Messier Objects

sometimes

2010-11-09T16:27:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, being a good person sucks. Sometimes you just want to do the wrong thing so bad you can taste it and it hurts to not do it. They try to tell you that being good feels good. That it's so rewarding to be kind and nice and help other people feel good that you'll forget your own troubles and bask in the glow of God's love and be perfectly content. Well, they lied. Sure it can be nice to help someone. But sometimes it just sucks beyond belief. There are the times when you bust ass to help someone and they don't even bother to thank you, or worse they just ask you what else you can do for them. Then there are the times when you've busted ass helping someone and never asked for anything in return but always kind of assumed that the people you helped would be there for you when you needed them. Only when you actually did need them they just disappeared on you and you realized that all they ever saw in you was a sucker. But the worst is when you do something for someone and they never even know it. When you put aside what you want because you know it's not yours to have and you just walk away from your dreams or desires or hopes. And no one knows or cares. They're off happy in their own little bubble of joy while you feel your insides dying and you KNOW that you could have had what you wanted. You know that it could have been you in that bubble of joy except for the fact that you're trying to do the right thing. And some days, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

a good kiss

2010-11-07T01:20:00.003-04:00

As far back as I can remember, teenaged boys have confided in me. When I was very, very young my sister's and cousin's boyfriends told me things I wouldn't understand for years. When I was a teen, the boys I knew inschool all thought I was the one girl they could confide in. And now my kids' friends talk to me and tell me things that they don't feel they can tell anyone else. I don't exactly understand why I'm the one they talk to, but I do take the responsibility very seriously. They trust me and I try to never betray that trust.

One of the perks of having their trust is that I get to spend a lot of time thinking and talking about the important things in life like love and friendship and what makes you feel alive. And this week I got to talk about what makes a hug or a kiss good.

Let me say now that the teenaged boy I was talking about this with was actually talking about the hug or kiss of a friend, not a lover. I was trying to define why a certain friend's hugs were so much nicer than anyone else's hugs. And somehow kisses became included in the conversation. Specifically, we talked about what a good kiss says.

A good kiss says yes.

Not yes to sex or yes to romance or yes to the future. Not yes to a commitment or yes to a fling. Not yes in answer to any question. A good kiss says yes to you, the person being kissed. It says yes to who you are.

A good hug doesn't feel rushed. When someone who really knows how to hug hugs you, you feel as if they are perfectly content to hold you in their arms forever, as if they feels that that's where you belong. And when you're being hugged that way, you feel like you belong there too. You feel loved.

I have been fortunate enough to be hugged and kissed by the people who love me. And I've been fortunate enough to hug and kiss the people I love. I hope that I did a good job and that they know how much I love them.

why i can't sleep

2010-09-24T04:44:00.002-04:00

Today was too good.

I should give details but I'm typing this in from the tiny keyboard on my phone. So let's just say it was a damn good day... the best in a long while.

The way of things

2010-09-22T07:56:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been almost a month since I posted anything at all and I'm sorry about that. My computer has basically died and I'm doing much of my web activity from my phone. I can read blogs, but I don't have the patience to post from those tiny little keys. Hopefully, I'll have the funds to fix my computer soon (within the next week I'm thinking) and I'll be able to be a bit more active again.

Over the last month, a lot has happened. It's almost too much to fit into words, but I'll do my best.

First off, I suppose I should update you on my friend Rebecca, since the last two posts I made had to do with the death of her son Toby. I've been spending a lot of time with her lately, both because I want to be a good friend and because she's actually one of the people I most enjoy being with, even when things are bad. But yeah... things have been real bad. Within three weeks of Toby's death, Rebecca's father had a heart attack (he survived and is doing well), her mother-in-law in England died from cancer, and her father-in-law and some of her husband's friends and family began sending Rebecca and her husband nasty texts, e-mails, and facebook messages. Nasty is an understatement. Viscious is probably more accurate. I wish I could fathom why, but since I can imagine no circumstance in which I would send my children any of those messages I am at a loss to explain it. But more important than explaining the reason for those messages is explaining the results of them. My friend is falling apart. She is feeling suicidal. She has started hurting herself. Her husband is also on the verge of falling apart. He's lost a child, a mother, a father, and most of his childhood friends, all in the same month. I cannot imagine how I could deal with that.

I keep trying to think of ways to help. She is looking into counseling and I think that's a good step. Meanwhile, I try to go see her often and I sometimes spend the night at her house. I wish I could do more.

On other fronts, I seem to have adopted another son. His name is John and he's 17. My older kids have known John for a few years, though I only met him over the summer. But just before my computer died John started chatting with me regularly on Facebook and talking to me some about his life. He's had a rough start to life, although by all accounts things are far better than they used to be. I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I decided to keep him. I know people get attached to their kid's friends and joke around that they've adopted them, but this is far more like an actual adoption than that. He spends most days here, most weekends here, takes his showers here, has chores here, and keeps clothes here. He's being introduced to extended family as the opportunity arises, and they're all treating him the same as they treat my other kids. My sister wants to know his clothing sizes so she can buy things for him. I've already gotten some of his Christmas presents.

John's mom seems to be okay with our taking over his life. I make sure to never bring him home late and to show her as much respect as possible. I think she's overwhelmed so maybe this is a bit of a relief. But I'm not sure how it'll play out in the long run.

As to the rest of my family, things seem to be going well. The kids are loving school and seem to be doing well for the most part. Well, Quinn is having trouble adjusting. His teacher is worried about him and I suspect she's going to want to have him tested for behavioral issues. But in my gut, I don't think that the problems she sees are the result of actual medical issues. He's never once in his life been in a daycare or had to follow a schedule or been told that now is when we eat and now is when we go to the bathroom and now is when we draw. He's always been able to decide all those things for himself and just do what he wants to do. Plus he's never been around other kids his age. So this is all new, and not in a good way. But in the course of the week and a half that he's actually been in classes, he's gone from screaming and crying and fighting against going to waking up and asking if he can go to school. And while I know he's still not following the rules, listening to the teachers, etc., I think he's gotten to the point where he wants to be a part of that. Maybe he does have behavioral issues. But I think the root of the current problem has more to do with the adjustment than his teacher understands. So we'll wait and see.

The other kids are doing fabulously well. Zoe had new friends, a new boyfriend, and seems to love school. Zaven and Caly have been spending all their time goofing off with friends, talking on the phone, and soaking up every last bit of fun that high school has to offer. I honestly don't think that either one of them could be happier. Well, maybe if they were to fall in love... but short of that, no.

Scott has been very, very busy. I don't talk about him much here, but that's mostly because he's kind of a private person and I don't want to take over and tell his stories for him. But this week has been a good week for him and that's making me happy. We're getting along really well. We always have, but I've learned not to take that for granted. One funny thing has been his relationship with John. I didn't really ask Scott if it was okay to adopt John. It just sort of happened. And when it did, I worried that Scott and John might have a rough time. John's late father was not a nice man and I figured that John might have a hard time having a dad around. Then the other day I saw John and another family friend arguing about who Scott liked more. Scott for his part seems to also like John. His only complaint is that he can't walk around the house in his underwear anymore. I think I can live with that.

the snarky post. please forgive

2010-08-23T02:23:00.003-04:00

I am awake. I suppose that's pretty normal for me. I usually am awake at this time of night. But tonight I am awake because I can't turn my head off. I think I don't want to sleep because I don't want to dream. Kind of like Hamlet, but less dramatic. And I'm not wearing tights.

Tomorrow I have to buy nice clothes to wear to Toby's funeral. I don't usually wear dressy clothes. I wear t-shirts and jeans and things like that. I probably have a dress somewhere, but I don't have any idea where. I'll just buy something. I don't have the energy to look.

I talked to Rebecca for a few minutes today. She had gone with some friends and picked out a casket. Actually, I think the friends picked it out for her. That was probably for the best. No one should have to pick out their baby's casket.

The funeral and visitation will be in Rebecca's home town. It's a long way from here so the kids will be missing school. If the school gives me any shit about that I'm going to tell them they can go fuck themselves. I'm almost hoping they do give me shit so that I can tell someone to go fuck themselves. It feels like a good occasion to say that to someone, but I'd feel bad to just walk up to random strangers and say it. It would probably be better to wait until someone actually does something wrong.

Caly said she wished that there was something to fix. I feel the same way. There's nothing fixable about all this. So instead I'm awake at 3 a.m. trying to think of ways to get people to do something wrong so I can tell them to go fuck themselves. Maybe that's what people are supposed to do. Maybe this is a normal reaction. I don't know. I've never had to find out. I don't remember what the stages of grieving are and I'm in a bad mood so even if I did know them I'd probably be doing them wrong on purpose. You know, as a vain attempt at conveying that go fuck yourself sentiment to an idea from a book written decades ago. Futile is the catch-word of the day. Or the night. You get the idea.

Toby

2010-08-22T00:43:00.005-04:00

On Friday I went to see Rebecca and Toby. She looked better than I expected. I thought she'd be more stressed, but she was okay. Shaky, but okay. He was snuggled up on the couch next to her, just looking at her face that way that babies sometimes look at their moms. Every now and then he would smile at her. A big beautiful smile that was pure joy. And when she talked to me, she didn't look at me, she looked at him.

She told me about how she'd been having panic attacks, how sometimes she lost track of time and did the same things over and over. She had some medicine that helped, but she didn't want to take it when she was home alone with him because it knocked her out. I told her it would get better. I said that anyone who had been through what she'd been through would be having trouble.

She said the doctors didn't think she had postpartum depression. They thought she had post traumatic stress disorder. She'd had such a rough pregnancy and then when she started bleeding so heavily they thought that she was dying, that Toby was dying. If she'd been home alone she probably would have died. If she'd bled into her body cavity instead of outward, Toby would have died.

He got a little fussy and I asked if I could hold him. I burped him and fed him a bottle. Then I patted his back and sang him a lullaby. He fell asleep against my shoulder and I kept kissing the back of his head. His hair was so soft against my lips.

I held him for a long time while he slept. Rebecca and I talked, not about anything in particular but just talking and passing the time. Then I had to lay him down again so that I could leave to pick up Zoe from school. I laid him down next to Rebecca and kissed her head and covered her legs in a blanket. Then I left.

Saturday morning the phone rang. It was Rebecca's mom Brenda and as I walked to the phone I couldn't understand why she'd be calling. She told me they'd lost Toby. It didn't make any sense at first. It was like random words had been put together. Then all of the sudden I understood.

When I got to the hospital I saw Brenda and Sam. She told me that Pete and Rebecca were in with Toby and that if I was allowed to go back, she thought they'd want me there.

I wish I had words to tell you. I wish I didn't. I don't think anyone should ever have to know that story. It should be as nonsensical as it seemed when Brenda said they'd lost him.

I should have reached out to them first. I didn't. I went to Toby and smoothed his hair. Why would I go to comfort him when he couldn't feel it? Why didn't I go straight to them when they could? His hair felt exactly the same as it had the day before. But this time, his head was cold.

Pete was crying and rocking back and forth. I could hear him praying under his breath, "Please don't let it be real. Please don't let it be real. Please don't let it be real."

Rebecca looked like the walking dead. There was no recognition in her eyes. When I hugged her, she made a little low moan that reminded me of the sound puppies make when they are dying but are still trying to wag their tails. I told them both that Toby is okay. We are not. But he is.

We sat and looked at him for a while, all of us together, but each in our own heads. I find myself watching to see if he's breathing. He's not.

His face looks bruised on one side where the blood has pooled. The other side looks too pale. But his head is turned to the side so the color changes from pale to dark across his face. One eyelid looks exactly like it did the day before. He still had the breathing tube in his mouth and tape across his face to hold it in place. I want to take the tape off but I'm afraid of damaging his skin. I don't touch it.

A man came to talk to them about donating Toby's organs. Rebecca went with him to fill out the papers. I stayed with Pete and Toby. Maybe I should have been with Rebecca. Didn't she need a friend there? But that would have left Pete alone with Toby and I know that Pete can't be alone now. He's not okay. Rebecca has the organ donation man with her. She's not alone. Pete would be alone. I stayed with Pete.

Pete thinks this was his fault. Toby died when they were asleep together.

How can he think that? I've laid down with my children more times than I can count. I've fallen asleep cuddling a baby so often that in my mind it's all blurred into one memory of sleep and warmth. Bad parents hurt their children. Good parents cuddle them. How can cuddling them be bad?

Pete hovers between wanting to hold him and not wanting to disturb him. He uncovers Toby, then covers him back up. His hands go to him and pull back. He smooths his hair. He said that Sam wanted to play with him. Now Sam won't get to. He tells me he's a bad father. I try to tell him he's not but I don't think he believes me.

Pete says something about Toby's red hair. I think, 'He had beautiful hair.' Then I realized that I just thought of Toby in the past tense. He's right in front of me and his hair is still beautiful. But I know then that he's really gone. I can't make myself think 'He HAS beautiful hair.' It just won't work that way in my head.

When Rebecca comes back in the room, she tells us they think they can use Toby's heart. Pete starts crying again. He looks as if his own heart has been ripped out of his chest. For just a moment, Rebecca looks like herself again. She seems alive again. She says, "But this way they can save someone else's baby." Then before the last word is even fully out she's gone again, off into her mind. Pete can't speak. He knows. We all know. This can't happen again. This can't happen to someone else. But why couldn't it have not happened to us?

Button Gear

2010-07-31T16:57:00.003-04:00

Caly and I have decided that we should start a company called Button Gear that has button-themed cleaning and organizing supplies. That way people could say, "I need to get my Button Gear and start cleaning the living room."

Getting ready for school

2010-07-30T00:27:00.002-04:00

I've been doing all the back-to-school shopping this week. I'm so tickled because I scored 3 free-after-rebate backpacks. One at Staples and two at OfficeMax. What I'm not tickled about is that Quinn is just not ready for school. He's 3 (almost 4) and not completely potty trained. He can go most of the day without a diaper (and even overnight) but just won't poop in a potty. Not only that, but he will pee anywhere. When we're inside and he needs to go he usually asks to go to the bathroom. But if he's outside he just whips it out and starts looking for a good place to let it fly. And no, it's not just in the grass. It's also into any interesting looking container. I am so envisioning angry phone calls from parents who found out he peed in their kid's lunch box during recess. Thank God we have a few more weeks to work on this before school starts. Of course we've been working on it a lot longer than that and it's still a problem.... Maybe you can all cross your fingers for us?

By the way, this post will be deleted at a future date to ensure his privacy. Not that any kid his age won't have a similar post on their mom's blog.

The heat.

2010-07-24T00:17:00.002-04:00

It's soooo hot here. It was over 100 actual temperature today and very humid on top of that. We just have a window A/C at home and it's just not cutting it. Even running full out, the house is just uncomfortably warm. And the forecast just keeps calling for more and more heat. I'm starting to think that global warming really sucks!

On the plus side, tomorrow is when Upward Bound ends and Zaven comes home. I know he's technically not that far away, but I missed him. I'm used to seeing my kids every day so it's hard to have him leave for 7 or 8 weeks every summer. Plus this summer has just been so overwhelming. I want things to be more normal. That means having Zaven around.

The magic show

2010-07-19T02:21:00.003-04:00

Today was Zoe's birthday. We'll be having a party in a week or two, once the house no longer has active construction going on. For today, we kept things simple. Caly invited her best friend Elysha over and the two of them made a cake for Zoe. We read "Happy Birthday To You," by Dr. Seuss aloud (and I do mean LOUD). That's a family tradition on all the kid's birthdays. We even have them shout 'I am I' from the toppest blue space (usually my bed). And at Zoe's insistance, we had a magic show.

When Caly was in the third grade, she and Elysha started putting on magic shows for us. Any time Elysha spent the night, the two of them pulled out the fanciest play clothes, brought in props from all over the house, and put on a show that involved lots of "OK, close your eyes for a few minutes" and "pretend you don't see the string" moments. And, of course, lots and lots of giggles.

Now the girls are 14 and starting high school. Over the years, the show has evolved. Now it always includes their 'lovely assistant Zoe' and even live animals like the goldfish and the cat. But it still includes fancy outfits and not a single trick that actually works.

You can't improve on perfection.

Good grief! They want you to pay what???

2010-07-17T21:40:00.004-04:00

For Zoe's birthday I bought a bunch of Littlest Pet Shop toys both for her gift and for party favors for the few friends coming over. We decided to open the packages and put them in baggies beforehand because I know from experience that it's almost impossible to get those things out of their packaging in a hurry. When we opened the boxes, we saw that there were collector stickers inside and an offer to get a free toy platypus (about 2 inches tall) if you send in 8 stickers. Then we read the fine print and realized you had to BUY a collector's diary to get a form to send in the stickers. The diary comes with a toy pet, too. But still, you have to pay money to get it. So we decided we'd just look online at Amazon and see how much just the platypus cost. $27.95! And it's marked down from $39.99! And you have to pay shipping! Good grief that's insane!

Resisting Temptation

2010-07-16T11:40:00.003-04:00

Next week is the last week of Upward Bound, so Zaven will be coming home soon. Then in not quite three weeks, school starts. Next summer he'll have his last summer of Upward Bound and then he'll be going to college. So these last few weeks of summer are some of our last few weeks where our whole family will be together and not overwhelmed with school, sports, lessons, etc.

I want to go on vacation. I want it bad. It's been a rough summer.

But we can't afford a vacation.

I try to be a frugal person, save money when I can, coupon shop, etc. So we've tried 'staycations' in the past. Can I just take this opportunity to say how much I hate staycations? They're great if you live in Chicago or New York where there's a ton to do and even the people who live there can't have done everything... or if you live by the beach or the grand canyon where no matter how many times you've been it's still exciting and new. But for those of us who live in a small town, chances are we've been to every interesting place so often they know us by name. 'Real' vacations are a break from your normal life. Plus real vacations involve someone else cleaning up your living quarters while you're out and about, eating out so there aren't dishes, and staying where your kids can't pull out every toy they own because all those toys and books and videos are back at home.

Sure you can eat all your meals out since you're saving all that money by not paying for airfare, gas, and hotels. But that doesn't take into account how cheap I am. On my vacations, we drive rather than fly, stay in priceline hotels (with free continental breakfasts) at bargain prices, and fix sandwiches in the hotel room so we only eat our lunch mean in restaurants. It doesn't feel bad doing this on vacation because we remind ourselves that the money we're saving is paying for all the cool things we're doing during the day. But fixing sandwiches at home for dinner doesn't feel at all like a vacation because the money we're saving is only paying for the trash pickup and the electric bill.

I keep a pretty close eye on our budget and I know how much we can and can't afford. We CAN'T afford a vacation.

Maybe I'll win the lottery.

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

2010-07-14T10:36:00.003-04:00

I know I don't have that many readers. But I didn't mean to abandon the few I did have. It's been a long time since I posted and I'm sorry about that. I'm hoping to just start fresh but I feel I owe an explanation. But just like in the Princess Bride, there is too much. So, let me sum up.

Zaven and Caly both had big birthday bashes for which I prepared fancy cakes, etc. Both parties were big sucesses.

My mom had open heart surgery. She's doing great.

Part of our kitchen floor started to sag wildly. Scott cut a 3 foot by 12 foot hole in the floor so he could do repairs. The subfloor is rebuilt but there's still a lot of construction going on so the kids and I have been staying at my mother-in-law's house.

My pets had babies. We are now covered in puppies outside and kittens inside. I'm hoping to give them away soon, but it's hard seeing as I've been staying in another town and Scott has been up to his ears in rebuilding our house.

So that's the summary of the past couple of months. Hope yours went a little more smoothly.

Finally, a relaxed day!

2010-05-31T20:03:00.003-04:00

Today was such a nice day. I did almost nothing. I think I folded one load of laundry and that's it. My mom and dad took Scott and I out to eat at Applebee's. My food was so delicious and it was such a treat, both to have a nice meal out and to go out with only grown-ups and have a regular conversation without little ones climbing on me.

After that, we took the kids out to a movie. We saw Shrek and I really liked it. Quinn wouldn't sit still for it and Scott ended up walking around the theatre with him while the rest of us watched the show, but we made it up to him when we got home and I kept the kids outside playing in the yard so he could watch TV and have a beer and get to relax.

Spring, with new life everywhere...

2010-05-24T01:20:00.002-04:00

So new life is just busting out all over the place here. We have kittens, puppies, calves, toddlers, fleas, termites, and even a very upset mouse.

Most of that is good, right?

Let's see... the puppies are adorable but they won't stop peeing on the porch. The kittens are just plain adorable. The calves aren't technically ours. We lease out the land to the guy who owns them. But I like to see them anyway. The fleas may be real and may be just Caly's imagination. But she got a few bug bites and is blaming the cat. The termites haven't caused any damage yet because they just hatched out today. But they're freaking me out. I do NOT want termite damage on top of everything else wrong with my 80 year old house. Scott is going to buy bug bombs tomorrow and we'll set them off while the older kids are in school later in the week. We'll also be buying poisons to put down around the house. So I know it will be taken care of... but I won't be happy until the fleas and termites are all dead.

The mouse I almost feel sorry for. I mentioned in my last post how we'd had a crazy couple of weeks and had put off all the mundane chores like keeping up with the dishes and laundry. Well apparently that's when the mouse moved in. But over the weekend we cleaned the house and got caught back up on the dishes. So late last night I went to the kitchen sink to wash my hands. The counters are all clean, with any non-mouse-proof foods like bread or open cereal boxes put in the fridge. We live in an old farm house and mice are a common hazard. So the only thing in the sink is a couple of empty glasses and a cooking pot. When I turned on the water a mouse jumped out from behind the pot and ran back behind the microwave. It must have gone looking for food in the sink because the rest of the kitchen is clean. I told the kids about it and said "Can you imagine how he felt? When he moved in there was food everywhere. Then he took a nap and when he woke up, it was a barren wasteland." Despite feeling bad for him, I will still be buying traps when I get to the store next. Too bad the kittens aren't old enough for the job.

It's been a while.

2010-05-19T12:56:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted in far too long. Sorry about that. Things got out of control here. First off, we were robbed, got the money back, had a business partner quit, had our basement flood, and Caly had a school trip which has had some problems. Here's how the last week and a half went:

Scott had worked out a deal with a family friend to haul off some of the stuff his dad hoarded and sell it for scrap. The friend (Wayne) called Scott to tell him he had some money for him. $1600 cash. Scott said, I'm not home but I will be in a few minutes. Wayne was in a hurry and says is there someplace I can leave it. Scott tells him leave it under the driver's seat in our car. I was home and I don't know why Scott didn't just say leave it with Karen. I think he thought I wasn't at home since I'd told him that I needed to run some errands. Anyhow, Wayne left the cash in my car. Only he's got someone who works for him in his truck with him. When they stop for gas a few minutes later the guy calls his wife from his cell phone and tells her where the cash is. So a few minutes later the wife shows up at our door. She says she's looking for her husband to bring him lunch and asks is he on the farm. I tell her no, and she starts to leave. Her kid got out to play with Quinn so she's fussing at him to get back in the car just as Scott drives up. Of course I have no idea there's $1600 in cash in my car so I didn't think anything of it. But she drives off, Scott goes to the car and looks, realizes it's gone and that she took it, and he calls Wayne. When Wayne answers his phone and says 'Hey Scott' the guy whose wife stole the cash jumps out of the parked truck and takes off running. So we call the police, give reports, etc. The police officer says he's going to pick them up and mirandize them and they'll think they're under arrest. Then he'll lie and say we have surveilance video and have them caught dead to rights and that we'll drop the charges in exchange for the money back. He says that the way the laws are, people who get arrested for stealing are actually prosecuted for the things that go along with the theft... breaking an entering, selling of stolen goods, etc. But the theft itself is a civil matter. So we're screwed unless the idiots confess or give back the cash.

But, apparently it worked. The man's mom and his wife' aunt showed up the next day to give us the money and beg us to not prosecute them. They stayed and talked for at least two hours because once they got here, they met Scott and Wayne and found out how much the husband was making working for Wayne (good money by local standards) and realized he'd been lying to them and telling them he didn't have money when he did so that he could get more money from them. While I was happy to get the money back, I felt bad for them because I'm fairly certain they paid us with their own cash rather than getting the money from the ones who stole it. We all think that they're on drugs. Probably meth since that's really big around here, but who knows.

When we thought the money was just gone Wayne said that he'd pay Scott back the money but Scott told him to only pay back half since Scott told him it was ok to put it there. I thought that was really nice of Wayne. He's a good guy.

Meanwhile Scott's partner on the car lot ran off. He listened to someone who was trying to manipulate him and decided that Scott was taking all the profits so far and spending them on our family rather than giving him his share. Um, no. There aren't really any profits yet. In fact, it's the other way around. The business is still operating at a loss and we're paying the bills for it out of our pockets rather than out of profits.

It didn't bother me that he was leaving if he's going to go listen to idiots and take their ideas without checking the facts. But it would leave us in a tough position because Scott starts his summer teaching job in just a few weeks and can't be on hand to run the lot day to day. And he can't yet afford to pay someone to run it. So that sucks too. I'll try to help out but it would be hard to have Quinn running around down there. There's a lot he could get hurt on. So I'd have to have a sitter maybe? Or do some major childproofing.

Then I found out that our outside water line (where the hose hooks up) is leaking water into the basement and all our off season clothes got soaked. I'll have a huge water bill, Scott will have hours of repair work to fix it since the leak is underground, and of course I have to wash all the clothes because they're soaking wet in dirty water and will mildew.

While we were still dealing with that, Scott's partner showed back up to work at the car lot as if nothing had happened. There were customers there and Scott couldn't talk to him for a while without having a public scene so it was really strange. When he finally got him alone Scott started to talk with him and the guy apologized, but Scott thinks there's something physically wrong like maybe diabetes out of whack or medication that needs adjusted. Scott said he didn't talk like himself and didn't seem quite right mentally. So while he wants to have a sit down talk with him, he didn't do it there and then because he wasn't sure that his partner would even remember it later.

They are partners, but on paper the business is all Scott's and the partnership only extends to individual cars that they purchased together. So there isn't really a risk of this guy running off with bank funds or filing a law suit. But it's put us in a strange position because we do need a partner, but not an unstable one.

Then Caly went on a school trip to Washington DC. They are still there. She called yesterday and they had witnessed a mugging from their tour bus. The kids all wanted to call the police but they didn't know where they were to direct the police. The adults said isn't that too bad and continued the tour. She was upset and I don't blame her. I know that the police can't stop every crime and it probably wouldn't even have been a priority but I take that sort of thing seriously. What if it was your son or husband or sister? Wouldn't you want someone to help them?

Then last night I noticed that Caly had send me a text just to say hi earlier in the day. So I texted back to tell her a joke. She sent a one word reply ('yeah'), which is totally not her style. I replied to see if I could figure out what was up. Turns out one of her friends was having a seizure. He was in his room and according to the other boys in the room, they were rough-housing, he hit his head, and then he started having a seizure. The other boys called Caly and her friends in their room to see if they knew where the school nurse was. The girls called their chaperones and got him help, but Caly and her friends were in near hysterics and crying uncontrolably by the time her dad and I realized what was happening and called them. They'd never seen a seizure and it scared them terribly.

So today is day 3 of the trip and their last day in the city. I'm crossing my fingers and saying a quick prayer that it's a better day for them.

Then this morning Scott finally talked to his business partner and they agreed to sever ties. Scott said that he decided not to even bring up what's been going on with the partner acting strangely but to go over the bank statements with him and show him that they aren't yet making money and that because of the crappy economy it will be a while before they do. So the partner talked it over with Scott and both agreed that the best choice for both of them is to end the partnership. Scott has a summer teaching job that starts soon, so at least for the summer the lot will either be closed or operating online only. Then in the fall Scott will attempt to reopen again without the partner. I think it's for the best. And if the business ever does take off, the profits will be all ours.

On the plus side, Scott and I are both eerily calm about it all. We aren't fighting or freaking out or blaming each other. I was on edge because of trying to get the clothes washed and dried before they rot, but we haven't been yelling or fussing and Scott and the kids are helping too. So far, all the laundry is washed and dried, but it's spread all over the house in big piles because I have to clean the boxes and sort and fold the clothes before I can put them back... except they are still working on the basement so I can't put them back yet.

Oh, and we're having Caly's birthday party and a cookout in a week and a half. So I will also soon need to make a cake, get the yard picked up, shop for the party, etc.

As I said, things are out of hand around here.

Joe vs. Steve

2010-04-28T17:35:00.002-04:00

It's a full out Blue's Clues war here. Quinn loves the show, but will only watch the episodes with Joe. That makes sense. He's three and three-year-olds don't like change. The problem is that Caly HATES Joe. With a flaming passion. And she's thirteen!

Meanwhile, I'm getting over my cold and still clearing junk out of the house. It's amazing to me how little of it we miss once it's gone. It makes sense though. The stuff that we're purging is stuff that's buried behind and under the stuff we use. It's the extras shirts in the dresser drawer that you shove aside to get to the shirt you love. So when it's gone, the drawer is a little roomier, but you don't miss the shirts. So I just keep reminding myself that somewhere out there is someone who would really love to have that shirt or those pants or that extra casserole dish. I'm donating all our extras to Goodwill, in part because I live too far from town for a yard sale to be profitable, and in part because I shop at Goodwill. I like finding a sweet deal when I'm there and I imagine that my old stuff will be a sweet deal for someone else.

I have a stove!

2010-04-25T16:45:00.002-04:00

Whoo-hoo! I'm so happy. It wasn't just that I couldn't cook. It was that the parts were everywhere. No more parts on the floor is the nicest feeling.

Of course, my faucet is still not working right. Scott couldn't even really get to the faucet because of the stove being in the way. Maybe we'll have a chance to work on it this week. And as for the dishwasher, I'm thinking I'll start saving for a new one. It breaks down FAR more often than my old one did. And it just never did clean as well. Sometimes you have to know when to admit defeat.

On the flip side, my closets should totally surrender. They are getting their butts kicked. And once I get my kitchen back into shape, I'm planning on attacking the cabinets and getting rid of all the junk there too. Scott is a kitchen pack rat and loves cooking gadgets. Even worse, my cabinets have all kinds of inaccessible nooks and crannies. You know how old-fashioned corner cabinets are. There're way deep and you have to kind of reach around a wall to get to anything. The bulk of the stuff in them can't be pulled out unless you pull out everything in the entire cabinet. I'm thinking that I'll get a couple of plastic bins that fit in there and use the space to store Christmas ornaments or something else that I only pull out once a year. If the stuff is in bins, it'll be easier to get out when I need it.

The update

2010-04-22T23:26:00.002-04:00

Just so you know, my kitchen is still impassable, and now my computer is having problems too. BUT my bathroom closet kicks ass!

I've been dropping so much stuff off at Goodwill that they all recognize me now. You would think that there would be an end in sight, but I swear I keep finding more layers of junk under the junk. That being said, I'm really really happy with the progress we've made. Office Depot has been having free after rebate products lately and I picked up some boxes and a labeler. As I purge the junk, I'm organizing and properly storing and labeling everything before putting the stuff I'm keeping away.

My goal is to have my whole house cleaned out one day. (Cue howls of laughter from anyone who's ever seen my house.) And while I may never reach that goal, I can say that I WILL have a clean bathroom one day soon.

Avoiding the fire by jumping into the frying pan.

2010-04-16T12:28:00.002-04:00

I should be cleaning house. I NEED to clean house. It's a total wreck. But I hate cleaning. On top of that my stove is currently disassembled and all over the kitchen floor, the kitchen faucet has quit except for a small dribble, and my dishwasher is only getting the things on the bottom rack clean. So what should be a simple job of loading the dishes now involves walking through the kitchen on tiptoes so as to avoid stepping on the stove, washing half-loads in the dishwasher, and carrying water in from the bathroom.

Of course I have no similar excuse for not doing laundry. I just don't feel like it.

So... instead of cleaning, I'm sorting a bunch of our clothes and de-cluttering the closets. It won't result in a clean home, clean clothes, or clean dishes. And it involves as much work as doing the dishes and more than doing the laundry. So it doesn't exactly make sense. It just feels slightly less futile.

A better week

2010-04-14T13:20:00.002-04:00

Last week was so sucky. Sorry, but it was. I'd go into the details but honestly you don't want to hear it and I don't want to think about it. It just sucked. On the plus side, this week seems to be improving. Among the other improvements was that I got my Amazon shipment of Jim Butcher's new Dresden Files novel, Changes. It was SO freaking good. I can't discuss it yet because we have a pact among the family that the ones who read a book first have to pretend they know nothing about it until everyone in the house have had a chance to read it. Zaven and I are finished, but Scott and Caly aren't. So all Zaven and I are allowed to say is, "I wonder what happens in that book 'Changes'? Bet it's good."

It IS good. But that's all I'm saying.

Bad week

2010-04-10T10:30:00.002-04:00

Nest week official starts today. Because if last week is still going on, I'm thinking of leaving town and hiding. No one died last week. Other than that, it pretty much sucked.

She knows me too well.

2010-04-02T09:39:00.004-04:00

The other day Caly offered to put some music on my MP3 player. I didn't have a player of my own until I won one a while ago and (being me) it took me forever to get it out of the box and put anything on it. Initially, I put an audiobook on it. The one drawback of having so many kids is that I don't get to sit and read like I used to. So audiobooks are great for me. After listening to the book, I let Scott borrow my player so that he could hear it. Then I got distracted. Long story, short... there's still no music on my MP3 player. So Caly offered to take the book off and put some music on for me.

She asked me what music I wanted and I told her to just put on things she thought I'd like. She knows that I like most kinds of popular music. I'm not that much into country or hip hop, but otherwise, if I can sing to it, I'll sing along.

So later in the day, Caly loaded it up and handed it back. And yesterday I put it on to keep my brain occupied while I cleaned house. I half-expected to have a tone of teen pop music to listen to, but Caly had been pretty conservative with the music she'd put on. In fact, I recognized almost all the songs as soon as they started playing. The only thing that threw me for a loop was when I heard the first few notes of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. I recognized it, but was kind of surprised that Caly had put it on. I tend to like music I can sing along with and Nirvana mumbles so much that I could never figure out what I was supposed to be singing. Then the I realized... it wasn't Nirvana. It was Weird Al Yankovic's Smells Like Nirvana.

Whoo-hoo!

2010-03-29T21:13:00.003-04:00

A while ago I posted about Zaven thinking ahead to college. We'd learned that now was the time to research and choose schools that he'd like to attend even though he's still a junior. Apparently, good students spend that extra year perfecting their application, finding financial assistance, and doing everything they can to up their odds of getting to attend a school that's a perfect match for them.

When I first learned about this, I figured it was kind of overkill. But on the off chance that it wasn't, we started looking at the process. Turns out, so many kids do this that you're at a real disadvantage if you don't. So we started looking around at schools, considering majors and career choices, and Zaven took his ACT. He did good. Actually, he did really good. But then he found a school that he loved. Really, really loved. Kenyon College in Ohio. And for that particular school his ACT scores were just barely good enough. And maybe, not good enough at all. They're as picky as a lot of Ivy League schools.

But a few weeks ago he retook the ACT. And I got the scores today.

He kicked ass.

Kenyon College, you'd better get ready.

2010-03-25T00:07:00.002-04:00

Today, Quinn tried to pee into an uninflated balloon. And in case you're wondering how that worked for him... it didn't.

Kitty Pie

2010-03-12T00:09:00.001-05:00

I call Quinn a cutie pie all the time. Turns out, he thinks I'm calling him a Kitty Pie. He is so freaking adorable sometimes.

Zoe's engagement

2010-03-10T17:05:00.002-05:00

This week, Zoe came home from Kindergarten with some news. She's getting married! Last week she met Jacob, her best friend's cousin. Apparently he fell madly in love with her at first site and has already proposed. She said yes. They've decided to wait for the actual wedding until they are grown-ups. For now she's happy just having a boyfriend. She says that when she thinks about him, her eyes sparkle. She's already kissed him (on the mouth!) and is planning to give him a naked barbie as a gift because she thinks it's fun how naked barbies make the boys at school so upset. She's very excited about giving him the gift and says that she's sure he'll be terrified. Wow. Only five and already she knows that having your fiance terified of what you might do is a good thing.

All two of me.

2010-03-05T22:07:00.001-05:00

The other day was trash day. For me it's not a big event, but Zoe really likes it. What she likes is that after our trash is picked up, she can take the empty trash can back to the house. Our driveway is about a tenth of a mile long. Zoe loves to walk up from the road to the house and she loves it even more when she can drag the empty trash can with her. It has wheels so it's not too difficult, even on the gravel. But it gives her a big feeling of accomplishment.

This time, we had a lot of trash. We used all three trash cans. So after I'd picked up the kids from school I stopped at the bottom of our driveway and let Caly, Zoe, and Quinn out of the car so they could walk up the drive. Caly and Zoe both carried trash cans. Zoe raced ahead so that she could lead the way. I opened the window of my car so that I could hold on to the handle of the third can a carry it up the house as I drove. I let the kids walk up first, then I drove the van up. When I got out, Zoe asked me if she'd earned extra allowance. I said I thought that all three of them had because they'd all three worked hard. She said, "Well all two of me did, but I was in front so I should get extra."

I can't argue with that!

Wow. I haven't posted in forever.

2010-02-25T16:04:00.002-05:00

I truly didn't realize it had been so long. Sorry.

Let's see. What have we been doing? Ummm... well we all got sick again. It was a boomerang kind of a cold. Or maybe we just picked up new germs while at the doctor's office.

Other than that I've been shopping a lot. I got that tax money I'd mentioned and went out and bought socks and undies for everyone. I know, boring. But when money is tight I avoid buying things we don't NEED. So if your socks get worn thin or your undies have a stain... well then you don't technically Need new ones. But after they all get worn and ugly, you really want them. Thus my big sock splurge.

I also got Zaven a ton of new clothes. Zaven has been a slob since he was about 7. He never looks in the mirror, never cares about how others see him, and never bothers to make sure his clothes match or look decent. But about a week ago he suddenly started showing an interest. Since the rare event of us having extra money coincided with the even rarer event of Zaven wanting nice clothes, I bought him a bunch of stuff. It felt good. And he looks really, really nice.

Catching up

2010-02-06T12:26:00.003-05:00

After having spent all last week either sick or taking care of someone who was sick, our house is totally trashed. So this weekend Scott took Zaven and Quinn over to his mom's house. Quinn is right at the age where he makes it impossible to get things done. If you're distracted by cleaning something, he uses that time to make another (larger) mess. Anyhow, the end result of this is that it's only girls in the house today.

Caly and Zoe are 8 years apart in age. Sometimes they don't get along because of that. It's too easy for them to fall into the parent/child roles. And even when they are acting as equals, they don't exactly share interests. But sometimes, every now and then, they get along perfectly. I've got my fingers crossed that today will be one of those days. They need it.

Spending money

2010-02-04T12:20:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been kind of a sucky week. Zaven had his wisdom teeth pulled and got a dry socket. The other kids and I all had colds and felt crappy. And despite the fact that Zaven was finally able to get his learner's permit (aka Dr. Lisc), he's not been able to drive because he's been on painkillers all week.

BUT... we did get our taxes done. That's a huge deal for us. Ours are usually complicated and time consuming. But since we have four kids all living at home, we usually get some money back. This year we lucked out. The taxes weren't complicated AND we're getting back a bit more than we usually do. So, that leaves us with a little bit of spending money.

As you probably already know, I'm one of those coupon loving freaks who tries to go to the store and get a few hundred dollars worth of stuff for 57 cents after taxes. Sometimes I even manage to do that. I get all my shampoo and toothpaste and deodorant for free and have boxes of toiletries that I got for free in storage in the basement. So what does someone like me do when I have extra money?

Well, it's kind of complicated. Part of me really, really wants to just go crazy and splurge on whatever it is I want at the moment. After all, I'm always scrimping and saving and squirreling away. I deserve to get to spend this money. It won't be coming out of our regular budget. It's more like a prize we won.

Of course another part of me knows that even if we don't need extra money right at this moment, we eventually will need it. We don't have much in the way of an emergency fund right now. On top of that, even if we did have an emergency fund, there are dozens of other things that this money could do that would really have a positive impact on our lives. We could put it in an IRA, invest in some much needed home repairs, or buy a more fuel efficient car.

So... what will it be? Frugal or fun?

Both. Last year we paid off an old bank loan. This year I'll be paying off my credit card. I like to be debt-free. It means I never have to worry about late fees, LOL. But I don't owe much, so I'll still have most of the money left over. Most of that will be just put in the bank. But some of the money will be for fun. I like fun. I'm thinking that maybe Scott and I will go on a weekend trip without the kids. We haven't had a vacation without kids along in over a decade.

So my only questions are, where will we go and what kind of a deal can I get on our hotel room?

The mess.

2010-01-27T16:46:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to get rid of stuff. That's part of my 2010 goals. I want to be more organized and as soon as I started trying to organize our stuff, I realized that we have way too much of it. Part of that is natural. We have four kids. Each comes with their own set of interests, likes, and dislikes. So they each have different books, toys, etc. But I'm realizing that a big part of it is my own desire to indulge them. I don't keep a lot of stuff for myself. I regularly purge my own junk. And if I didn't have the ambition to take back up a few crafts (crochet, sewing, painting) when Quinn gets back in school, I wouldn't have any junk at all. But when it comes to everyone else's stuff, I have a much harder time letting it go.

I look at an old toy and I remember how much fun Zaven had with it... and I keep it. I SAY it's for Quinn, but honestly he has no interest in it at all. It's just that I want him to have interest. And the same thing goes for books, clothes, etc. I even find myself doing it with Scott's stuff. I want him to be happy, to have hobbies, to do fun stuff. So I don't make him get rid of the stuff that has been sitting around, unused, for years.

But I've decided that what my family needs is more space and less clutter. So I'm on a big purge. And even though it's going to take a while, I already feel better. Each area that I clear makes me feel a bit more excited and happy. I don't miss the stuff at all.

I never thought I would say this

2010-01-26T00:56:00.002-05:00

...but I've become addicted to a car show. Yes, a car show. Meaning a show where the hosts test drive new cars and tell you how they perform.

I know. You think I've gone insane. But it's a really, really, REALLY good show. It's a british show called Top Gear and Scott started watching it a few months ago. Now we're all hooked and can't stop watching all the old episodes. Yes, I know. That's even crazier. It's bad enough to watch a show where they test drive new cars. Now I'm watching them test drive old cars?

But you should watch this show. It's SO not what you would think. They test the cars in the funniest ways. Like when they tested the Ford Fiesta and asked, "What if I go to a shopping centre and get chased by baddies in a corvette?" or when they tested The Lotus Exige against the missile locking capabilities of an Apache helicopter.

They've had buses jumping motor cycles (instead of the other way around), crossed the English Channel in cars that they (sort of) made amphibious, and added rockets to a car and sent it down an olympic ski jump ramp. They also race cars against things like trains, bobsledders, french skiers, boats, and once they raced a dog sled team to the north pole.

It's crazy and funny and usually has everyone in the house laughing until our ribs hurt. Even Zoe likes it, although I'm half afraid for her to watch. She's only 5 but she has big ambitions when it comes to driving. So there it is. I like a car show. Who'd have thunk it?

The elusive Dr. Lisc

2010-01-24T12:41:00.002-05:00

I write lists. I could tell you that I developed the habit to help combat the confusion of having four kids around. But in all honesty my mom says I've done it since I learned how to write. It's a good thing, though. I have an awful memory for the mundane details of life like getting milk at the store or remembering to change the sheets regularly. Writing lists of what I need to do, need to buy, need to remember... that keeps me on track. And it keeps me from being an incessant nag. I just write down what I need the kids to do and they're in charge of getting it done. But there is one thing that has been on the list for about 7 months. Dr. Lisc.

Last summer, Zaven turned 16. So I added an item to our family to-do list. Get him a driver's license. Only I always misspell license. I spell it liscense. And when I wrote it down on the list I abbreviated it Dr. Lisc. Caly promptly asked, "Who's Doctor Lisc and why do we need to see him?" And so began the search for the elusive Dr. Lisc.

During the summer months, Zaven was away at Upward Bound. No opportunity to even study for his permit.

Once he was home we kept forgetting to stop in at the courthouse to pick up a manual. But after several weeks we remembered. Only guess what? They don't print driver's manuals any more. You have to download them from the internet. And it turns out that they're a bit thicker than I remembered. The document is about 130 pages long. Printing out 130 pages is out of my budget. So Zaven would need to read it online. The job off capturing Dr. Lisc just got a lot more complicated. We have one computer in our home, several people who want to use it, and only a small window of time that Zaven has free in a typical week. He's on a swim team, in an art club, takes music lessons, etc. Add to that the fact that when you put a teenaged boy in front of a computer, studying for a test, even a driving test, isn't what he has in mind. So the simple job of reading and studying a short manual ended up taking about 3 months. And we began to refer to Dr. Lisc as 'The Elusive Dr. Lisc.'

But eventually Zaven did study the manual and was finally ready to take the written test. Only Dr. Lisc had other plans in mind. First we found out that the courthouse in never open when he's out of school and not in an afterschool activity. In fact, the courthouse in our town doesn't administer the test, so he'd be going to the next town over. So even if he left school and went directly to the courthouse he wouldn't get there before they closed. And going to get your permit is not an excused school excuse. So we waited for a day when he had a dental appointment so he would already be out of school with an excused absence. Then we went to the courthouse... only to find that you can only take the permit test from 8-10:30 AM on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Dr. Lisc slips out of our grasp yet again. He's wily, that Dr. Lisc.

The dentist told Zaven he'd chipped a filling and would need to come back in to have it repaired. He also needed to get an appointment with an oral surgeon to see about taking out his wisdom teeth. I set the filling repair up for the next Friday so that he could also take his permit test while he was out of school. We double checked to make sure he had his social security card, birth certificate, letter from the school, etc. Then we headed to the courthouse. He made it as far as the eye exam. Due to his poor vision in one eye (from a cataract when he was 5), he would need to have a form filled out by an eye doctor before he could take the permit test. They assured us that his vision was good enough for him to get a license as long as he had all the mirrors on his car. But he had to have that form filled out first. I was beginning to hate Dr. Lisc.

Our usual eye doctor didn't have any openings for a month. I called around and found one who could see him in a week, also on a Friday, but in the afternoon. The hunt was back on. Dr. Lisc could evade us for only so long. Realizing that it would be too late in the day to make it to the courthouse before 10:30 after the eye appointment, I called the oral surgeon and set up Zaven's initial consultation for the following Monday morning. If all went according to plan, Zaven would get his eye doctor forms filled out Friday, and still have an excused absence Monday morning that we could use as a cover to stop by the courthouse and finally capture Dr. Lisc.

The eye appointment went well. And it turns out that Zaven's prescription has changed. He will be able to pick up his new glasses Monday after school. Oh, and by the way, he would need to have those new glasses with him when he took his permit test. It says so in the small print on the form they wanted his eye doctor to fill out. So even though he'll have an excused absence on Monday morning, he won't be able to take the test until Wednesday morning (not open Tuesday, remember?) and he won't have an excuse to miss school then. And the school office staff is beginning to realize that Zaven is out of school a lot. They're giving me suspicious looks these days. And I've run out of legitimate excuses to check him out. He's already been to the dentist twice, the oral surgeon, and the eye doctor.

The elusive Dr. Lisc has escaped yet again, and I'm not sure how we'll manage to capture him. But I'm now muttering lines from Moby Dick about stabbing at him from Hell's Heart, so giving up is not an option. Currently I'm thinking we'll fake a case of Meningitis or Malaria or something and try it again on Wednesday. But one way or another, Dr. Lisc is going down.

Thinking ahead

2010-01-14T13:47:00.003-05:00

Next fall, Quinn will start pre-school. So what am I thinking about? Picking colleges. Not for Quinn of course, but for Zaven. He's a junior this year. When I was in high school, you didn't really spend much time thinking about college until you were a senior, but the competition for scholarships is a bigger deal now, and we WILL be needing those scholarships. So the hunt for the perfect school, the perfect scholarship, and the perfect major all begin earlier.

So far, Zaven has been doing most everything right. He gets good grades for the most part. He takes difficult classes. He's involved in sports (via swimming), extra-curricular activities, music lessons, and he volunteers. So what is there to think about? Tons, apparently.

First off, he needs to at least have an idea of what he wants to major in so that he can pick a school which is strong in that program. He's thinking about paleontology, which has been a love of his since he was Quinn's age. Neither of us know anything about which schools offer good paleo programs, so we need to do research. And to make things just that more complicated, paleo isn't really an undergraduate major. It's a master's or doctoral program. I have no idea what the preferred undergrad degree is in.

Once you've picked your potential schools, you request an application. Yes, in your junior year. Why? So you can spend the next YEAR working on getting the perfect application, essay, and recommendations.

I swear I'm not making this up.

Who does that? Who spends a year on an essay? Apparently, a lot of people. Probably, a lot of parents. But the fact is that enough people do this that not doing it puts you at a real disadvantage both in getting accepted to the school and in getting financial assistance from them.

Then there are all the scholarships to research. That was becoming a big field when I was in high school. Rich parents paid for someone to go through all the potential scholarships their kids could apply for, find those most suitable to their kids, and do most of the work in filling them out. They didn't write your essays, but they filled in all the forms and organized all the materials you'd need. This was pre-autofill. Filling the things out took forever.

Apparently, that service quickly devolved into an array of potential scams. Some of the companies wrote the essays for the students, others didn't research the scholarships which resulted in kids and parents wasting time applying for scholarships that they couldn't possibly get, and most companies simply sent the family huge lists of thousands of scholarships with no guidance into which ones to apply for or how to apply... which is where I'm at. Sure it sounds great that there are all those scholarships that Zaven could get. But have you ever googled the word 'scholarship'? 44 million results. How on earth does one narrow that down? Even the reliable sites that our school recommends has thousands and thousands of scholarships that one can apply for. And since everyone wants those which have a big payout, there's a lot of competition for those. Schools now recommend that instead of trying to get one major scholarship, students try to get several dozen smaller scholarships. Thirty $500 scholarships means $15,000. That's nothing to sneeze at.

So here we sit, looking at spending the next year and a half trying to sort through all those potential gold mines for just the right gold mines.

How come I'm doing this while I still have a kid in diapers? And (heaven forbid) will this even be harder when Quinn is in high school?

and a Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T21:29:00.003-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything. Well, I won't waste your time filling you in on the last few weeks. Christmas was fun and surprisingly relaxing despite having a cold, but other than that, it's pretty much been life as normal here.

But there is one nice thing I've been meaning to post about, and I think it will be a nice first post for a new year and a new decade.

Just before Christmas, our school had their annual middle school Snowflake Dance. Caly always goes to the dances and she was super excited to go to this one in particular. She'd had someone ask her to the dance, but knowing that he had stronger feelings for her than she had for him, she declined and decided to go with her friends. She wore a full length dress, brand new high heeled boots, and looked fantastic. After the dance when I picked her up, she was giddy with excitement. But she wasn't excited about a boy liking her or asking her to dance. Instead, she was excited about something very different. You see, every year at the dance, the eighth grade elects a king and queen of the dance. Traditionally, no one campaigns or asks for votes for themselves or anyone else. They just vote for their friends. But this year all the kids were passing word to each other to vote for one particular person. So when the time came for the vote, almost every student there had heard about the plan and they all voted for the same person.

No, it wasn't for Caly. It was for one of her friends, someone she's known since they were in diapers together. He's not a close friend though, because despite being in the same grade at the same school, they have hardly ever had classes together. You see, he's a special ed student who is only mainstreamed in some of his classes. Yes, you read that right. The king of the dance is a special needs student. And in case you were wondering, no, it wasn't a prank, a joke, or even pity. He's just a really nice kid, and the other students wanted to make him happy. They like him.

Caly said, "He was so happy! At first I thought he was gonna yell, and then I thought he was gonna jump, and then I thought his face was going to break from smiling so big." As soon as I heard, I called Scott, because Scott is friends with this boy's grandfather and I knew that Scott would be excited. So I called Scott and then Scott called his grandfather to make sure that he'd heard what happened. And apparently his grandfather had arrived at the dance to pick him up early and was there in the back of the room to see it happen. I'm not sure I can really appreciate what that must have felt like.

But what a wonderful way to end one year and bring in the next.

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!!!

2009-12-17T13:49:00.003-05:00

OK. It's not Christmas yet. But I've been SO busy that who knows If I'll remember to post before then. You would think that things would calm down a bit, but not really. Today alone Zaven has a trip to Lexington to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Caly and Zaven both have a swim meet (that Zaven can't attend due to going to the concert), and Caly has a chorus concert (that Caly can't attend despite having a small solo due to the swim meet). And every day is like that! We've got a half dozen multiple overlapping events that we're obligated to attend this month. Plus school goes right up to the 22nd. We usually get more time off, but they shortened the break because we'd had several days cancelled because of the flu a few months ago.

On the plus side, many of the activities we've been involved in have been just wonderful. Zaven had his strings concert last weekend (he plays cello) and it was beautiful. I enjoyed it so much. His teacher has a gift, I tell you. Those kids play better than some professionals I've heard. I've also really enjoyed how excited the kids have been about all their various events. Caly got to go to the Nutcracker with my parents, and she loved it. She's also been attending the youth group at her best friend's church and has been talking about all her new friends non-stop. It's nice to see them enjoying life so much, even if it is hard to organize.

'Tis the season to be busy.

2009-12-02T19:55:00.005-05:00

Swim season is here. Yes. Swim season. In the middle of winter. The school team has begun having meets. Swim meets are fun, but they aren't like football games or soccer games. Those events don't last six hours. A typical swim meet lasts all freaking day long.

Zaven and Caly went to the first meet of the season today. They left directly from school without coming home. They got home just after Caly's bedtime. Most meets aren't on school nights, but there will a few more that are. And there's a meet almost every weekend for the next two months. There's even one during the Christmas break. Many of them are away meets, which means that you have to add a few extra hours for transportation.

However, there are a few upsides to swim season. First off, Zaven and Caly get a ton of exercise. Not as much at the meets as they do at the practices, though. Most of the time spent at the meets is just waiting for their races. They're actually in the water for only two or three races each, so maybe 15 minutes plus the warm up time. But the daily practices get them a lot of exercise. The other good thing is the showers. We only have one bathroom in our house, so having the two older kids get their showers in the locker room every afternoon is pretty handy.

But all in all, it's just a busy, busy time. And they're in other activities, too. There's their teen mentoring program (they're the ones being mentored), chorus, cello, art club, Upward Bound, STLP (which stands for something unknown but involves Caly making videos every week after school), and of course the city swim team which is different from the school swim team. And for the city team, Zaven volunteers and helps train the beginning swimmers, so that means he stays for two daily sessions, not just one. Plus there's homework, chores, school dances, hanging out with friends, visiting family, and the time teens require to just veg out.

Fortunately for us, most of their other activities are just once-a-week sorts of events. The only thing that really takes up time is swimming. And despite how much time it takes up, I can't help but think that it's really, really good for them. It may kill me... but hopefully it will help them live healthier lives.

The cookie jar

2009-11-30T00:31:00.003-05:00

We have... had... a Santa shaped cookie jar. I hated it. First off, it was ugly. Second, it had a sensor that made it say "Ho! Ho! Ho!" incredibly loudly if anyone so much as jostled the lid. Even with duct tape on the speaker and ancient batteries you could hear that thing go off anywhere in the house. And third, it was irregularly shaped both inside and out, with lots of little nooks and crannies that made it almost impossible to clean.

Today, as we were bringing the first of the Christmas boxes out of the basement, I broke it. I broke the hinge on the lid, and apparently I broke the electronics too. And Zoe cried and cried and cried when I threw it away.

I promised her I'd buy her a new cookie jar. A new Santa-shaped cookie jar that talked if we could find one. She was not the least bit consoled. She loves THAT jar. That hideous, annoying, plastic monstrosity of a jar. Sigh.

But I did not dig it out of the trash. I just couldn't. I will find her one that she loves just as much if not more. A nice quiet one with smooth insides that I can get clean so I don't have to worry about putting cookies in it after it's been in the basement for a year. And I will fill it with cookies. I promise.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T14:18:00.002-05:00

Life is pretty good today and I have much to be thankful for. I hope all of you are having a wonderful day, too.

Quinn changed his mind about the diapers, but he did have a few non-accidents and overall, I am happy with the progress. He'll do it when he's ready.

Literacy night

2009-11-20T14:10:00.000-05:00

Last night the elementary school had their annual literacy night. We had such a nice time! Zaven and Caly were at their teen mentoring program, so it was just me and Scott and Zoe and Quinn. The kids and I ate first, because the school was serving chili which the kids won't eat (and I can't have because of my food allergies). So when we got there, we regitered for door prizes then the principal gave each kid a set of those plastic letterst that you put on your fridge. Then we went in and went to the book table. There were dozens of brand new books that they were giving away. It was supposed to be one per student, but they let Quinn pick one out, too. Then we went to the cafeteria. Scott got four bowls of chili since there were four of us. He hadn't had lunch and he ate ALL of it! THe kids and I snacked on raw carrots and cookies while he ate.

Then we went to the Scholastic book fair. Zoe spent her allowance (she gets only 50 cents a week but she saves it up). She had $5 and she bought a book about cats and dogs for herself and then picked out a sale book to buy Caly for Christmas. I thought that was so nice of her. I got a book too, a nice hardback picture book about bats playing in the library at night. I spent $16. Then we listened to a few stories being read.

The door prizes were getting ready to be announced and we didn't want to leave until then (just in case we won), so we walked around a bit. When we passed back by the table with the free books they told us that they had a lot left over and to come pick out any we wanted. So Zoe and I picked out more books. We got some for her to give to Zaven and Quinn for Christmas so now all her shopping is done.

Then they called the winners for the door prizes. We didn't win any, but then they said that a few winners hadn't been present so they were going to draw for those prizes again. Quinn won a $10 gift card to a local Mexican restaurant! I went ahead and gave it to Scott since it expires before Christmas, but I'm still counting that as Quinn giving a present to his dad, LOL.

All in all it was a great night. We only spent $21 (including Zoe's allowance) and got back a set of alphabet magnets, 10 brand new books, and a $10 gift card, plus all that free chili that Scott ate. And the money we spent helps earn free books for the school library.

Money -- wish I had more.

2009-11-18T16:07:00.002-05:00

Financially, the last month has been good in some ways, not so good in others. All my Christmas shopping is done, I didn't go spend crazy at all last month, and I got back on track with my coupons. All in all, we made big progress on reducing our spending. On the down side, we didn't make nearly as much money as we did before Scott stopped teaching. So despite spending less, we're not saving more. :( On top of that I still sit here with a busted TV. If I buy a new one, I will not be able to pay cash. But TV is the one thing Scott really enjoys at the end of the day. I could live without it and just watch shows online. Scott hates that. So I think we'll be buying one soon. Thankfully, this is the time of year for good deals on TV's. I just hope it's a REALLY good deal.

I'm so impressed.

2009-11-16T15:15:00.002-05:00

You guys won't be impressed. You have no idea how much of a mess my kitchen was before we started cleaning and even if you did, you'd probably just be disturbed that someone you know is that much of a slob. But I am impressed. My kitchen is so clean that it has an echo. An honest to God echo. Of course I keep noticing small things that didn't get done. And I should clean the windows and inside the microwave. But man it is SO much nicer than it was. Now I just have to do the rest of the house, LOL.

Tired, but happy.

2009-11-14T23:26:00.002-05:00

Today has been so tiring. Scott took Zoe and Quinn's to his mom's house this weekend so the bigger kids and I could try to get caught up on some of the cleaning that needed to be done. I spend a lot of time cleaning... but so much of the time it doesn't really get clean. Not like it should, at least. First off there's the usual business of trying to put things away with a toddler around. I pick up, but Quinn follows behind and takes things right back out. Then there's the fact that I am seriously allergic to dust. Housecleaning literally makes me sick. If I do too much at once, I have trouble breathing. Then there's the fact that there are six of us living here. That means that every day I need to do at least a load of dishes and a load of laundry just to keep up. That's not progress, that's just maintenance. Finally, there's the shopping, doctors appointments, errands, and extracurricular activities of a family with both teens and toddlers. I spend a lot of time in the car. So most of the cleaning I do is just trying to keep things from getting worse, not actually making them better.

But today... that was real progress. Zaven and Caly and I decided to pick one room (the kitchen) and spend the weekend on it. We picked the kitchen. Today we cleaned out the fridge, the freezer, the deep freeze, the top of the dryer (where for some reason all the odds and ends collect), under the table (where we tend to shove stuff to get it out of the way), and the pile of laundry in the corner. The kitchen ISN'T clean yet. We still have more laundry to do, a few more dishes to do, the stove top, and a few boxes in the corner. But man it is SO much nicer. Plus I now know exactly what's in the freezer. I have it organized and we got rid of some things that had been in there forever.

So I'm really tired, really happy, and not so exhausted that I can't finish it up tomorrow. Sure it's just one room. But by the end of the weekend it will be one really clean room. And since it was the worst mess of any room in the house, it feels really good to finally get it the way it should be. Hopefully it will be progress that we can maintain and build on.

Meanwhile, things seem to be going well with the meal planning. Weekends are harder to plan for, but I'd expected that. We tend to juggle our schedule a lot on the weekends, so we've not stuck to the plan exactly. But weekdays have been pretty successful. The only weekday that we didn't stick with the play was Thursday. The kids had picked that day for Scott to make a Pork Roulade, mostly because Zaven and Caly knew they'd be at their Teen Mentoring program during dinner and they wouldn't have to eat it. The both tolerate it, but they don't love it. Scott and I think they're nuts, LOL. Anyhow, Scott and I were both super tired Thursday, plus we had a fridge full of leftovers. So we decided to save the ingredients for later and just finish off some of the things in the fridge. Since I'm new to the planning, I forgot to have a day or two each week for leftovers. I'll remember next time. The one thing I really like about the meal planning is that it makes shopping simpler. I can take a copy of the meal plan with me to the store and make sure I have all the ingredients for the next week. Hopefully it will soon mean fewer shopping trips as I'm able to stock up on sale items and save them for the upcoming dinners. That would be a huge plus to me. Another good thing is that because I posted the plan in the kitchen, Scott, Zaven, and Caly are all able to go ahead and start dinner if I'm busy with Zoe or Quinn. We're getting dinner done a little earlier than we used to this way, and we're definitely eating a more balanced diet.

So probably none of that was of any interest to you guys at all. But I promise some really fun pictures of the kids soon. Quinn was dressing up the other day. I got the best pictures, but I haven't loaded them onto the computer yet. I will though. And they'll be worth the wait.

Whoo-hoo!

2009-11-13T21:39:00.001-05:00

It worked! The car is working again! I just love my husband. He's so wonderful.

Cross your fingers

2009-11-13T13:08:00.002-05:00

It looks like Scott's car may be an easy fix. Well, I say that because I'm not the one fixing it. So let me rephrase. It looks like Scott will be able to fix his car without spending a ton of money. He found a $10 part that's broken. It's job is to not let the car start unless it's got the clutch depressed. The sensor is messed up so that it always thinks the clutch isn't being pressed so the car can never start. Hopefully, that's all it is. Of course it took him 2 and a half hours to find the sensor, but you have to love a man that knows how to fix things. It would have cost a fortune to pay a mechanic. He says that it should be easy to reassemble now that he knows what went wrong. So once the part comes in (this afternoon) he should have it up and running pretty quick. IF that was the only thing wrong. So cross your fingers, folks. I need the luck.

The good and the bad

2009-11-11T12:15:00.002-05:00

First for the bad news. The TV isn't worth fixing. The part needed costs more than a new one. So that pretty much means we won't be watching much TV the next few weeks. I do want to get one, and I do want a nice big expensive one. If I have a big one, I'm less likely to go to the movies. Taking a family of six to the movies every other week for a year would cost over $1000 just for the tickets. Add in popcorn and sodas and gas to get there and the price skyrockets. I'd rather take that same money and buy a TV, pay for satellite service, some redbox rentals, and some popcorn I popped on the stove. But it's gonna bite having to come up with the money.

The good news is that Zaven got his ACT scores back and he did quite well. I'm not gonna post them here because they're his to brag about, but I'm happy and proud of him. Hopefully, this will mean the chance to go to a nice school and maybe get some scholarships to help pay for it.

I must be jinxed.

2009-11-07T18:17:00.002-05:00

Last week our television quit. It suddenly went black right while I was watching. It still had sound, but no picture. Of course it is JUST out of warrantee. I've called the local repair place but haven't been able to speak to an actual person. Maybe the guy who runs it is busy making repairs? But no luck even on getting an estimate of how much it would cost to fix.

Then today, I had some errands to run in Lexington. It was a beautiful sunny, breezy day. Perfect weather. Scott had wanted to take the kids to his mom's house so we traded cars. His car doesn't have enough room for all four of them. He headed south, and I headed north in his car. I did all my shopping, then turned around to head home. And at one of the intersections his car stalled and died. And it would not start. Of course the traffic was flying up behind me and swerving at the last minute to avoid me and scaring me to death. Finally someone stopped to help me push it out of the road. There was no way I was going to try and push it out by myself since that would have meant standing beside the car to steer while pushing. The traffic was way too scary for that. I had my cell phone and called Scott. He was of course at his mom's house, hours away. But he called a friend who came to pick me up. Then he called a different friend who had a roll-back truck that could carry the dead car home. We still have no idea what's wrong with it. I hope it's cheap to fix, though. If not, we won't be able to afford it.

On the plus side, if I had to be stuck at the side of the road for an hour, it was at least a nice day to be outside.

Meal planning

2009-11-04T21:54:00.002-05:00

Well, I've never been a big believer in meal planning. At least, not for our family. In the first place, our lives are very unscheduled. I try hard to keep things organized, but Scott doesn't work a nine to five job, and even when he did he always had a variety of other obligations that meant that I never knew exactly when he was going to be home at the end of the day. And even more difficult than that to overcome is my crazy 3rd-grade taste buds. I have the dietary cravings of an 8 year old. I want the same lunch every day (and HAD the same lunch every day for about 12 years or more), don't like veggies at all, can't stand my foods touching each other... It's nuts. I'm trying hard to expand my choices, and over the years I've been somewhat successful. But even so, I am insanely picky. Add to that that I have a four page list of foods I'm allergic to and you have a real problem with menu planning. So when I look at the monthly meal plans you see in magazines, they're always filled with things that I can't imagine ever wanting to eat.

Of course the problem is that I have a family and even if I can't stand a wide variety, they need it. Scott will eat anything. ANYTHING. 'Possums, skunk, groundhog, rattlesnake, alligator, buffalo, octopus... the list goes on. Whenever our kids were scared of monsters, we'd always reassure them that if a monster did show up, Daddy would put a pat of butter on it's head and swallow it whole. And they always accepted that as a reasonable solution to the problem. Problem solved. Daddy will eat the monster. He eats everything else, so why not?

The kids don't eat quite the same variety that Scott does. Who does? Yet they're much more open to new foods than I am. But whenever life gets hectic or I get sick (and I've been sick all week) somehow we end up having spagetti every night for dinner. It's the fall back food. Zero variety.

So last night I finally caved. I made a list of everything that I like to eat. Then I had Scott and the kids add anything else they could think of to it. I was surprised to realize that there is a lot more variety in our diets than I realized. The problem is not that we don't have any options. There were dozens of things on the list. The problem is that we don't keep the ingredients for those options on hand all the time, or we run out of time to shop or cook. Spagetti is fast. Dinner is ready in 15 minutes. But with a tiny bit of planning we can have other things ready nearly as fast.

So I typed our list onto a spread sheet and broke the foods down into the basic food groups (plus an extra list of casseroles and one course dinners), then printed it off. I also printed a blank monthly calendar and we've spent the past couple of evenings picking out dinner for each weeknight for the next month. Right now, I'm not bothering with breakfasts or lunches because usually that's just Quinn and I. The older three kids all eat at school and I never know if Scott will be home for lunch. Plus Scott is a great cook and more than able to whip himself up a better lunch than I can manage. I'm also not making any weekend plans because I never know if we'll even be home on the weekends. Our extended families both live in the same town about an hour and a half away. We never know which weekends we'll be visiting until the last minute so I feel like it's OK to wait on those plans until we have a little more info.

All in all, I'm happy with the progress. None of the meals are very fancy, and right now I'm happy if there's at least one veggie served and I'm not worrying about keeping it perfectly balanced with low saturated fats and whole grains and organic foods. Anything's got to be better than spagetti 4 nights in a row, right? For me, the goal is to just try to do a bit better than we have been. The rest will come in time.

My minions

2009-11-03T15:57:00.003-05:00

Caly recently started calling Zoe her minion. I always thought of a minion as the follower to an evil leader, but when I looked it up for her, this is what I found:

minion /ˈmɪnyən/ –noun

1. a servile follower or subordinate of a person in power.
2. a favored or highly regarded person.
3. a minor official.
4. dainty; elegant; trim; pretty.
5. a dependent
6. a darling

Word Origin & History

minion
1501, "a favorite; a darling; a low dependant; one who pleases rather than benefits" [Johnson], from M.Fr. mignon "a favorite, darling" (n.), also "dainty, pleasing, favorite" (adj.), from O.Fr. mignot, perhaps of Celt. origin (cf. O.Ir. min "tender, soft"), or from O.H.G. minnja, minna "love, memory." Used without disparaging overtones 16c.-17c.

What does this mean to me? Well... it looks like I can honestly claim to have minions. At least four of them, anyway. I've always wanted minions.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T23:38:00.002-05:00

We had such a lovely weekend. The weather didn't want to cooperate. It had rained all Saturday morning. But it cleared off in time for trick-or-treat. We had to have the kids wear some extra layers under their costumes, but it all worked out.

This was an exciting year for our kids. Zaven was away for the weekend with Upward Bound. They went to Columbus, Ohio for two days, to an amazing science museum, and to a live production of Young Frankenstein. Zaven was excited to see the musical because the movie is one of his favorites.

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed to Somerset to visit with relatives and trick-or-treat there. Scott's sister was visiting with her family, so Zoe was thrilled to be able to trick-or-treat with her cousin William, who is just a few years older than she is. It was also a treat for Caly because William's older sister Heather was there. Heather is 20 this year and she and Caly have just started to make a real connection. After they'd helped take the little ones trick-or-treating, we let the two girls walk downtown for some festivities going on there. Caly was really excited to be off on an adventure on Halloween. Because we so often trick-or-treat out of town, she doesn't get to wander with friends and she's missed that feeling of independence and playful mischief that so many of us associate with being a young teenager at Halloween.

Of course the biggest treat this year was Quinn's first fully-aware Halloween. He's dressed up every year but he didn't have any idea what it meant or that there was candy involved. This year he knew that people were doing unusual things and that he was wearing a costume, and he was able to say trick-or-treat and understood that doing so got him candy. He was in seventh heaven. He was not the least bit scared of all the costumes and decorations, and he loved the walking at night and going door to door. He was even patient about waiting until we'd gotten home to dip into his pumpkin basket of candy, and he only took a little prompting to say thank you at each house, although sometimes he said it in Chinese (a trick he learned from the TV show Ni-hao Kilan). At one point in the night he started shouting "Awesome!" after he got his candy. But the kicker was today. He came to give me a tight hug and then stopped to look in my eyes and told me, "I love." Then he hugged me again. "I love." Then he hugged me one more time for all he was worth, stopped and looked in my eyes, "I love Halloween."

Pumpkin shortage

2009-10-30T11:21:00.015-04:00

Am I the only one who never heard about the nationwide pumpkin shortage this year? And am I the only one affected? Apparently. But despite the fact that the farm we normally buy from did not have pumpkins this year, we managed to still get a few. But because of having to hunt for a farm with pumpkins we got there much later in the day and by then the sky was overcast. Our pictures are mostly blurry. But the kids had fun and that's what counts, even if we don't have the photos to prove it.

I don't know if you can see it online, but way off in the top of this picture is a little blob. That's Zoe. When they got in the fields, they just took off running and there was no stopping them. Gotta love pumpkin farms!

They are all asleep.

2009-10-26T00:22:00.002-04:00

Even Scott is asleep. I love the quiet of the house at night. I stay up late even when I'm tired because I just need the time of calm. I am not a morning person so by the time I get up and start moving and thinking clearly, the house is already loud and busy. But night is an easy time for me. I love the quiet, the air, the stars. I go and sometimes sit on the porch with the cats just to soak it in. And I can read. I hardly ever get to do it with the kids around.

I really have nothing interesting to say. Just that it's quiet and lovely here. I hope it is where you are as well.

Too, too much

2009-10-24T20:03:00.002-04:00

Today has been too freaking busy. Zaven had the ACT. Caly and a friend went out with my mom. Zaven had an Upward Bound class after the ACT. Caly's friend came over to our house after they went out with my mom. Zoe and Quinn are both clingy because of getting over being sick. They are both also very loud. Not screaming and yelling loud. Just talking as if I'm mildly deaf. After them sitting in my lap and talking at that volume all day, I may become mildly deaf. Somehow it's 8 at night and we haven't had dinner or fed Caly's friend since she came. Caly just burned dinner. It's salvagable, but the house stinks now. Caly and her friend really want to have a sleepover. All the chores I asked Caly to do yesterday are still not done and I'm not willing to budge this time. Her friend can't spend the night. Today has already lasted too long. I want all the kids fed, the friend taken home, my kids in bed, and the house quiet and clean. Of course there's no chance of that last part. The place is a wreck. But I'm going to do my best to have the rest happen by 9.

Better-ish

2009-10-23T14:50:00.003-04:00

Zoe is feeling better-ish today. Her fever went down and (with the help of medication) stayed down all night. She did throw up this morning, but I think it was because I gave her the medication with only juice, not with food. She's been fine ever since, although quite tired. She's just laid on the sofa most of the day and watched cartoons. Zaven's ear has cleared up so right now it's only Zoe and I who are still sick. I'm mostly better and I don't think it will be much longer before I'm well. As colds go, this one wasn't too bad.

Now I have to go buy juice. We are out and Quinn is certain that he'll perish from the lack of it.

Wait and see

2009-10-22T19:58:00.002-04:00

So far, most of us are fine. Zaven's cold is mostly gone but he may have an ear infection. It doesn't hurt, but he says that he can't hear as well out of one ear. Hopefully decongestants will take care of it. Caly, Quinn, and I are doing well. Not perfect, but much better than yesterday or the day before. Zoe, however, has spiked a fever. 103.5

Now I know this will sound stupid, but I hate to take a sick kid to the doctor. They feel bad and tired and they want to be in bed, plus there are all those germs that they don't need exposed to when their immune system is already taxed, not to mention all the germs that they'd be spreading to other people in the waiting room. It just seems like a bad idea. Emergency rooms are even worse because of the crowded conditions and the long wait. Of course doctors don't do housecalls anymore. So the plan is this. We gave her a warm bath to help bring the fever down. Then we dosed her with Ibuprofen and juice and we're going to wait and see. So far the fever is down to 101.4 but I'd like to see it below 100 before I go to bed tonight. Then of course I'll be getting up every few hours to make sure it isn't going back up. If it goes back up that high, I'll be bringing her to the ER. I really hope it doesn't come to that. Our ER has a history of telling me to give my kids Ibuprofen and call the doctor in the morning, which is what I plan to do anyway. I can't tell you how annoyed I'll be if I get her out of bed and drive her into their germ-laden waiting room only to have them tell me to do what I'm already doing.

It's only been a day since I posted...

2009-10-21T19:43:00.003-04:00

...but it feels like a year. I don't think this is the swine flu. I'm pretty sure I already had that when it first made the news. This feels more like a regular old cold, not that those are fun. Zaven and Caly are past the worst of it. Zoe and Quinn don't seem to be having as hard of a time as their older brother and sister did. I, on the other hand, feel like hell. I hate being sick. I catch everything that comes around, though. Before I had allergy testing I caught things because the allergies weakened my immune system. Now I take allergy shots and I don't get sick as often as I did. But I have to get my shots in the doctor's office so I'm exposed to sick people every week. So even though I don't get sick as often as I did, I do get sick more often than most people. I'm also a big wimp when it comes to colds. I can handle childbirth and kidney stones and broken toes... but when I get sick I lay around and whine and feel bad for myself. It's not pretty. So yesterday and today I mostly just complained and moaned. I think I'm past the worst of it. I feel a lot better than I did 24 hours ago.

On an unrelated note, I noticed for the first time yesterday that the 'patient' (*read that as victim) in the game Operation is completely naked and the only reason you can't see his genitals is that his fat belly covers them. I've played this game for well over 3 decades and just now noticed. Behold my amazing powers of observation.

And of course I am sick.

2009-10-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

We all are. So much for the power of positive thinking.

Cheap Candy alert! and it's Fall Break all over again

2009-10-19T19:39:00.004-04:00

Quick! CLICK HERE for $2 off coupons for 24 oz. or larger bags of Nestle candy and Wonka candy. There are two different coupons that can each be printed twice. That should cut a nice bite out of your Halloween budget.

Meanwhile, we had a bit of interesting news today. Week before last was Fall Break for our school. That's how Caly got to leave town for a week with my mom. Not all schools do Fall Break. It's basically just like Spring Break - a week off of school. But no one goes to Florida or the Carribean.

Last week was regular classes. This week is supposed to be regular classes, too. But I just got a phone call from the school. Classes have been cancelled the remainder of the week due to a large percentage of the students being sick. So we get to do Fall Break all over again. The problem is... Zaven and Caly were among the students who missed school due to being sick today. So far, they're not too sick. Just a low-grade fever and coughs and sniffles. But I imagine that we'll all get it before it's through. Not my idea of a vacation.

But I'm crossing my fingers and trying to think positive. We won't get sick. Of course not. That would be silly.

Alas!

2009-10-17T14:18:00.003-04:00

This is the first week of really cold weather this year. Technically, it's not even "really cold" yet, but it's cold enough to have a fire in the wood-burning stove. Because we live in an old house, the change of seasons means a lot more to us than it does to most people. Our insullation is so-so, our heat is a wood-burning stove, and being the only heated building on an 86 acre farm, the change of season also means an invasion of all manner of living creatures. Typically, we get a few mice at this time of the year. We also get bugs.

Bugs are designed to lay eggs in the late summer and those eggs are genetically programmed to hatch if the temp drops low for a while and then comes back up. Nature's plan is that they would lay dormant for the winter and hatch in the spring. But because of how we heat our house, waiting until the nights are more than just a little chilly before bothering with putting in a fire, that hot/cold/hot thing also applies to our house. So things hatch. And this time, what hatched was not something like ladybugs. We had a nest of hornets in the attic apparently. And they hatched in Zaven's room. He got stung on the arm once. We attacked them with chemicals and killed what Scott estimated as a hundred. We moved Zaven and Caly downstairs for a few nights until we were sure they'd all been found and killed. But today Zoe disobeyed Scott and tried to sneak upstairs to play. She got stung on the sole of her foot. Ouch!

Bad as it is for her, it's no picnic for the rest of us. She is a major drama queen, so she's been laying in my bed whining about her foot for hours. It's not that I don't have sympathy. But I can't give her more medication yet or do anything for her. And she isn't hurting so bad that she can't be distracted from it. She's been out of bed to eat pizza, pet the cats, get crayons, tell me a joke, etc. Each time she is fine until she remembers that she's hurt. Then it's the end of the world all over. I'm not too sure how bad it really feels at this point. She's been known to cry for 20 minutes about a cut on her hand but not even be sure which hand is the injured one.

I'm hoping she'll get bored and fall asleep. We gave her benadryl as well as ibuprofen so she should be able to nap.

***edited to add that I was right. She quit whining completely as soon as Zaven and Caly got home and I told her they could decorate the porch for Halloween.

October

2009-10-17T00:21:00.003-04:00

Every October we decorate our porch for Halloween. Part of it is just to celebrate the season and the joy of Halloween. But part of it is so that we can really get it clean. We are pack rats by nature and also we have two dogs and God-know-how-many cats. The porch gets cluttered and cobwebby and covered in mud, toys, boots, chalk, tools, and just about anything else you can think of. October is our month for getting it in order.

This afternoon we drug everything off the porch and swept it clean. Tomorrow we'll probably hose down the walls but we didn't get to that today. Instead, we started a fire in the fire pit and burned all the branches we lost from the trees in the last big storm, plus some of the left over wood scraps from the bunk beds. The kids loved the fire. Plus the air was crisp in that lovely October way.

Tomorrow, we'll actually wash the walls and scrub the concrete and then finally decorate the porch. Maybe Sunday we'll go get pumpkins.

Coupons.com

2009-10-15T12:41:00.003-04:00

For a few months now, I've not been doing couponing at all. Money is tight so it seems wasteful to even go so far as buying the newspapers in order to get coupons for things I already have a huge supply of. I don't need more toothpaste, deodorant, or air freshener. They raised the price on our Sunday paper to $2, which means that most weeks the paper won't pay for itself based only on the grocery coupons.

But lately, supplies of a few things have been running low. Also, Christmas is coming so I'd like to stock up on a few things to give as gifts. So I've been thinking that I might start back up. A nice compromise for me is to print out coupons online. Some of our local stores take them now, and even though I'm paying for ink and paper, I'm not spending as much time on the process of finding what I need. I print them out only as I use them. All in all, it seems to be working. I will still occasionally buy the paper (when I know there's a high dollar coupon for something I actually need). But I'm not doing it every week. The thing to remember about all this is that you have to do what works for YOU, which isn't always the same thing as what works for everyone else.

My son the stunt man.

2009-10-13T18:19:00.002-04:00

When Caly got home from her trip, she wanted to try out the new features of the bunk bed that we'd added while she was out of town. She hadn't seen the bucket so she immediately climbed up in the top bunk to pull something up. Quinn climbed up with her and then started trying to climb up on the rails so he could jump down on the mattress. Caly told he NO, and he started fussing and said, "He hit me! Quinn hit me!" He learned to say that a few months ago because when Zoe would say it, she'd get attention. So he told Caly that Quinn had hit him. She said, "Really?" as if it were a real possibility. And he proceeded to demonstrate. He threw a punch (closed fist) at his own chin, but stunt man style, just missing it... and yelled "Whoa!" and fell down on a pile of pillows as if it had really knocked him down. It was hillarious. He's such a ham.

Eric Carle

2009-10-11T10:15:00.002-04:00

I have a fondness for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. When Quinn was born, he had several outfits with phrases from the book on them. He was so cute, and we all joked around about how, just like his shirts and the book said, he was always 'still hungry'. My boy had a BIG appetite and was always wanting to nurse. While Caly was on her vacation, she was able to go to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. So of course, she wanted to look at the first edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She was surprised to find that the museum has three first editions. A first edition of the picture book as she knew it and a first edition of this hand-crafted version made of felts and fabrics with the text in both braille and printed words. She described how the colors were more muted but still there. The third first edition had no colors, pictures, or printed text at all. Instead, the pages had been embossed with different textures to make up the caterpillar and illustrations. She said the pages were huge, so that you'd be able to feel all the details of the story, and the text was all braille. She said she just wanted to hug Eric Carle when she saw it. I kind of want to, too.

Caly is home!

2009-10-10T19:33:00.002-04:00

She had a great trip and really loved getting to know her family. We only see them every 4 or 5 years so she didn't have a good feel for who they were. It was really fun to hear her tell stories about them. I spend most summers living with my cousins when I was her age, so it was neat for me to hear how they'd changed or how they were just as I remember them. She really wants to keep the connection and visit them more often, or have them come and visit us. I'd like that too. It's hard being so far from the people you grew up with.

I'll try to post a pic or two once I download them from her camera. Hopefully they all came out. It's a new camera that we bought for a steal but I don't know how good of a picture it takes.

I need to do some things.

2009-10-08T12:19:00.003-04:00

Probably I should start with taking a shower, and then maybe follow that by dishes, laundry, cleaning up the toys that are everywhere, oh and sorting through all those stacks of paper covering all available surfaces might be a good idea.

But man am I ever feeling lazy today. I'm gonna chug some caffiene and take that shower and then see if I can work up the energy to be even vaguely productive. All I really want to do is sit at the computer and maybe eat a slice of pumpkin pie. We don't even have pie, though. Add shopping to the list.

The long lost pictures.

2009-10-07T21:19:00.013-04:00

At long last, here are the pictures of the bunk beds we built. Like I said, it's really more of a loft bed. The bottom mattress will be on the floor.

We put in a pulley system for Zoe to bring toys up to the top bunk, so she doesn't have to carry things while climbing on the ladder.
The walls are made with dry erase board. In the top bunk there are dividers so it looks a lot like the panels in a comic book.

There's a hose that runs behind the bed from one corner of the top bunk to the opposite corner of the bottom bunk so they can whisper to each other.

We put green fabric on the ceiling of the bottom bunk so that Quinn wouldn't just be staring up at plywood. We also added a hook for a bucket to keep the markers in.

He also has a curtain that opens and closes so that he can have a private area. The fabric is sheer but with the lights on the outside it's hard for us to see in and easy for him to see out. We used the same type of fabric on the tent for Zoe, but in a lighter color to let in more light. The curtain fits behind the ladder when you pull it back.

We also left one wall off the bottom bunk so that he can see out the window and have a bit more light.

His dry erase board doesn't have dividers so it's perfect for bigger projects. So far that's mostly large scribbles but Zaven and Caly have both been adding drawings of their own. We're using washable markers that they clean up with windex on a cloth. That way there aren't fumes or the risk of them accidently ruining their blankets or clothes.

All in all, they really like it. It's more of a play area than a bed for Zoe, but Quinn sleeps in there quite nicely. I'm going to add lights, but I want something battery operated until I'm sure that Quinn is old enough to understand not to pull on the wires, bite them, etc. I also want LED because they use a lot less electricity and don't get hot. I actually bought a couple of those push-button ones that you stick on the wall, but Quinn won't quit taking them apart. He loves anything that lights up.

A busy, busy world

2009-10-07T01:14:00.002-04:00

When I was a kid, I had a copy of Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World. I loved that book. But who knew the title would be so apt for my life? Since I last posted, I've been running about a hundred errands and also going on a few road trips. Caly and my mom are on vacation together visiting my extended family in New England. Last weekend I drove them to the airport... in Nashville, TN, about a four and a half hour drive in the wrong direction. Why? Well, it was going to be a couple hundred dollars cheaper and also they could only get a direct flight from Nashville. All the other flights had 3 or 4 (or more) hour layovers. Since they're only going to be there for a week, they didn't want to spend two of those days stuck in an airport. So last weekend I drove them down to Nashville, got a room for the night, and had a day to myself to explore... only I was feeling kind of yucky and it was raining the whole time. I mostly just did a little shopping and a lot of slow driving towards home. But it was nice to be on my own. I've always enjoyed time alone. I think that's the one thing that's hard as a parent. Time alone is much more rare. I'll be driving back there on Saturday to pick them up. I'm looking forward to it, although this time I won't be spending the night. But it'll be nice to see them again. It's only been a few days but I miss Caly. And somehow, it's different for my mom to be half-way across the country instead of only an hour away. I don't see her often, but I know that I can. Right now, I can't. So I miss her too, even though I wouldn't actually have seen her during the week anyway.

In other news, my computer is in it's death throws. It's been in bad shape forever. In fact, a few months ago I bought all the parts for a new one and even assembled it. But the power source was defective so I had to send it back for a new one. I got the new one... and it's still sitting in the box. I want to do it when Quinn isn't around because I DON'T want him to know how to open the computer case, or even that it can be opened. On the other hand, I do want Zaven and Caly to be there. They love gadgets and making your own computer and hooking it up falls into the nirvana category for them. The problem with all that is that there never is time when they're home and not busy but Quinn isn't home. But things are coming to a head so I may have to break down and do it on my own. We'll see. I'm hoping I can make this one hang on long enough for me to move over all my important files (read, pictures of my kids) before it quits. I back it up every now and then, but I'm always afraid I missed something.

We also finished the bunk bed. It looks fabulous. Technically, it's a loft bed. We just have a second mattress under the loft. Right now the bottom mattress is a toddler sized one. Quinn is still in diapers so we're going to wait until he's dry all night before putting in the non-plastic-covered mattress. But other than that it's done. I even made a curtain for him and a tent to go on the top bunk just for an added precaution. Quinn is fearless and I'm certain he'd be happy to try to walk one of the railings or something like that. But with the tent on, there's no chance of that. He calls it, "Climbing the tree," when he goes up to the top bunk. Zoe has staked that out as her own, although she won't actually stay in it all night. We're going to add a few small LED lights for her up there so it won't be as scary. The problem is she likes to sleep with the light on if she's in a bed by herself, but Quinn can't fall asleep with a light on. Plus, if we leave the door to their room open then the light bothers me. But she'll adjust eventually. It may take a while, but it'll happen. I should be able to post the pictures tomorrow. We'll see if the computer cooperates.

I so need to post some pictures.

2009-09-22T00:39:00.002-04:00

The bed is basically done. We just need to put up the ladder and four pieces of wood to reinforce the side rails on top. The wood is already cut and stained so it's just a matter of screwing it in. It's such a cool set-up. The kids are having so much fun with it. I will put up pics as soon as I get it actually finished with the matresses in place. My mom gave us a twin mattress years ago when Zaven first went to an adult bed. We thought we'd have to buy the second one but a family friend has offered to give us the second one since she no longer needs it. I have no idea what condition it's in, so we may end up still buying one, but I've got my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, life has been good. It's calmed down a lot from the summer and I'm enjoying the feeling that every day is a small bit of progress towards getting the house in order. Zoe has been working hard in school and is starting to be able to read a few words and sound out most letters. She still has trouble with lowercase letters, plus the usual trouble that different fonts cause. But she's really starting to get excited about it and starting to want to try to read things. She totally grasps the ideas, so it's just a matter of practice. It's exciting for all of us to watch it happen. Very, very cool.

Double grrrr.

2009-09-14T00:12:00.005-04:00

You know how we were waiting for the stain/varnish mix to dry on the wood so we could do the other pieces and finally assemble the bed? We were running low on the mix so we went back to the store to pick up another can. The store was closed. Stopped by another branch. They were open but out of the pre-mixed cans. So we bought the same color of stain that was in our mix (same brand, too) and clear varnish. We get home and open it up and it doesn't match. It doesn't even come close to matching. What we'd had was chocolate brown. What we got the second time was light grey. We went back to the store to see why the new stuff was so different. Turns out the new stuff looks just like it was supposed to. The stuff we'd bought to begin with was mislabeled. And no, they don't have any idea which color that actually is and no, we can't open up cans and test them and find a match. In fact, even if they agreed to let us open the cans we wouldn't be able to find a match because that one was actually specially mixed for someone but then the label was never changed to reflect it. And they don't remember which colors they combined or how much of each they used to get that shade.

So we bought about $25 worth of stains so we could try and come up with a match. It's kind of close, but you can still tell they don't match. And we wasted all day shopping and mixing so the beds still aren't done.

On the plus side, I did hang up their new light. It's from Ikea. We got it on our last trip there for $5. It normally sells for $30, but this was the floor model. There's nothing wrong with it, but it was dusty. We cleaned it up and it looks so cool. Zoe is extra impressed. She thinks it looks like a big flower. From underneath it sort of does.

We also got to see my parents and Scott's mom for a small party for Quinn. I'm too tired to upload the photos tonight, but I'll put them up tomorrow. It was nice to see everyone and it was all relaxed and casual, which is SO what I needed. I just didn't have it in me to do anything high stress. These bunk beds are stress enough, LOL.

OMG, I am so tired!

2009-09-12T22:56:00.003-04:00

No, I didn't do anything to make me this tired. Not really. But Zaven and I spent the morning cleaning out Zoe and Quinn's room. We put away all the books and toys, cleaned out the toddler bed and crib, etc. And that's what got to me.

You know how you don't really get things actually clean when there's a kid around? I mean, not like you did before you had kids. Because while you're pulling the furniture out to dust behind it, your toddler is opening all the yogurt and rubbing it on the walls. So post-baby cleaning means you get the worst stuff and figure that you'll get around to the rest of it eventually. Well, today was that event. And there wasn't as much dirt as I thought there would be, but he dust nearly killed me and Zaven. We both have bad allergies and when we finally got the beds out and started sweeping up underneath where they had been... oh man, it was bad. The toddler bed was a car bed, and it doesn't sit on legs, it sits directly on the floor. So it hadn't been swept under in like 2 years. You wouldn't think it could have dust under it, seeing as it's right on the floor, but there's a little gap. Just enough for dust, I suppose. Anyhow, we started sneezing and our noses were dripping and when it was all done the room looked great... but we were worn out. If you have bad allergies, you know what I'm talking about. It just drains you of all your energy.

The bunk beds are coming along. I think we'll get them done tomorrow. I hope. The thing that's taking so much time is the staining of the wood. It was raining all week and we couldn't do it then. (No way am I trying it inside. I just know I'd knock it over and ruin the floor or something.) So it had to wait until this weekend. But even though it's sunny out, the stain is drying SO slowly. I have no idea why but it is. Everything is almost ready to be assembled, but there are a few more pieces that have to be stained. We didn't get them all stained today because we only have so much room on the sawhorses to lay them out. I can't lay them on the ground because when I tried the dogs kept messing with them. If they'd dried quicker, we could have done the next batch. As it was we just had to sit around and wait.

Anyhow, if all goes well we'll finish the staining in the morning and start assembling. That part is usually fast. Wish us luck!

Attempt number two

2009-09-11T13:35:00.002-04:00

After raining most of the week, the forecast for this weekend is looking pretty good. So once again we're going to attempt to make the bunk beds. Scott isn't feeling all that great, so it may be that Zaven and I do it without him. Honestly, that may be for the best. Scott is a wonderful husband, but he has strange ideas about projects like this. For instance, he wants to assemble the bed outside. But if we do, we'll just have to disassemble it because it won't fit through the doors. I think it's because he wants to assemble it before I stain the wood. I refuse to do that inside since I don't want to ruin anything in the house and I know that there's no way we'd do it and not spill a drop. And why does it need to be assembled before we stain it? As far as I can tell, there's not a reason in the world we can't just stain the pieces, let them dry, then bring them inside and put them together. Sure it would end up needing some TLC and retouching. But if we disassemble it and reassemble it we'd get scratches that way too. But that's just him. I'm sure I do all sorts of things that drive him crazy. So if it's that important to him, I just let him and help as best I can. But if he's not feeling well I'll just do things my way (the easy way) and be done with it.

Meanwhile, things have been quiet this week. Scott and I are still getting over our colds. You know how it is. You feel OK as long as you're not doing anything, but once you start working you just get so tired. I feel like all I've done this week is to run errands and sleep. But for now that will have to do.

A very good mystery

2009-09-08T23:46:00.002-04:00

Some of you may remember that I started doing mystery shops a few months ago. I'm still with only a very few agencies so I'm not at all an expert. But today was SO successful that I have to tell you all about it.

As you may recall, for the most part Mystery Shopping is not a way to get rich quick. Most of the shops I've done require you to buy something. You're reimbursed, but in reality that free item is a significant part of your pay. If you went to a fast food place and got a burger and fries, you wouldn't really be making much money. Maybe $5 for your gas, time online entering the report, and time in the restaurant. So the free burger and fries is just as big an incentive as the cash. The problems come when you realize that you need to order exactly what the company wants (so you can't get onion rings instead of fries, or a chicken sandwich instead of a burger), or when you end up inviting your husband (and you spend all your profits on his food), or when you schedule a shop at what you thing will be a very convienient time only to find out that you need to be halfway across town for a recital or a ballgame.

But TODAY... today was perfect. I had 3 shops planned but got a call moments before I walked out the door to see if I could add a fourth that another shopper had failed to do. All my shops were in the same area, which just happened to be close to a store I'd been meaning to stop at for a month. And the kicker was that 2 of the shops were for paint. Yes, paint. For one I had to make a $5 purchase. That was easy enough. I bought the paintbrushes I needed for finishing the bunk beds. For the other shop, I was to buy a gallon of paint. Any color or variety I wanted. I would be reimbursed up to $60. Yes, $60. I was so excited. I've been wanting to paint my kitchen cabinets for the longest time. I wanted to do them in oil paint and that stuff is really expensive, but it lasts forever. So today I bought about half the paint I need. It would be all the paint I need but I want to do them in two colors. I'm hoping that by the time I get around to finishing the bunk beds I'll have another mystery shop and get the other color for free, too.

For my four shops today I'll get $37 in payment and $70 in reimbursement. And even better, Scott watched Quinn for me so I got to spend the whole day alone.

Labor Day

2009-09-07T23:58:00.017-04:00

Today was Quinn's birthday. I've been telling the kids that it's Labor Day in honor of me going into labor with Quinn three years ago, LOL. We had a party of sorts. I say 'of sorts' because really it was just a cookout at my sister's house. No presents or grandparents or guests. We did have cake, but it was much more a labor day cookout than it was a birthday party. In fact, when my sister and I first decided to get together this weekend we hadn't looked at a calendar and realized that Labor Day fell on his birthday. It was just a happy coincidence. I figure we'll do the gifts and balloons this weekend over in the town where the grandparents all live. It'll be kind of nice to spread it out and let him have a few extra moments in the spotlight. As the youngest of four he sometimes has to fight for it, although we do our best to make sure each of the kids gets time and attention as well as love.

Tara asked who the bunk beds are for. They are for Zoe and Quinn. Having four kids means that either the younger two share a room for a few more years despite not being the same gender, or that one of them move in with an older sibling of the same gender. Seeing as how Zaven is 13 years older than his baby brother and Caly is 8 years older than her baby sister I figured that the best bet was for the youngers to stay together until Zaven heads off for college. And of course even then we'll need an extra bed for him when he comes home on vacations. I'm not too worried about it. Zaven and Caly shared a room forever and I think it's part of the reason they get along so well. Caly was fine sleeping in a room with someone else but got really scared if she was alone. Zaven didn't mind because it meant someone to goof off with when he was supposed to be asleep.

Of course, it's kind of a moot point since Zoe always comes in to sleep with me and Scott. But we're hoping the top bunk will be too enticing for her to resist.

Meanwhile, here's a look at what a difference 3 years makes. That's Zaven holding Quinn, by the way.

The weather is not cooperating.

2009-09-06T20:18:00.002-04:00

I was all set to finish the beds today but then the rain set in. No way am I staining these inside a house with four kids, so the project is on hold. And since all the wood got soaked in the rain it will be several days before it's dry enough to continue. I hate half-finished projects. They never get put away, but then they never get finished because something more urgent comes up.

On the plus side, if I was going to have to delay the project today was a good day for it. I didn't sleep well last night and felt awful when I woke up this morning. So while it was frustrating to not get to finish the beds, I did get to let up on the pace a little and now I feel a bit better.

Bunk Beds

2009-09-04T23:15:00.004-04:00

We're building them this weekend. Scott and I just bought the lumber today. If all goes well they'll be done by Monday. Well, except that I have to drive to my MIL's to get one of the matresses that we've stored in her basement. And I have to buy the other mattress. But the frame will be done. Wish us luck. I expect we'll need it.

Reading Logs.

2009-09-03T20:18:00.002-04:00

I'd forgotten how much I hate them. I never seem to remember to write down what I read to the kids, or if I do I forget to put them in their backpacks. Zoe has been in school 3 weeks I think and already I missed one log altogether and turned in the other one late. This week's is due tomorrow so I'm having Zaven and Caly read to her tonight. I have no idea where the log is, so I'll just have to write it on a piece of paper but I think that it's progress.

And lest ye be concerned that I don't read to her myself or that without the additional pressure of a due date she would seldom hear a story... well, you're right. I hardly ever read to her and Quinn. I should, but Zoe is loud and active. Anyone who has actually met her is probably impressed that she's ever been read to. She was until recently incredibly difficult to read a story to. She just wouldn't hold still and be quiet long enough for even a few words to the page.

Quinn on the other hand loves books. They're his favorite snack. He had Pica, which basically means he eats things that aren't food. And books are one of the things he eats. So I buy books for him to chew and rip and for Zoe to get frustrated with and ignore. And I avoid pretending that the books are for anything else.

But the past few months I've caught Quinn looking at them without drooling. And Zoe has sat through a few stories. So maybe it's time. I hope so. Because unlike those two, I love to read.

I'm supposed to be at the movies.

2009-09-02T18:52:00.017-04:00

Remember how last week I got to see Lawrence of Arabia? This week they're showing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Scott and I were so looking forward to it. I've never actually watched it all the way through. I've seen a lot of it, but not all at one sitting. And I've certainly not seen it on the big screen.

Besides the theatre showing it is really, really cool. It was built in the 1920's and has marble floors, a huge stained glass panel in the ceiling, a wurlitzer organ (for the silent movies!) and those big draping curtains that are lifted up before the show starts. They show a different movie at every showing and feature new releases, cult classics, and 3-D monster movies from the 50's. The Holy Grail is only on today.

The fun thing is that going to a movie there becomes an event, and everyone in the crowd feels the same way. We all laugh out loud at the funny parts, gasp at the scary parts, boo at the bad guy, and clap when the heros defeat the villians. It's different from seeing a movie in a modern theatre. And I so wanted to see Monty Python there as much because of the crowd as because of the movie.

So why am I not at the movies?

I have a cold and so does Scott.

Whistling in the Dark

2009-08-31T23:31:00.003-04:00

I just watched the old Red Skelton movie Whistling in the Dark. I just wanted to tell you a bit of trivia about it. Ann Rutherford, the actress who plays his girlfriend, started getting chest pains during the making of the movie. At first they thought she had pneumonia, but as the pain spread and continued to worsen they began to suspect pleurisy. When the filming was over her mother took her to a doctor who diagnosed... pulled muscles on both sides of her rib cage from laughing so hard at Red Skelton.

The movie was fun but not nearly as funny as the gag he used to do about trying to fit in his wife's girdle. I didn't pull a muscle but I laughed so hard I thought I couldn't talk for 10 minutes.

A really good day.

2009-08-30T22:46:00.002-04:00

Just so you guys know I can do more than moan and whine, I wanted to say that today was a really good day. Yesterday Scott took Zoe and Quinn to his mom's house and they stayed the weekend. Zaven and Caly stayed with me to try to get the house back into livable order. We're always messy, but lately it's like the before houses from one of those reality cleaning intervention shows. Scary dirty. It still is. But we got a lot done.

So yesterday we cleaned (and sewed) all day. We'd made Zoe a pillow and blanket to take to kindergarten for nap time, but we found out that she was the only one who had one. Zoe is obnoxious enough without looking like she's getting special treatment. So we make one for every kid in her class. I just used old sheets that I bought at a second hand store but they came out really nice.

Today we did some cleaning, but not as much nor as frantically. And we took a big long break in the middle of the day to meet my parents. My mom and I went to see Inglorious Basterds and my dad and the kids walked around the mall and hung out and went to the book store. The movie was great. Violent, of course, but not as much as I feared and very compelling and funny too. Tarentino has a gift.

When the movie was over I took the kids out to Long John's to eat and we talked and joked and just hung out for a while. Then we headed to the store to quickly pick up a few things and then home. We folded all the laundry we'd washed while I watched a movie and they watched some shows online. It was just a really nice day.

Who does that?

2009-08-28T22:57:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in my parked car reading a magazine and talking to Zoe and Quinn when a woman rear-ended us. It wasn't a bad wreck. Really, as wrecks go this was almost nonexistant. No one was hurt and there was no damage to either her car or mine. She didn't even scuff the bummer visibly. It was just loud and shook our car. Only get this: I was parked in front of the school waiting for my kids to be let out! Who the hell drives into another car when there are children walking into the traffic flow? This happened right in front of the principal and a bunch of teachers. Admittedly, almost all of the elementary kids had been picked up. I think there were two left. But still!

The way our school works, Zoe and the other kindergarteners come out the back door about 10 minutes before the elementary students come out the front door. The middle school and high school kids come out a half hour after that. Remember, this school is for preschool through 12th grade. They have to stagger the release times because they can't bus the younger kids with the older ones. So when I pick up Zoe, I usually run a quick errand like getting gas or maybe take her to the playground for a short break, then I drive back and pick up Zaven and Caly. Only yesterday I was really feeling bad because of my allergies. I didn't feel up to running errands and I knew better than to go to a park filled with pollen. So I decided to just wait for the elementary school traffic to leave and then park in front of the building where Zaven and Caly would be coming out.

I pulled in and parked, rolled down the windows and said Hi to the elementary school principal. He and a few teachers were waiting with the last few elementary students whose parents are running late. I told him I could move if he needed but he said that I was fine and that the parents had plenty of room to drive around me. I started reading while Zoe was telling Quinn all about her day. (She doesn't care that he doesn't understand. She just has to tell him anyway. ) Then BAM! This woman just drives right into us. Zoe yelled at me, "What did you do to our car?!" The principal comes over to make sure we're alright. We are. And I got out to check for damage. There was none.

But seriously, if she had hit a kid instead of a parked car they would have been hurt so bad. Who drives through a school parking lot at pick up time and doesn't look where they're going or pay attention to how fast they're driving?

El Awrenz! El Awrenz!

2009-08-27T12:37:00.002-04:00

I had such a treat last night. The Kentucky Theatre in Lexington was showing Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen last night and Scott and I went. I love that movie and last night was my first time seeing it in a real theatre. I was blown away. It's truly a different movie. For one, it's a lot easier to follow. There are a lot of scences set at night which are much more visible, plus it's easier to tell who's doing or saying things. Pretty much everyone in the movie is either in identical uniforms or identical robes so being able to see their faces makes a big difference. But really, the desert was the biggest difference. On the big screen, the desert is alive and is one of the characters.

Drinking

2009-08-25T12:29:00.003-04:00

Quinn is interested in drinking from cups now, rather than just sippy cups. The problem is that he sucks at it. He's really funny to watch drink. When he first learned to drink from a straw (over a year ago) he would get a big mouthful of juice, then chew it just like it was food before he swallowed. He ALWAYS chewed, and half the time he chewed with his mouth open so it just ran down his chin. We tried to convince him that he didn't need to... and the first time he tried to swallow without chewing he started to cough and choke. He was fine but it was just so silly. It was another week before he would try it again and even longer before he really started to consistantly drink without chewing.

Now that he's trying to use a cup he's doing that kind of odd, too. He puts it to his mouth, sticks his tounge into the juice, then tips the cup up until some pours into his mouth. He doesn't make any suction at all, he just pours some in. It's messy. Plus he pours in a huge mouthful so he has to swallow more than what's comfortable for him. Then of course he belches hugely.

Southpaw

2009-08-24T19:08:00.003-04:00

Zoe has settled into kindergarten nicely and that's a relief. She seems to love her teachers and be doing her best to follow the rules and behave well. She comes home each day with new songs and stories, new letters she recognizes and numbers that she can now write. I'm very excited for her. I love learning and it's a good feeling to know that she'll have that joy in her life.

We are also starting to suspect that she's left handed. Caly was testing her last night discreetly, asking her to copy shapes that Caly drew. She did much better with her left hand. You may be wondering why we didn't notice before now. One was that all our kids experimented with both hands. I made a point of not ever telling them which hand to use and letting them take the lead. So sometimes they use one, sometimes the other. Zaven was strongly left handed before his cataract surgery. Afterwards he was right handed. That makes sense because he was blind in his right eye before the surgery. That affected his use of his limbs via hand-eye coordination. Caly was always strongly right handed. Zoe just switched around a lot, plus her favorite activities don't involve using fine motor skills. She runs, yells, jumps, yells, climbs, yells, fingerpaints (with both hands), yells, chases the cats, yells.... It's kind of hard to notice which hand she writes with when she never holds still long enough to write.

He approves.

2009-08-21T00:34:00.002-04:00

I had a big long post about all that I've been up to that kept me from posting. But that was boring and besides, my boy was cute today. I had shopping to do today since most of Quinn's clothes have disappeared. Maybe they're in the mountain of dirty laundry in the kitchen floor (since he loves to take them out of his dresser and put them in the dirty laundry without even bothering to wear them). And maybe they're at Grandmas's (who's been known to hoard a few of the nicer outfits so that they'll be handy when she wants to show off a grandbaby). And maybe they've simply been thrown away in the trash (because Scott bagged up a bunch of dirty laundry in a trash bag... on trash day!). Whatever the reason, we're down to a few ill-fitting shorts and some ugly t-shirts. So I went shopping today.

Quinn and Scott ran an errand after dropping me off, and when I got back in the car I had a few cute outfits for him in a bag. I was talking to Scott and looked back at Quinn... and he'd taken the shoulder straps off in his car seat, reached forward and snagged the cutest shirt out of the bag, stripped off his shirt, tore the pricetag off the new one, and was wriggling into it. Before I could say a word he had it on and was slipping back into the shoulder straps and clipping the top buckle back together. I have to admit, he looked good. And he knew it.

The letter home.

2009-08-14T20:27:00.002-04:00

This week's kindergarten class newsletter includes a reminder that children who plan to eat breakfast at school need to arrive by 7:15. 7:15? Good lord! It turns out that school starts 20 minutes earlier than we thought it did. Not only that but when Scott asked at school more than one person told him it started at 8, which would mean breakfast at 7:30. Oh well. At least now I know.

Shouldn't this be written down somewhere?

2009-08-13T14:57:00.003-04:00

Today was Zoe's first day of school. Scott did the dropping off and picking up since I have a cold. She slept last night in Caly's room and I drugged everyone with benadryl because they were all excited and used to staying up late and sleeping in. Caly was so eager to see all her friends again that she woke up at 5:30 this morning. Zoe woke up at 6:30 and they got themselves ready. Why so early? Because we don't know when school starts. Our district has a habit of changing the start times every year. Every single year. But our letters from the school about school supplies and class schedules and such did NOT include the daily schedule. That's right. They didn't tell us when to be there. I didn't worry about it and just figured I'd check the website. But it's not on the website. And not only that but when Scott came homw from dropping her off, he told me that the people he'd asked weren't sure. Who had he asked? The teachers, the principal, and the office staff. And that huge packet of paperwork they sent home? Not in there either. There was a letter about how much trouble we'll be in if she's tardy. But no mention of what time she would be considered tardy. I still don't know. I know it's sometime around 8. Last year it was 7:40. But the year before it was 7:50 and one year it was 8:20. I think I'll just have to make sure she's there by 7:30 and hope they figure it out and let me know.

Meanwhile, she's still not home. She's out of school, but Zaven and Caly aren't out yet. They start an hour later (or roundabouts that... I don't know their start time either) and get out an hour later. Their school is actually in the same building as hers. It's a really neat school. It was built in the 1960's by hippie architects. It's got circular buildings and looks just like a giant spaceship. It also has all the grades in one building. That means Zoe is in the same school building as Zaven and Caly. A year from now, Quinn will start preschool, Zoe 1st grade, Caly will be a high school freshman, and Zaven will be a senior... all in the same building. When Zaven and Caly started there they still didn't have walls between the classrooms, just dividers. Like I said, hippie architects.

Errands

2009-08-10T23:34:00.002-04:00

Today and tomorrow are errand days. I have half a million small errands this week, but half are in one town and half are in the next. I don't know why I end up running so many errands, but I do. I always do. And school starts this week, so there are things that must be done for that, too.

Zoe starts kindergarten and it's a full school day. I can't make up my mind about it. I'm looking forward to it in a way because she's a high energy kid and that will let her burn off a lot of steam at school. But I'm also nervous because that means a ton of small things, like just how much trouble can she get into before it gets serious. And what the heck is Quinn going to do all day? And because Zaven and Caly are in middle and high schools, they still will get out at a different time. Sigh... we'll work it out.

Wish me luck. Or rather, wish that her teachers have a lot of patience.

This is not how I feel. It's just funny.

2009-08-09T00:25:00.003-04:00

CONGRESS VOTES TO OUTSOURCE PRESIDENCY

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency
Washington, DC -- July 23, 2009

Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of September 1, 2009.

The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also record deficit expenditures and related overhead that the office has incurred during the last decade.

It is anticipated that $27 billion can be saved by the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge," stated an un-named Congressman. "We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of budget shortfalls."

Obama was informed by email this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time.

Gurvinder Singh, a tele-technician for Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India, will assume the office of President as of September 1, 2009. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month, but no health coverage or other benefits.

It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the U.S. and India, he will be working primarily at night. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center," stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview. "I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President."

A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem as our previous president seems to have not been familiar with the issues either.

Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson. "President Bush had used them successfully for years with the result that some people actually thought he knew what he was talking about."

Obama will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $415 a week unemployment for 26 weeks. Unfortunately he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit.

Obama has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Obama may have difficulties in securing a new position due to the poor economy. A greeter position at WalMart was suggested due to Obama's extensive experience at shaking hands and his enthusiastic smile.

-----author unknown

The zoo, the science museum, and Michael Phelps

2009-08-07T12:31:00.010-04:00

Sorry not to write for so long. We went out of town for a few days to pick up Caly from her trip to Alabama. We stopped at the zoo on the way there and got to actually see a few more of the animals this trip. We also went to the Northwest Georgia Science Museum, which I enjoyed very much. I don't have zoo pictures, since we left the camera in the car, but I do have some great pictures from the museum.

And what does Michael Phelps have to do with any of this? Nothing, except that during the drive I read a magazine article about the safety of public pools. It was focused on the risks of contaminated water and it said, "Even Michael Phelps admitted to having urinated in a pool during an interview." Which could mean that he admitted it during an interview, or that he was interviewed in a pool and peeed during the interview. And when we picked Caly up, she told us that while they were watching TV they'd left the subtitles on because her cousin had an ear infection. And the subway commercial with Michael Phelps has the funniest subtitles. Apparently Sly and the Family Stone are singing, "I justwana thank U firlettinme be mice elf agin."

Special

2009-07-30T17:57:00.002-04:00

Recently I read several blog posts that really got me thinking about special needs children. One was Just a babe with a kid who has special needs by Ellen at To The Max. In it, she talks about attending a conference and telling person after person that her son has cerebral palsy as a result of having a stroke as a baby. She talks about getting "the sympathy stare" and how she had trouble with that because she doesn't see his life as tragic. Many of her readers replied, talking about what the sympathy was for. Sympathy for the extra work involved? For the fact that their special needs child wouldn't every do the things regular kids did? Many ideas were tossed around and most of them seemed to be rejected.

The same day, Once Lucky posted on Where's my white picket fence? about the DNA testing done after her recent miscarriage. She discovered that the baby she'd lost had some genetic defects and that knowledge gave her some much needed comfort. She felt the miscarriage was supposed to happen.

The very next day after reading those two posts, Azaera from Taking It Day By Day joyously posted about her disabled son's first words AND Ellen (from To The Max) posted I think this blog has multiple personality disorder about how just a day after saying she didn't want sympathy, she broke down crying after seeing a boy run into his father's arms.

Finally, this morning Azaera posted Consolation where she talks about no longer taking comfort in the idea that she lost her first pregnancy to a miscarriage that was supposed to happen because now that she's the parent of a special needs child, that idea would imply that her son shouldn't be here either.

(Please know that I'm paraphrasing EVERYONE. No one said those exact things in that exact way. And even if they had, these are people talking about their own lives and circumstances and not meaning to pass judgement on anyone else.)

So... I keep thinking about this and turning it around in my head. And I've come to some conclusions.

I don't know what other non-special-needs people are sympathizing about. But as for me, I think that my reaction ultimately comes from the fact that I'm offended. Not by the person with special needs. But I am offended by the disability itself, that any child (any person!) should be in pain, should struggle to do things that should come easily. I view spina bifida much the same way I would view a pedophile. It is not welcome in this world.

Of course that would imply that I view special needs children and adults as victims -- helpless tragic figures who are weak in spirit or need rescuing. Well, I suppose if I was to be entirely honest, part of that is true. I do see the special needs populations as victims. But I don't view victims as automatically being weak or needy. I am constantly amazed by the tenacity and strength of people who overcome horrendous circumstances. My grandmother survived the attempted genocide of her entire country. She came to America at 14 years old, pregnant and married to a man a decade older who she'd met only the day before the wedding. She was uneducated because her schools had been destroyed. She spoke no English and knew no one other that her husband, a taciturn man who was almost a stranger to her. Decades later I asked her why she had a drivers licence even though she never drove and why she always insisted in voting in every election no matter how unimportant the election was and how sick she was. She told me, "Because I can." That strength, that determination to let nothing stop her... that's how I view victims.

Those with special needs do have my sympathy, but also my respect. And I do agree that no baby should be born with a disability and that a miscarriage can be better than a short life of great suffering. But that's because I abhor the disability, not the disabled. The disabled are like everyone else, I suppose. Some are nice and some are mean. Some are fun and some are boring. And some wallow in being victims while others fight against it with a vengance and perseverance that I can't imagine having.

I hope I haven't offended you guys too much and I promise to hop down off my soap box now and think of something funny.

The chaos

2009-07-26T11:08:00.002-04:00

This week has been a bit crazy. Quinn hasn't felt well. He had a fever and diarrhea and was just in a bad mood. Of course because he was moody he refused anything that wasn't exactly the way he wanted it. That means he wouldn't eat much, wouldn't take medication, wouldn't calm down.... It was not a fun week. About the only thing he did cooperate with was diaper changing. And he kind of cooperated too much. He's almost three now. He's SO ready to potty train. He is fully aware of what's going on with his body. He'll bring me a clean diaper, the box of wipes, then say, "You got a dirty butt?" Sometimes he'll bring me a diaper a few minutes BEFORE he needs it. But hell if he's willing to sit on a potty. He hates them. So for now we're just sticking with diapers.

Other than that nothing is going on. And I do mean nothing. Upward Bound ended yesterday so Scott is done working, Zaven is back home, and there are no plans. None. Caly is still out of town, but the rest of us are just sitting back, taking a deep breath, and trying to catch our breath. There are a lot of projects in the works... but we'll start them all in a few days. Right now we're trying to adjust to the sudden absence of pressure. Upward Bound is almost like a force of nature in our summers so when it ends you just need a few days. I wish I could explain UB to you. I'll try to soon. It deserves a post of it's own. But right now I can't wrap my head around it enough to put it into words. That and I really have a ton of housework to catch up on. With Quinn sick (and screaming constantly) I just let everything fall to the wayside. I really, really need to go do some dishes and laundry and take the trash out. Sigh. Wouldn't it be nice if housecleaning ended too?

The Great eHow Experiment

2009-07-22T13:17:00.003-04:00

Just over six months ago I joined eHow. I did it because a friend invited me and it looked interesting. If you aren't familiar with eHow, it's a website filled with thousands of articles about how to do things. How to fix your fix a flat tire, how to make your own soap, how to write how-to articles. It's the go-to place for how-to articles.

My friend who invited me to join sometimes writes articles for them, and she was encouraging me to do so as well. Whe explained that you can make a lot of money writing for them and that it was easy. I joined... but promptly realized that I couldn't think of anything that I knew how to do. Plus the site was overwhelming. All the good ideas seemed to have already been taken and the advice I got in their foroms was almost as complex as the site itself. There was a lot of talk about SEO's and CTR's and actionable verbs. I decided I would wait until I had more time to figure it out. Then I forgot all about it.

But then about a month ago and a half ago I decided to give it a try. And it turns out that it could be very cool. Here's how it works:

Step 1. You write step-by-step "How to..." articles.

Step 2. eHow and google put ads on your articles.

Step 3. People looking for DIY projects or car advice run a google search and find your article.

Step 4. IF you've written a good article and tweaked it following the advice in the forums, the ads your readers find will be ads for products they want. So if you wrote about how to build a flower box, your readers will find ads for lumber and fertilizer and seeds.

Step 5. People click on those ads and you get a little money from each click.

Step 6. You get paid.

Step 7. You get paid again.

Step 8. You get paid again. Because your article stays posted on a major website that gets millions of views, you'll get paid every month for as long as eHow exists and people click on ads.

How well does it work? I don't know. I think that it depends on how much you write. But there's a boatload of people on their forum that are making hundreds each month and some that are making thousands each month. And the genius is that your work keeps earning money even if you just decide you're done writing and walk away.

Christmas ~ Ready, Set, Go!

2009-07-22T12:59:00.002-04:00

Yes. It's six months away. So why the heck am I posting about getting ready for it now? Well, it's all Zaven's fault. Zaven's birthday is right at the end of June. When he was little and I was only shopping for one (slightly spoiled) toddler, I would shop for his birthday during the first half of the year and his Christmas presents during the second half. And it's still a handy way for me to keep myself organized.

I know what you're thinking. No. I am not a nut and I'm not Martha Stewart. But I do have to make some kind of shopping plan for Christmas because I have 6 people in my family. If we wait until November or December to shop then I would HAVE to put it all on a credit card. That means paying interest and fines and fees and suddenly I'd be spending a lot more money than I can afford. So I kind of spread the shopping out a bit. More importantly, if I have months to look for a great deal or to get creative about gifts I can save myself a small fortune. And I think I can help you save a small fortune, too.

First, a caveat. There are some great deals to be had just before Christmas. I'm not asking you to give those up. Ideally, you'd have the majority of your shopping done early but still have lots of wiggle room in your budget for last minute shopping. The difference is that if you do it my way, you'll be shopping those sales for fun and/or to buy gifts for a future birthday or anniversary, not because you're frantic to get a gift that you need right then.

Sooo.... here's the plan. Step one, make a plan. Pick one sunny Saturday and spend an hour thinking about Christmas like it's right around the corner. What if it were November? What would you be freaking out about? We're all freaking out about something during Novemeber aren't we? So imagine it's a Thanksgiving weekend and you've just finished eating (and cleaning) and you're about to make your to-do list. What exactly do you need to get done? Who are you buying gifts for? And what would they like? And how much money will you be spending? And what about food? Drinks? What about decorations? Lights? The tree stand?

Are you freaking out yet? Don't. Think about it for a minute. The food and drinks? Well, what do you normally serve? I just bought a whole sirloin for $1.99 a pound a few weeks ago and it's in my freezer waiting to be turned into a roast beast that the grinch would gladly serve. I'm not much into baking cookies and yeast rolls in this hot weather, but if I mix up the cookie dough and freeze it, it'll be ready to slice and bake this winter. Same goes for the yeast rolls. Frozen doughs last a long time. Farm fresh green beans would be awfully nice to just defrost come December. Get the idea?

And what about the decorations? Those lights and tree stand? It's yard sale season folks. You can pick them up for a few bucks if you need. In fact you can pick up a lot of your presents at yard sales, too. No, I'm not talking about giving folks used junk. But honestly, don't most kids outgrow their toys and clothes before they wear them out? Yard sales are filled with worn out junk... and with really nice toys that your kids might love. And they're filled with stocking stuffers, pretty flower pots and baskets that you can fill with all those free toiletries you've been getting at Rite Aid, and even a few kids clothes that still have the tags on them.

No, the toys will not be in their original boxes. But here's how I deal with that. Santa's presents don't come with the packaging. What kid likes those twist ties and hermetically sealed plastic anyway? Even when the elves buy from the stores, they remove all the packaging. In fact, Santa doesn't even wrap the presents he leaves at our house. They're just set under the tree on Christmas eve. How do the kids know which present belongs to which kid? Santa very kindly sets a child's full stocking on top of their gifts from him. He's so nice.

Humongous Entertainment

2009-07-20T23:53:00.003-04:00

Back about 15 years ago there was a company called Humongous Entertainment which produced a series of computer games for kids. Little kids, I should say. Their target audience was kids aged 3-8. They had several series of games: Freddi the Fish, Putt-Putt, Fatty Bear, Pajama Sam, and Spy Fox. They also made Backyard Baseball, Football, etc. The sports ones eventually started being geared for older kids, but the others were just for young kids. The games fall into two categories: Junior Adventures and Junior Arcades. Junior Arcades are just boring arcade games. But the Junior Adventures are so much fun for a little kid. I know. I got them for Zaven when he was little. He loved those games. Then Caly did. And now Zoe does. In fact, when I dug them out for Zoe, Zaven and Caly started singing the theme songs.

You can download the games for free for a time-limited trial here. I think the trial is for a half hour. I'm not sure. You can probably download them for free to keep somewhere. But I have no idea where. And you can buy them at Amazon for about $10 each. My personal favorites are Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo and Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise. Fatty Bear is fun because as you play the game you get a recipe for made-from-scratch chocolate birthday cake. Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo is fun because of the songs. They stick in your head. (We kept singing the Zoo, zoo, zoo song on the way to the zoo.) Anyhow, my kids love the games. They're very simple compared with modern games, but they're good ones. Non-violent, very simple to play, but they're designed to teach problem solving. I hope you enjoy the free trial. And be sure to click on the "topiary creatures" outside the zoo entrance to hear them sing my favorite song.

Zoe with a violent E.

2009-07-19T15:13:00.016-04:00

For Zoe's 5th birthday, she decided to mark the occasion by changing the way her name is pronounced. It used to be pronounced with both vowels long. Now only the O is pronounced. Caly asked if it was still spelled the same way, or was spelled Zo. She told us that it's still spelled Z-O-E. But the E is violent.

..............................................................................................................

Here are the zoo pictures. We had a great time even though we didn't really see many animals. We went to the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee and they have a marvelous play area. We hung out there for a few hour and only saw the animals adjacent the that. But we went ahead and bought a year-long membership so we'll be back to see the others.

My how she has grown! She wasn't even one when this picture was taken.

P.S. As soon as we got home we read "If I Ran The Zoo" by Dr. Seuss and then she wanted to play Putt Putt Saves the Zoo on the computer. If you haven't played any of the Putt Putt games, you should try them. They're so much fun for little kids. Plus I just love the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo song. I can't get it out of my head today.

Welcome to the Zoo! Zoo! Zoo!

2009-07-16T20:58:00.002-04:00

This weekend is Zoe's birthday. We wanted to do a party before school let out, but we had to do Zaven's and Caly's parties so that didn't work out. Then we never got the list of phone numbers that her teacher had gotten together at the end of the school year. Since this was a crazily busy summer we've decided to wait for the party until school starts again. For those of you not in the southeastern US, that's not as far away as you think. Our school starts in mid August.

So, to mark the day... we are going to the zoo. It's supposed to be low to mid-70's and overcast, but no actual rain. A perfect zoo day. I promise lots of pictures.

Meanwhile, our phone was actually finally connected. It's the wrong phone number so they have to change it or we have to make a new sign. But after a year and a half we can now make phone calls.

???

2009-07-13T22:22:00.003-04:00

Double click on the image to see it life size.
Maybe it will make more sense to you.

Goodbyes

2009-07-13T08:33:00.002-04:00

Caly is heading off to camp this morning. I'll be leaving here in an hour to take her. Meanwhile Zaven is already gone for the summer and Zoe is spending the week at Grandma's house so that she can visit her cousin and go to VBS. That just leaves me and Scott and Quinn. This is sort of a dry run for the fall. Zoe will be in all day kindergarten, and Quinn will be home with me. I both look forward to it and dread it. It will be nice to have some time to connect with him when no one else is around, but the mornings will be rough. I am not a morning person.

I can't help but think that this is also what our family will start to look like on a full time basis. Five years from now, Zaven and Caly will both be in college. Five years is a long time... isn't it?

New colors

2009-07-12T01:36:00.002-04:00

I've been messing with the colors again. Did I fix the comments button, Tara? It's hard to tell when I'm editing the html, but it should be more visible. Now all I have to do is update the pics. Although I rather like seeing the old ones because it's nice to see how the kids used to look. They're changing so fast. Sigh.

OK. Bedtime. Or maybe the late, late movie.