Kate Hudson (Goldie Hawn's daughter) does not believe that monogamy is a realistic goal in a marriage, and that if her husband Chris, who is the lead singer for the Black Crowes, cheated on her she would not want to know. She did state that she believed couples have the "power" to be monogamous and that she would not disrespect her husband by cheating on him.

Hmm.

I've often had this conversation with my girlfriends. If your husband cheated on you, would you want to know, or would it be best to never know; and if you cheated on him, would you tell or keep it a secret. This is actually a relevant question for my friends, since many of them have husbands who travel for weeks to months at a time, and some are still in the military, where deployments can make for lonely nights. I have a very good friend whose husband did cheat on her while he was on deployment and she found out about it by emails left on the computer. She confronted him (unfortunately, it is very common to find one of the couple in a military relationship being unfaithful). So every since, she has had that nagging feeling in the back of her head wheneve he goes away, not quite trusting him even though it has been over 5 years and he has been faithful since then.

With that thought in mind, I agree with Kate Hudson and would not ever want to know. As long as it was a "safe" encounter, it would not benefit me to know about it. True, there would obviously be something lacking in our relationship in order for him to feel the need to stray, and I would want to fix that, but I don't think finding out about an adulterous affair would help that. I have a long memory when it comes to injustices and slights I've experienced over the years. I would never be able to trust my spouse again if he did that and I would be forever suspicous when he worked late or was out of town.

Would I admit to an affair? I would probably feel the need to tell, since keeping secrets in my relationship is not something I can do easily, especially ones that are harmful to it, even though I know that it would be the end of my relationship. My sweetie is a very forgiving caring man, but there are somethings he would never tolerate and that is one of them. He has had experiences in the past that would make that sort of action unforgivable. Luckily, he doesn't have any need to worry.

We all have the "power" to be monogamous, it is just a matter of whether or not we choose to use it.

High Cholesterol at age 7

I just got my son's test results back from his yearly physical. His bloodwork shows an elevated cholesterol level- 206 - which I find so hard to fathom. We are not junk food eaters at my house, nor do we eat out that often. Ask my son to choose between a slice of watermelon (or an apple or a peach) and a cookie and he'll choose the fruit every time. Our favorite place to eat out (his choice)- Souper Salad, where you get to choose from many salad items and soups for your meal. When you ask him if he wants to go get fast food, he usually ask if we can stay home instead.

It could be genetics. His father's family has high cholesterol levels on the paternal side. I just found out today that my mother's side isn't that great either. Yet my cholesterol is fine. I don't know about hubby's since he won't call the doctor to get the results from his last blood work (his theory is that they would have called if there was anything wrong).

I feel bad, since he isn't allowed junk food as it is, now we are going to have to focus on those "heart healthy" foods that I thought were for my parent's generation. Anyone have some coupons for Cheerios or Benecol? Looks like we will buying some.

Lost and not found

As you know, we have a wonderful new car. With this new car comes a very fancy key and alarm fob. With it you can program the postioning of your seat, control the windows and a few other things. What you can not do is send out some sort of signal so that it will beep when you have misplaced them. This would be a wonderful add on since my keys were lost on Thursday.

I am a backup babysitter for neighbor, so when she goes out of town, I watch the little girl she normally watches. So on Thursday and Friday I had this 6 1/2 year old girl at my house. She gets along quite well with my son and is normally well behaved. On Thursday, I had to remind her several times to leave my car keys alone, that they were not for playing with. On Friday morning, I was going to run to the post office before she came over, but could not find my keys anywhere. I looked on counters, in drawers, in the dishwasher, in all the toys - they were no where to be found.
So, Lauren comes over and I asked her if she moved my keys. Yes, she admits that she did and that she put them on the counter. Where? The counter near the trash can? Could they have fallen in? Oh no, today is trash day and the bag is already out on the corner - I'll just run out and get the bag. Wait what is that noise, that rumbling sound? The trashmen!!! They don't come until 4 pm, why are they here at 9 am?!?

To cut this story short, I ended up at the dealer on Saturday, having the remaining keys reprogrammed along with my new key and alarm fob. And what did this high tech key cost? $137, and that is at list price with a discount. It would normally have been $164, but I begged and wheedled for some sort of break since we have had the car all of 2 weeks.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Well, got the new Harry Potter book in the mail yesterday and finished it yesterday too. Yes, it is meant to be juvenile fiction, but I figure it is destined to be a classic some day, I may as well get a head start on the reading, since I am so far behind on reading my classics as it is.

Obviously, it was a fast read. This book concentrated more on emotions than action, which is not necessarily a positive. My feeling is that there could have been more details about the daily activites of our threesome, which would have made the story a bit more fun to read. Plus, some of our favorite characters did not get as much attention in this book as they have in the past. We barely get to talk to Hagrid at all this time around. Of course, if J.K. Rowling had done this there probably would have been another 300 pages added on top of the 600 plus that are there already, which would would have made the book more likely to be used as a stepstool rather than read. On the other side of the coin, the story line did move along quickly and I am already waiting patiently for the next tome.

Maxima 2005

I bought a new car the other day - a 2005 Nissan Maxima. For all those of you who have had bad experiences with this car; don't tell me, I do not want to know.
This car was the "surprise" for the sweetie that I mentioned in a post back in January. I have been working since January, saving every dollar to put toward this car. I had originally planned on not telling my husband I was working so that I could buy the car and just put it in the driveway for him. There were several kinks in that plan. One, I had no clue what specific details he wanted in this car, and two, I could not keep up appearances at home while working. So I broke down and told him back in March that I was working for the past three months and had he even noticed.
He said that he had not noticed, although it explained why I was so tired all the time. He did notice a few things around the house. One, that all the laundry was not done by the weekends. He said he thought I was just being less anal retentive about getting it done. He had also noticed the more thrown together striaght from the can meals that we were having, but he thought it better not to mention them. Smart man.

Twister

Today I experienced my first official "non-confirmed" tornado. We had a thunderstorm move in quickly and with it gale force winds. It came in without much warning, and it blew my neighbor's Rainbow playground set (this is the big, $1000+ set made of wood that has the fort, slide, triple swing option) right over, upside down onto it's roof. It was destroyed and shattered part of a plastic table it landed on. The scary part is that my neighbor was weedwhacking around the play equipment when the storm came in and his 7 month pregnant wife was cleaning up the yard toys at the same time. They almost didn't make it inside in time. We were lucky, it just blew our portable shed's roof off and our heavy gas grill went for a small trip into an iron fence.

The reason why we suspect that it was a small tornado that touched down - the neighbor on the other side of me had nothing destroyed, not even the 5 gallon jug of sun tea she had left out on her patio. In fact, a candle she had placed standing up in a plate of rocks was not disturbed in the least bit, it was still standing tall.

My Sister's Keeper

I just finshed reading a wonderfully engaging book called My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It is the story of a girlnamed Anna who is conceived in order to save her sister Kate through the donation of her cord blood. Only as time goes by, Anna finds herself being asked to give more and more of herself, literally, to keep her sister alive. We meet them when Anna is thirteen and is now being told she has to donate her kidney to her sick sister. We get to see all sides of the family and the author truly makes you understand each member of the family's viewpoint on these events.

As a parent, I can identify with needing to do anything and everything to save your child. As a twin, I know what it is like to be feel responsible for your sister's health, to feel the guilt that goes with not wanting to be self-sacrificing all the time, and the self doubt that you are the cause.

Read this book - it is worth your time!

Independence Day

Monday is Independence Day, were we Americans celebrate our "freedom" from England, with bar-b-ques, parades and fireworks. It is also my son's birthday. From his excitement over the day, you would think his birthday is the reasong why everyone celebrates. He began the countdown to his birthday this Monday and has gotten more ramped up with each passing day and I can't understand why. We are not having his birthday party this weekend, it's next weekend; his dad won't be here, he's out of town for work; and I've told him I have no presents for him since I'm giving him his dream party (more on that in another post, although I do have a small present for him).

Don't get me wrong, we will do something to celebrate the day. In fact, he has already made out an itinerary. First, he had planned on playing legos with his dad (this was before he knew that dad would be gone), then he was going to play a game with me, my choice. We could go rent movies and watch them and then go to Souper Salad(a buffet style salad bar restaurant) for dinner . The only thing is, this is all normal stuff that we do on the weekends. In fact, aside from renting a movie, it is the exact same thing we did last weekend.

It is nice that he does not have wild expectations for his birthday. He is a down-to-earth kid who appreciates time spent with his family. We're still cool in his eyes, although I don't know how much longer that will last. He is already giving me my morning hug and kiss outside the daycare center, rather than allowing me to get them once we are inside in front of the other kids. Still he is a sweet boy and hopefully we will follow his plan for a "fun filled" birthday.

The Second Coming?

Ah, it seems that Tom Cruise has been ranting again about his "knowledge" of Post partum depression and ADHD. I never knew that he was a psychiatrist and a pharmacist. What am I talking about - the interview he gave with Matt Lauer on Friday's Today show, where Tom defends his criticism of Brook Shields, and extolls his extensive knowledge of medications. This man is either the second coming of jesus, or a sad little man going through his mid-life crisis. Run Katie run.

1st Day of Summer

Ah, a new season to enjoy. Well, here in TX it is the same season 9 months out of the year. Looks like we'll have our consistent mid-90's temps for the next few months. All my lording to our New England relatives about the great weather we have during the winter comes and bites me in the ass when it comes to the summer time.
They at least get some partly cloudy skies to dull the heat. Not us -looks like it is going to be one of the driest Junes on record. Time to put some more 45+ sunblock on so I can safely walk to the mailbox without getting a sunburn.

Bark Bark

"Bark, bark, bark." "What the hell is that sound?" I asked wearily at 1:30am this morning. Turns out it was my son with a raging cough from croup. Poor kid couldn't understand why it wouldn't stop. Luckily, I took him outside into the every so humid Texas air and that seemed to lessen it's effects a bit.
He seems fine this morning, other than the lingering cough. Luckily, he's pretty good about getting sick on my days off, which is nice since I don't have to call into work for the day. Yes, I know he doesn't plan it, but it usually works out this way.
Plus, an added "benefit" to this cold, he's lost his voice. He normally chatters on continously, all day long, like the birds twittering outside. Now his chattering just sounds like a bird that is twittering 2 miles away, rather than right in your ear. I'm such a mean mom. :)

UPDATE: His voice is back to normal and is chattering away like a squirrel defending his horde of nuts.

Neighbors

My neighbor's boy just came over to "borrow" an egg. I love that I have neighbors that feel comfortable enough to do this. With the amount of food my neighbors and I have "borrowed" from each other we could have a 5 course dinner plus dessert. Never mind all the sincerely offered shared meals.(These are those times when you are talking to your neighbor and mention that hubby is away or won't be home and you don't know what to cook and they insist that you eat with them.)My hubbie doesn't necessarily appreciate them - he often wonders when we became the neighborhood market. He finds it odd.

I've lived in many different areas, and I've never had this closeness with my neighbors. When I lived on Long Island, I didn't even know the names of my neighbors that lived in the illegal apartment in the basement, and they're the ones who got to see all my clean sundries hanging out to dry. Conneticut's neighbors were better, but I still wouldn't trade groceries with any but one of them.

No, I am truly lucky to be living where I am. Of couse, I say that now - the house across the street is empty and I may be changing my tune when new neighbors move in.

Migraine

Migraine pain is the worst pain I have ever experienced. This includes my experiences with natural childbirth - that was only a 9 out of 10; while the migraine I had yesterday was a 10 out of 10.

I now know what is meant by the phrase "to writhe in agony" as that was what I was doing for several hours yesterday.

Usually I can catch my migraines before they come on full steam, but no luck yesterday. I actually thought I might be experiencing a brain aneurysm. I was going to call 911, but didn't want to walk my son to my next door neighbors house - it was too painful to move. Then I was going to wait until my husband came home so he could take me and watch my son, but that would have involved movement in the car - more pain.
My poor husband came home, found the door locked but ajar, couldn't find my son (he was hiding) and heard me moaning in pain. He was ready to storm the stairs, guns ablazing. His more rational side kicked in and he decided to check things out first. He gave me some cold compresses, more pain reliviers, and got my son out of the house. Luckily, the pain medicine finally kicked in and brought the pain down to an 8 out of 10. With that type of pain, I can use breathing techniques to help get me over the hard part. By about 9pm (6 hours later) I was able to get out of bed and eat something for dinner. I'm still feeling the after-effects today.

My favorite teacher

After reading another's blog, I thought I might comment on a teacher that influenced my life as a child. It would be my second grade teacher, Ms. Terry.
Ms. Terry was a very fair teacher. She did not necessarily have all the extra games some of the other teachers had, but she did have the ability to make every one of her students feel special.
I was very shy as a child and did not speak up much (in fact, there was some question as to whether or not I had a learning disability since I did not speak at all outside of my family), but I did like to write poetry. As a gift to her at one of her holiday parties, I gave her one of my poems. Later on, when the other kids started asking where my gift to her was, she simply told them that I had already given it to her; saving me any embarrassment over the type of gift I had given her.
She did not stop there. She continued to nurture my writing throughout the school year, encouraging me to open my heart and let the words flow. She followed my school career and let my next few teachers know that I had a "talent" that should be encouraged.
What a kind heart she had. I always wanted to tell her how much I appreciated her, but we moved away and I don't know where she is at now.

School's Out for Summer

My son finished school this past Wednesday and we have a long summer ahead of us. Well, not that long since school starts back August 10. We had a very trying year, as I had many battles with his teachers.
He is ADHD, but I did not wish to medicate him, at least not immediately. There are many techniques that instructors can implement that can be beneficial for the troubled student while still being nondispruptive to the rest of the class. Unfortunately, I had to keep reminding his teachers that these would not be temporary fixes, that they had to be continuously enforced in order for them to be successful. I also had to remind them that taking recess away from an ADHD kid is not the brightest thing to do, even if it is to finish school work especially since they can just send the work home with him and know that I would get him to do it that evening. This also applies to taking lunch time away, which is absolutely unacceptable since they don't normally have enough time to finish eating as it is.

Of course, I understand where these teachers are coming from. I know how strict the testing is in this part of the country and that the school district that we live in is one of the top ones around; but come on, let the kids be kids a little longer. He was only in first grade and he had to move from classroom to classroom, switching teachers throughout the day. I would like him to think of school as a positive experience, not a torture chamber.

Visiting home

I get to visit my relatives up north in a few days, just the boy and I (I gave up on trying to get my sweetie to take time off - he works crazy hours and always seems to have something big going on during the times of the year when I want to take a vacation). I had planned on keeping this trip a secret from his family, with visits to my side only, a few trips to the beach and to the casino (the boy will not come along for that trip). I have met some resistance with this plan, since Sweetie insists that I should see his Dad, who misses my son, and visit with the great-grandparents (who knows how much longer they will be arond...). Plus his mom said that she would like to take my son overnight the next time we visit...

I understand the logic of this, but the flip side is that I can't just visit one of them, I have to visit all of them and there are step-relations involved as well. Plus, if I was to go to a backyard bar-b-que with everyone there, it would not be enough. No, I would be asked "When will you come visit at my house?" Am I not visiting with you now? I do love his relations, but they are time demanding.

When we visit up North, we normally stay at my parent's house but we shirk my side of the family to go to the numerous family functions his side has("It's Great Aunt Betty's annual Memorial Day Bar-b-que. No she isn't really your aunt and you've only met her twice but she is expecting you to come.") So, my folks get to see their grandson when he wakes up in the morning, but that's about it. And see my brother??? Never happens.

We'll see how it goes. I really would like to surprise my brother-in-law on his birthday, but I can't count on his 2 1/2 year old and 4 y.o. to keep quiet the next time they see their grandma.

Baby blues

I was out with the girls last night and we were discussing babies, how some want more and others are fine with the number they have. I only have one child, and plan not to have any more. Do I feel bad he doesn't have sibling..sure I do, but I also realize that if I were to have another child, there is a very good chance that I would hurt that baby.

You see, when my son was born, I did not feel any maternal connection to him. In fact, I can honestly say I did not even like him for the first two years of his life. Yes, this is very sad, but at the time I did not realize just how bad things were. I had post partum depression, but blamed it on everything else. We had moved to Ft. bragg, my sweetie was not around much, family was far away...you get the picture.

My husband knew something was wrong, but he thought I just was upset because I was stuck at home and my son was a colicky baby. We also debated long and hard about having children, me not necessarily wanting them but giving in in the end.

We moved after one year to Long Island, NY, where I still was miserable, but this time I thought it was due to the monetary constraints we were feeling at the time, and because I never saw my husband (I worked nights and weekends so that we did not have to pay daycare costs). We never really discussed how I was feeling, but we should have.

So many woman figure they will shake off the "baby blues", but it is not that easy. I wasted 2 years of my sons life, wishing he was never born; when I could have been happy, enjoying his gurgles and coos. Did I think it was a sign weakness to get medication? I don't know. On some level I knew I was depressed, in fact was on the look out for it since it runs in my family, but I couldn't act on it to get help. Now, I have a good support system and friends who will be straight with me and tell me that I need help. Sometimes, it is that push that we need to do something. I share my story with my friends hopefully to wake them up, and let them know that it is OK to look for that extra help, that if you suspect something is wrong, it is and you need to do something about it. No one should "miss" those first few years, especially when they have a great kid like my son.

Crawdads, crayfish, roaches that swim in the ocean

I love seafood...well, most seafood. Tonight my sweetie had a crawfish boil waiting for me when I got home from work. He and my son were out shopping and saw crayfish for sale outside the local supermarket. They tried some and decided to bring them home.

To me, they are not worth the effort. They are miniaturized lobsters that look like they were run on the "high" cycle in the dryer one too many times. You expend more energy cracking them open looking for that 1/2 teaspoon of meat then you do eating them.

And then there is the smell. My house is going to reek for the next week or so, smelling like a rotten sewer or a festering bayou in the hot August sun.

Happy Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day, I am going to let you peruse the "book" my son made me for Mother's Day. The beginning phrases were given to him and he filled in the endings.

My Mom is special because...she always picks me up at my bus stop.

My Mom can do many things! I think she is best at... throwing a frisbee.

My Mom has a pretty smile. I like to make her smile by...getting good notes home (this is a source of constant friction in our house, more on it some other day).

My Mom looks prettiest when ...she's happy (isn't this true for everyone?What insight my 6 year old has).

My Mom is the funniest when ..she's acting like dad (you know who the disciplinarian is in our house).

My Mom is smart! She even knows...hard math (that first grade math is pretty tough:)).

I want my Mom to always remember me...in the snow (I don't know why, perhaps he's missing New England winters).

This is better than two years ago - then I was great because I could paint a bathroom.

The best part of the day - his excitement as he gave me this book. He is so special, and I don't always take the time to appreciate him. Happy Mother's Day everyone.

Excuses, excuses, excuses

Wow, it has been a long time since I last blogged. Well, to be truthfull not that long - I just can't get my post to publish for some freakish reason or another.
Plus, I've been really busy with work, taking extra hours on. Then there is the new job I've got on alternating weekends. I don't have enough time to keep the day-to-day operations of my home going, never mind blogging.

Case in point, when I looked in my freezer yesterday to take something out for dinner I found the following:

1/4 full bag of Mexican blend shredded cheese

1 box of Toaster Strudels (Not a very nutritious breakfast, but good for when we can't seem to get ourselves moving in the morning. Plus, you get a great sugar rush off the frosting)

1/2 a package of Jumbo (and I mean huge) hotdogs left over from pre-World Series.
My sweetie had a craving for those huge hot dogs you usually only get at the ball park. My son and I hate them, which is why they are still in the freezer and not eaten.

2 frozen go-gurts (liquid yogurt tubes)

a tray of very old ice

several boxes of frozen vegetables

True the grocery store is only a few minutes away, but the point is I always have food in my freezer. My pantry is stocked with 4 different types of sugar, 6 various vinegars and three oils. My neighbors know that if they need some staple I have it, or at least I used to. What has happened to me?!?

Driving

My neighbor's son just got his license and is on the road (most of the time, sometimes the sidewalks aren't too safe). When I learned to drive, it was much easier than it is now. Growing up in RI, I never had to worry about getting lost. The state can be traveled in one hour, from north to south. I just drove to the border of the state, usually MA, turned around and could find my way home. In fact, there was a specific gas station I would hit and know that home was only 40 minutes away. They also had pretty cheap gas, so I could fill up before I headed home.

Now, I'm in TX. I could drive for a day and not reach the border. I pity the children around here.

Occupation change?

Today I filled in as a "hostess" at a local home builders office. I was told all I would need to do is greet and pass out facts sheets. Instead, I sold a house. I really didn't mean to, especially since I knew ahead of time that the copier wasn't working to that it would be near impossible to get the documents needed. Nevertheless, it happened and and I have 2 more people coming back in the morning. I thought I would be able to read all day.
Now if only I could get the commission on it.

New edition to the family

I have a new member of my family. S/he is named Speckle. S/he is a dwarf bunny. Before you say anything, the idea of getting a bunny was not my idea originally. A friend's co-worker was given the bunny because the beau thought that she would like a bunny for Easter. Yes, "thought", didn't ask. What single 25 year old womean wants a rabbit? This idiot didn't even realize that she was going away for the weekend. And that is how s/he became ours.

Speckle will probably be called a he until we figure out its sex. I still don't know how you do it and I don't think I want to.

Oh yes, side note, I have plenty of wonderfuly compact fertilizer now. I swear that one teaspoon of food results in one cup of fecal matter. My grass will be the envy of all my neighbors.

For this Monday mornings...

I saw this and thought how many of my dear friends and family would find it valuable. I of course would recommend sending the kid to find the alarm clock, thereby keeping him entertained and me asleep.


LONDON (Reuters) - Can't get out of bed in the morning?

Scientists at MIT's Media Lab in the United States have invented an alarm clock called Clocky to make even the doziest sleepers, who repeatedly hit the snooze button, leap out of bed.

After the snooze button is pressed, the clock, which is equipped with a set of wheels, rolls off the table to another part of the room.

"When the alarm sounds again, simply finding Clocky ought to be strenuous enough to prevent even the doziest owner from going back to sleep," New Scientist magazine said Tuesday.

Pinewood Derby

We finally had our pinewood derby. Our entry was in the shape of a shark. It had fins, google eyes, and sharp teeth (made from a soda can). It wasn't the fastest, but it did win for "funiest" car. I know for a fact that there were several categories that the judges wanted to give it (most creative, most original), but they were limited to one category per car.

We had a blast. I think the scouts liked it best when one of the cars had a blow out on the track. It actually spun out (if you have ever seen a pinewood derby track you know this is tough to do).

Back to the grind part II

Hmm. now Tim wants to charge me for the free sample he sent, at least for the postage. He hasn't sent me a total yet. Other vendors send samples all the time. I think he is just mad.

Back to the Grind

So how was my vacation you ask? Exhausting. Back to work today and I am thankful for it.

One of the silly things I've done recently is volunteer to be coordinator of my son's upcoming field day. This actually isn't too bad, the most stressfull part being the ordering of the giveaways for the event, made more stressful by my going to the wrong company.

I was told to visit company A on th einternet, to just type in a few prompt words and it would be the only site that popped up under those words. I did that and started working with a joyful fellow named Tim who listened to me, didn't pester me with phone calls, sent me a free sample, and just was fun to work with. Then I find out last Friday, after I call him to tell him I am ready to place our order for 1000+ pieces of merchandise that there is actually another company which has the same name, supplies the same materials and is actually the one I am supposed to be using. Gulp.

I had to send an apologetic email to Tim, explaining the situation, and now I feel like the stuff you scrap off your shoes after wandering through an active cow pasture. I have yet to hear back from him since it was the weekend, but I'm sure he will not be happy. So, let me give props to his company, www.appleadvertising.com , and I recommend that you check them out for company give aways, school gifts, etc.

I'm so excited - I get a week off from work while every one else still has work/school. Ahh, time to myself.
Well, not exactly. Yesterday was spent nursing my son back to health from an attack of Strep. Today will be spent redoing a neighbor's downstairs (I owe her since she watched my son over spring break while I had to work. Her son is the one who gave my son Strep. Tomorrow I have to go to my son's school to work on organizing his field day. Thursday I wait around all day for the air conditioner repair guy to come, along with (hopefully) the plasterer to fix the hole in my ceiling from a water leak i hd over the weekend. Friday is my scheduled day to volunteer at my son's school.

Hmmm....I seem to have lost track of where my time is! :)

cannoli

I went to an "Italian" restaurant which goes by the name of "Johnny Carino's"with a group of co-workers the other day. I put Italian in quotes since the food is rather tepid at best.
One of the group had never had a cannoli but having recently seen a television commercial that kept mentioning them, wanted to try one. I knew she was not going to get the full experience when it came to the table bathed in chocolate, in a shell that was strangly looking like a Mexican churro. Unfortunately I was right. After every tried it we all agreed that it was not a true representative of Italian desserts.

Now I'm on search for a good cannoli recipe, one that includes how to make the pastry. Anyone have a suggestion?

Soup and stuff

My sweetie made chicken soup for our dinner and it came out wonderfully. It is not a traditional American soup, but one with pastene, spinach, and chicken with mozzarella on the bottom that melts as you eat the soup. Since he was going by memory from when I made it last, he did good.

It's been over 10 years since I last had this soup. It actually can bring tears to my eyes when I eat it. It is a recipe that is closely tied to my deceased Italian grandfather. Traditionally, we would have a holiday dinner at his house, beginning with this soup, then pasta, then salad, then the main course with its side dishes, with little or no room left for all the delicious desserts.

My grandfather died when I was 9, so I never had the chance to tell him of my adventures in Europe; travelling to his home village, having complete strangers dig around for the marriage records of his parents on their lunch breaks. In fact, I missed the chance to ever really talk with him since I didn't learn Italian until a few years after his death.

Only later in life do you realize the wealth of knowledge that could have been known if only the right questions had been asked.

Found

I was going to delete my last post, but I think there are some important points that need to be made.

First and foremost, they found him, safe and unharmed at a "friend's" house.
I put friends in quotes because of how he got there.

It seems that this "friend" picked up my neighbor and drove him to his house, in a neighborhood about 10 miles away. The neighbor boy is 14, this "friend" was an adult. What would make someone think it is OK to take a 14 year old out of his own neighborhood to another one and not call his parents to let them know he is OK?

I don't know what would have happened if some female friends hadn't stepped up and called all of my neighbor child's friend. She called everyone in his class and tracked him down. She then called his mom, who went to this "friend's" house and picked him up.

This teaches us a few lessons. One, know who your child hangs out with. The mom in this case had never heard of the "friend" before last night.
Two, warn your children, let them know that if they ever go to someone else house they need to call you to let you know where they are.

We are all of the belief that something bad would have happened to him if he hadn't been found last night. No reasonable adult would drive a child out of his neighborhood, at night, without checking with the parents first (the need for permission to go someone else's house is well know amongst his friends, as his parents are strict, and have different customs than Americans do).

We are just thankful he is OK.

Weak with Worry

I've just spent the last 1 1/2 hours searching for my neighbor's 14 y.o. son. He and his mom had an arguement and he ran off.

I've heard the phrase "weak with worry" before, but I'd never actually seen it. My poor neighbor was so worried that she literally could not stand by herself. She kept collapsing onto my tile floor. I just can not imagine the pain she is feeling right now.

The guilt is overwhelming her. He went to the store without asking permission, she found out, took away the chips he bought, he ran off, she tried to follow, he had a bike, she couldn't go fast enough. She is blaming herself for saying "no", for not running fast enough, for everything. Of course, she can't help but think someone has him, is hurting him

He's a good kid, honor student, on sports teams, very respectful. My heart hurts for her.

More taxes

So this tax thing is not going smoothly. I could swear that throughout the year I saved all the important receipts (ie moving recipts, hotel bills, plane ticket stubs, etc), yet when I go to look for them they are missing, gone, disappeared...you get my drift. Just check your canceled checks or your checkbook. Not there either. We were reimbursed for our moving costs, but will be taxed severely if I can't find these silly slips of paper. And I'm the responsible one. Oh bother.

Whoops, did I forget to do that?

Here I am, trying to start my tax paperwork so that I can get my refund ASAP. I find that Turbo Tax is very helpful. You can do it all on line; then say "nah, I don't feel like paying for this", delete it, and you can take to someone else to screw it up for you instead. Truly though, it is helpful. It gives you prompts to remind you of all those deductions that you may not realize you can take.

For me, it was the yearly car registration. Of course, this also prompted me to check to see if I had renewed the cars yet (Feb 1 is the expiration date). So here I am, sifting through mounds of papers, saved through out the year in the hopes that some piece will be my saving grace, my refund magic.

Instead, I found the registration forms, neatly filed away unpaid. Whoops. I remembered receiving them, but I could have sworn I paid for them already. Although that would explain why I haven't received my new registration stickers. Luckily, they have online access for us forgetful folks. They don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts; mind you, there is an additional fee involved (actually 2 different fees). At least it is done. Let's just hope it goes through in time.

Secrets

Have you ever had a secret that you were just dying to tell, but couldn't? That's me. Right now, I am planning something that will completely surprise my man. I'd love to tell you what it is, but he sometimes reads this. It's very involved and will take months to achieve. All I'll say is that everyone but him is in on the surprise.

I feel better telling at least that much.

Secrets of the sink

I live in a new home, just under a year old. One of the benefits of a newly built home is that it is covered by a warranty, and everything is free to be fixed, you just have to call it in. Of course, after the year is up, you are pretty much on your own. So, I went through the house recently and listed every possible thing that I could think of and called Dave, our home repair guy.

The first thing on our list - the guest room sink. It's my son's bathroom and has been leaking for sometime, unbeknownst to me. I had noticed that the toilet paper he used often had a funny color to it, but I honestly thought that it was due to poor aim by him. I don't use the bathroom, so I let it go without investigation. Come to find out, the sink gushed water everytime he put the faucet on high. We store the extra rolls under the sink and they had been dripped on and then leached the color from the woodwork.

The plumbers came out to fix the sink. They decide I needed a new one, and had to take out the old one. I'm in the other room, reading a book, enjoying the first day back to school after break. I hear "Ma'am, could you look at this please? This is a child's bathroom isn't it?" My head races to try to figure out what could be down that drain to make him ask me this. I look over his shoulder, seeing just the pipe with water in it.

"What, what is it, I don't see anything"
"Ma'am, why is this water black?"
"I guess it is, isn't it."

Think, think, think. What has gone down this drain, what could have possible made it black? Then it hits me. My dear son had been painting a few days back and had decided to make a finger painting. It's just the paint washed down the drain. Whew, nothing dangerous. Once I told the plumber, he seemed to visibly relax. I can't help but wonder what he thought it could be.

Join Lightspeed panel

If you notice at the bottom of my blog, there is banner to join lightspeed. I highly recommend this site, since you get to give opinions on a variety of subjects, which gives you points which you then redeem for cash.

Giving my two cents and getting paid for that, well I love it. Plus, they don't sell your info to anyone else. Another positive - when you request you money, it comes within a week (at least the US affiliate does, I'm not sure about the other countries). Yes, it is available to you my worldwide friends!

How to contact any company

For those of you who have ever had trouble with a company or product, but didn't know where to write/call/threaten go to http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/crh/corpormain.shtml
to find the address/phone number.

Corporate America beware: I've got your number and I'm not afraid to use it!