Displaced Yankee Chick in Texas

Feis success!

2008-10-11T22:32:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we took the family to San Antonio for an Irish dance competition (called a feis -- rhymes with "fresh"). Miss B competed for the first time in a two-hand, which is what two dancers dancing together is called, with a girl from the next development over.

I took Miss B to Miss S's house Thursday night to practice and the girls did a great job. Miss B is a natural when it comes to dancing in time to the music and Miss S has perfect posture and toe points. Miss S's mom and I spent the evening chatting away while the girls practiced and then played together. I was shocked when I discovered we were still there at 9:40 pm!

The team dances were scheduled to be held first thing Saturday morning. Miss B and I rushed down to the lobby level by taking the service elevator, which was conveniently located just outside our door. We arrived at the first floor and didn't know where to go, since we were deep inside the hotel's inner workings. A wonderful man named Frank, originally from Brooklyn (YAY!) helped direct us to the guest-only area of the hotel. Miss B loved that Mr. Frank was from Brooklyn like me and she made a point to say hi to him whenever she saw him. LOL! Why, you may wonder, did we rush and take the service elevator? Because we learned the hard way that in the 30 minutes leading up to the start of a feis, the elevators become packed and you cannot get on one or you end up waiting FOREVER for one to get to your floor. We even found one hotel where there were no public stairs from the 2nd floor to the lobby (I thought I'd outsmarted all the other feis people at that hotel).

So Miss B and Miss S performed their two hand and were one of two teams competing in their age group. We were delighted to learn that they took first place. Miss B's first dancing medal was a FIRST PLACE!!! She took third place in two of the jigs later that morning, and took another second for Irish soda bread. Not too shabby. And I was surprised about the soda bread medal since I was about a half cup of flour short, so I'm suspecting it wasn't the best bread the judge had ever tasted. LOL!

Miss B was on cloud 9 all day long and enjoyed wearing her medals. Now that she has tasted dancing success, we've got to get her practicing more so she can move up from Beginner to Advanced Beginner.

Boo!

2008-09-30T23:21:00.002-05:00

There was a tradition of "BOO"-ing neighbors in our old development. I missed the fun and watching the BOOs spread across the neighborhood since no one was doing it when we moved here. Two years ago I started doing it here, and I did it again last year.

I found some great BOO resources at myfolsom.com/boo and printed my signs off tonight. I just have to finish shopping tomorrow and we'll be ready to BOO tomorrow night. The kids will have a blast with it.

Try it if you have neighbors -- it really makes Halloween fun!

Riding the good karma train

2008-09-30T22:30:00.002-05:00

I read Tink's blog last night and saw that last Friday she was upset at an uncaring driver. The driver's thoughtless actions killed some baby ducks and made Tink wonder about practicing random acts of kindness. She challenged her readers to pay it forward and then post a comment on her blog relating what they did.

The comments moved me and although I was very tired today, I felt optimistic. I only cringed for a second when a woman at daycare this morning commented on what a beautiful day it was (that reminds me of the morning of September 11th, and I worry every time I think it is a glorious day that something awful will happen).

My day brightened when I heard from my best friend, who is 9 weeks pregnant with a miracle baby. Things are still going well for her, and it was a great relief to learn that. My day improved considerably when my cell phone rang. I was expecting it to be a collegian calling with a sorority-related question. Once I saw that it was my friend Amy, I worried. She was in tears when I answered the phone and I was crestfallen. Last week she was notified that there was a possibility that she and her husband would be adoptive parents of a baby who was born that week. They couldn't get their hopes up because there was counseling required for the birth mother, parental rights needed to be relinquished, etc. I hated to think that their dearest dream had just been quashed. Amy said to me through her tears, "The prayers and candles worked. Thank your mom." Needless to say I was flabbergasted and asked if it was true. Were they going to be parents? YES!!! Their adoption case worker had just called with the good news. They will be bringing their baby boy home on Friday. Of course, I cried tears of joy for them. It was three years ago today that they began their adoption journey. Nevermind the countless medical tests and procedures prior to that to determine that she could not bear children. Shortly before I ran out to lunch to celebrate with some retail therapy, I received an email from Amy. She had received pictures of her precious baby William (named after her grandfather, on whose birthday last week she originally received news of his potential adoption) and forwarded them to me.

Following my retail therapy, I returned to the office to discover an email from my friend Patty. We have known each other nearly 25 years; we went to HS together. Last night I sent a message to our HS classmates via facebook asking them to pray for her or at least send her some good thoughts/vibes. Patty was diagnosed with colon cancer this summer, right around the time she turned 40. Maybe two weeks ago she discovered that a liver biopsy came back positive as well. This morning she met with a surgeon at Sloan Kettering to discuss the surgery on her liver. Her surgery will be around Thanksgiving, while she is in the middle of chemo for her colon cancer. The surgeon/doctors feel that she has a very good prognosis. Her email to me was an update with information from today's meeting. All I could think was that there wasn't a better day for her to have had this meeting. With all the good news I received, I knew that she would had a great prognosis.

I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in miracles. I witnessed them today.

Tonight I got on facebook and read emails from my HS classmates. They were asking me if I knew whether Patty could use blood donations, or money to hire help around the house, or meals; they asked for her address so they can send a card. We are spread throughout the country, but they have posted on Patty's facebook page or emailed her to say they are praying for her, to keep her spirits up, and to let her know that they are thinking of her. Patty is probably one of the nicest and most genuine and generous people I know, and I'm better for knowing her. And I'm better for knowing these classmates of ours, who are looking for any way they can to help. I'm awed, overwhelmed and overjoyed. And I'm in tears.

March 08 -- the month in review

2008-03-27T22:46:00.002-05:00

Let's just say I can't wait for this month to end! It all started when my beloved grandmother passed away on Sun, March 2. We had to quickly find flights to get the five of us up to NJ for the wake and funeral. We had uneventful flights up and back, and I would highly recommend Jet Blue. They really do have the most leg room that I've found. The wake and funeral were lovely as those things go. My grandmother was 96 years old and had lived a long wonderful life. She met her great grandchildren, traveled the world, had many friends, and died just like she wanted to. We all had enough time to say goodbye to her, so we have no regrets. Some dear friends of mine came to the wake -- my very best friends from HS, and one of my friends that I used to work with. It was nice to see so many friends, neighbors and family members.

While the priest was doing his brief prayer service, he asked us if we wanted to say anything about Granny. My mom and uncle talked about what a great mother she was. My mom mentioned how Granny kept going on even when she was dealt a tough blow. She grew up during the Depression, lost her firstborn during childbirth, lost her husband just days before their 13th anniversary, leaving her to raise a 9 and 10 yo by herself. She was an amazing and strong woman, and lived alone until she was 88! My dad mentioned how she had a wicked sense of humor and thought it was hilarious when my dad was being bent into a pretzel (or so it felt) during a massage in Japan. My mom and grandmother were in the beds next to his, and the beds were shaking from them laughing so hard at him. (They went easy on Granny and also with my mom as she was pregnant wiht me at the time.) I remembered a story my mom told me that sums up my grandmother's character for me. My mom and grandmother were in Brooklyn and went to dinner at Granny's favorite Irish restaurant. There was a woman sitting alone at a nearby table, but she had two drinks, one in front of her and one for her missing companion. My grandmother sensed what was going on and went to the lady's table and began talking to her. As it turned out, this was that couple's favorite restaurant and this was her first time there since her husband had passed away. She had ordered his favorite drink for him. My grandmother gave this new widow a pep talk. She mentioned how it would be difficult at first to get by, but as time went on, things would get easier. She didn't sugar coat it, but she let the woman know that the pain and sadness would lessen with time. By the end of their conversation, this woman was even smiling. I would never have the nerve to go up to someone and talk to them like she did.

Right after we returned home from the funeral we left for a vacation in San Diego. That was heavenly. DH and I enjoyed massages, and my parents watched the kids for us. We enjoyed a family reunion with a bunch of my mom's cousins who live on the west coast.

The following week was Spring Break and Miss B went to the YMCA camp. We both had off on Good Friday, but my car was in the shop, so we spent the day at home.

This week A and I went to the doctor on Monday. He has a double ear infection and I am getting over a throat infection. Tuesday morning at 2am Miss S had croup and required a trip to the ER to have it checked out. She couldn't catch her breath and it scared me silly. Then Wed afternoon A fell at daycare and split the back of head open. It probably didn't need stitches, but I've never dealt with a cut on the scalp. He wound up with one staple. So now I've had 2 ER visits in 36 hours...

The list goes on, but that's the biggest part of it all. Now I'm going to go to bed.

Reasons to be happy

2008-02-20T22:46:00.003-06:00

I'm so happy I could burst! These are some of the reasons I'm so happy:

We're going on a family vacation in a few months and it should be wonderful.
It looks like I'm going to be hired full time at my job.
We didn't owe money after our recent escrow analysis -- a first!
A good friend of mine has a wonderful secret.
We'll be attending a family reunion in a few weeks.
DH may finally get to take the Guy's Weekend Trip he's talked about for years.
It looks like we'll be doing a bit of traveling this summer -- to celebrate our anniversary and to celebrate DH's cousin's wedding and to meet a new member of the family.
Two babies were born into our family late last year; both girls are healthy.

And, as usual, something always seeems to temper the good. My dad is apparently being forced to retire earlier than he had planned. I'm sure everything will work out fine, but he only found out about it earlier today and is understandably angry.

2007: The year in review

2007-12-30T22:47:00.000-06:00

Hmmm, let's see what happened this year...

I was in a terrible funk at the beginning of the year. Part of it was coming down from the high of having my parents visit for a week at Christmas, and part of it was that I was still reeling from the big blowup a bunch of my friends and I were involved in. It didn't matter that I had a wall full of Christmas cards to remind me of all the people who cared for me however. I couldn't sleep and was miserable. I ultimately sought help from my physician who prescribed an antidepressant. Between getting it off my chest and telling DH that I needed help, and getting meds, things improved. It's been nearly a year and I feel much more normal. If things go well in 2008, I'll look into weaning myself off the meds.

In late January DH's grandmother had a heart attack. DH happened to be in FL on business at the time, so he went to see her when his meetings ended. The cardiologist told DH and SIL that Gran had about 6 months left. In February we flew the family to NJ so that DH and I could attend my 21st HS reunion (it was a year late). We had a great time, and I think I spoke to every classmate who was there. In fact, that was one thing I promised myself that I'd do, since I pretty much hung out with all my old clique at our 10th. Before we flew home, we all got to play on the ice covered snow at my parents' house. It was nice to see, but I was glad I didn't have to see more of it. LOL!

Later in February we flew the family to FL to have our potentially last visit with Gran. We spent a weekend in a 2BR trailer in a 55+ community. Let's just say that the kids were as good as they could be for being as bored as they were. At least B and I learned how to knit and purl from Gran.

My parents visited again in early March so they could watch the kids while DH and I got to enjoy a trip to Puerto Rico. DH had earned the trip because he had achieved 100% of his 2006 sales plan. The resort was wonderful, as was the food. It was sheer heaven being able to sunbathe and relax in a paradise. DH enjoyed the casino and the free drinks within it a bit too much. And we both enjoyed a few too many "Ziggie Zaggies" (the resort's drink) poolside.

We got to enjoy a visit from DH's sister and BIL and their two sons, R and M in June. The visit fell over B and R's birthdays, plus nearly everyone else's birthdays are also in June (the girls turned 7 and 4), so we did a LOT of celebrating (did I mention DH turned *cough* 40?!). Unfortunately, we also received some bad news during their visit. DH and SIL's grandmother passed away -- on the day before B's birthday. We flew up to Providence to attend the wake and funeral. As wonderful as it was to see DH's family, we hated that it was under such sad circumstances. That unplanned trip took up our vacation budget so we were not able to visit our families during the summer.

Miss B and I took a trip in July to Brenham, in the Hill Country, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Blue Bell Creamery. They had a free all the ice cream you can eat 3-day celebration. Let's just say that B and I tasted nearly every single flavor of ice cream that day. Urgh! DH and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this July and we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Outback Steakhouse with the kids to commemorate it. Thanks to Auntie Harriet for treating us -- she sent us the gift card we used that night.

My parent visited again for a quick visit in August; I was glad they could come down close to my birthday. Along with everyone else in this area, we celebrated the start of school in LATE August. This was the LONGEST summer on record here because the schools started 2 weeks later than they used to. And along with school came the beginning of Brownies. I'm the leader of B's troop this year. I need to learn how to get control of 8-12 first graders. LOL!

We celebrated A's 3rd birthday with a visit from my best friend. Amy had been in TX on business and extended her trip so she could spend a weekend with us. We had a great time hanging out and drinking margaritas and talking and drinking margaritas, and catching up. And did I mention drinking margaritas? LOL!

I spent 4 weeks at a horrible temp job. It started out nicely, but the person who was supposed to train me apparently felt threatened by me. Thus, she spent most of her time showing me everything once and expecting me to immediately be able to duplicate it. And then they managed to forget to tell me all the steps involved in the tasks I was to complete. And my co-worker wasn't the most pleasant person in the world. Needless to say, I was and wasn't surprised when I was let go. I wasn't sorry, but I was annoyed that it had ruined my perfect record. I had finally been fired from a job. Oh well. I'm stubborn enough that I would have stuck it out rather than quit, no matter how miserable I was, so they did me a favor.

The kids and I enjoyed Halloween without DH, who had to go away on business that week. The kids were Sulley, Mike and Boo from Monsters Inc. And we already have an idea of what they'll be for next year.

This fall the girls began their Irish dancing lessons in earnest. B will start competing next week, and S has a way to go before she will learn the steps to her first dance. I think B enjoys it, but she's not terribly competitive, so nothing makes her want to practice in order to earn medals and trophies.

FIL came to visit for Thanksgiving; we went to eat at my cousin's. This was her first holiday in her new house. Right after Thanksgiving I got the call about the job I now have. I am LOVING this job and I hope it will become a permanent one for me. DH and I missed the company's Christmas party due to A's mishap and trip to the ER. I do hope there will be next year...

Christmas has come and gone so quickly. Like most people I've spoken to, I have had little holiday spirit. My house is usually decorated over Thanksgiving weekend. This year it was mid-December, and I put up less than half of what I normally do. The kids got most of what they wanted. The least wanted thing we got were colds -- DH and I had the sniffles, B had a slight case of the sniffles, S had an ear infection and A trumped us all with bronchitis.

We plan on visiting Space Center Houston to see the Star Wars Light Saber exhibit tomorrow. That'll help send our year out with a bang.

We've managed to make it 10 years, and I've recently learned that two of my friends' marriages have ended this year. However, we've also had friends and family grow their families by two feet this year, so the good news helps temper the bad.

Wishing all of you a safe, happy and healthy 2008!

CTTS (cute things they say)

2007-12-12T23:24:00.000-06:00

Here's one that I'm not sure will make it into A's scrapbook -- if I ever finish it:

A few weeks ago we were playing outside and A was collecting pine cones with me. I was trying to find some good ones that I could use at Miss B's Brownie meetings. You can make a bird feeder out of a pine cone, peanut butter and bird seed.

Later that night, I was standing in the bathroom doorway while A pooped. He pushed one out, looked in the toilet and said, "pinecone!" Then he proudly showed me his poop, which did indeed resemble a pine cone.

Who knew the boy was so talented?!

So this is what happened to my boy...

2007-12-09T21:01:00.000-06:00

Last night was my company's Christmas party at a nice restaurant in a fancy downtown area of Houston. I had gotten the girl next door to babysit the kids for us. She's a kid at heart and loves to play and the kids adore her. DH and I were excited and looking forward to a nice dinner out (the entree choices were rack of lamb, Chilean sea bass or filet mignon -- yum!).

We were about a block away from the restaurant when DH's cell phone rang. He saw it was a call from our house so he immediately called back. The babysitter told him that B and A were running around the family room and kitchen and she pushed him. He fell into the corner of the bar and split his forehead open. She said it was deep and would need stitches. So we turned around and headed immediately home.

I called the restaurant and asked to leave a message with the president of the company I work for saying that we had had an emergency and would be unable to attend. Then I emailed my boss and the president from DH's blackberry explaining the emergency.

When we arrived home, our babysitter and her mom were here. A was sitting in the mom's lap and he was so calm. We looked at the gash and I felt sick to my stomach. It was really deep and would definitely require stitches. And it would take a lot more than the 4 stitches A got when he split his eyebrow open the day before his first birthday.

Before leaving the house, DH grabbed a piece of pizza (we had ordered pizza for the kids to eat). I figured we'd be in and out so quick that we could head back to the restaurant for the entree or dessert course. However, we quickly learned that was not going to be the case. The ER waiting room was packed and when we registered, we were told there was a 2-3 hour wait.

A finally fell asleep on my lap just after I sent DH out to get me some dinner (at 9:30pm; we arrived there before 8). So instead of rack of lamb I had a Sonic chili cheeseburger for dinner. Instead of a whiskey sour at the cocktail hour I had a limeade. Oh well. A napped quite a lot while we waited to be seen. It was after midnight before we finally headed in to the triage area. From there we were immediately escorted to an ER room where he again fell asleep.

I had warned the paramedic and LPN that he needed to be in a papoose for his last stitches. They said they would be able to deal with him. They stood him up and put his arms in a pillowcase behind his back; it looked like he was wearing a cape. Then they swaddled him in a sheet and lay him on the bed. He fell immediately back to sleep. He was completely fine until the LPN put the drape over his face. Then A lost it, yelling that he couldn't see. The paramedic had to really hold his head still, while DH held his torso and I held his legs down. He fought every single stitch. And he yelled during every single stitch. All fifteen of them. He got four internal stitches and eleven surface stitches.

Once they were finished, A gave us both big hugs. The poor paramedic shook his arms to get the blood flowing in them again, and we overheard the LPN say, "I need a 10 minute break after that!" That's my boy.

We arrived home after 5 hours in the ER (and 6 hours from the time he fell) and spoke to the babysitter who was still very apologetic. I feel so badly for her. We know it was not her fault. Our kids know that we do not allow running in the house for this very reason; perhaps now they'll listen to us... HA! The babysitter actually asked, "Are you sure?" when I went to pay her. I hope she'll sit for us again. Heck, she did everything right. She called us and got her mom to help her out before we got home. It makes me feel even more comfortable having her watch the kids, in fact.

So I got a job...

2007-11-30T21:40:00.000-06:00

It all happened very suddenly this week. My recruiter called me Tues to ask if I'd be interested in a job that had just come in. She told me the info she had and I said sure. Heck, at least I'd get some interviewing experience. She later called back to see if I could interview the next day (Wed). I worked it out so I could take the little ones to a drop in day care center and went in.

I met with the supervisor and Prez of the company. They seemed very nice and told me that the person I'd be replacing was leaving on good terms. Their final question was "If we choose you, would you be able to come in tomorrow for training?" I stammered since I hadn't planned on getting a job until January, and hadn't considered getting the kids back in day care yet. I said I thought I could work it out, but that I'd have to leave early for a Brownie meeting. They were OK with that. So I ran some errands and went home where there were messages waiting for me. I had apparently gotten the job, so the rush was on to secure daycare. I got B back into the Y's afterschool program and then stopped by the old day care to see if they could fit the kids in. Unfortunately, there was no room for A, so I'd have to wait to speak to the owner.

Thurs I took the little ones again to the drop in center (along with the 20% off coupon I had just received), and awaited a call from the owner. Got trained, went to the gal's farewell lunch, and trained more, then went to the Brownie meeting. Called, but the owner wouldn't be in until later, so I stopped by after the Brownie meeting. Spoke w/ the owner and got the kids in. They started today. Woohoo!

So I'm working for a small company that manages energy programs. They purchase energy at low prices for large groups or cooperatives, and manage the billing and such. I'm 1 of 4 people including my supervisor who work on this particular program. As a funny aside, my supervisor and I are both named "J", we're both lefties, and we both drive minivans. LOL! It'll be confusing at the office since we have the same name.

Everyone seems really nice and they are all very helpful. I have high hopes that this job will work out much better than the last one. And I must remember to ask questions! These people are really willing to help me if I get stuck on something. It's really quite nice.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T20:52:00.000-06:00

I'm thrilled to have tomorrow off. I only have to prepare the veggie dishes and bring them to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving. Yippee!!

Today I did reconaissance and checked out all the stores I'm hitting on Black Friday, so I will hopefully know where to quickly find the items I want to buy.

Now it is off to bed, nice and early for a change.

Hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Fall update

2007-11-20T01:38:00.000-06:00

Must clean house later today because FIL arrives this afternoon to spend a week with us.

Got laid off from my job after 4 weeks. It was a good thing since it was a mis-match for me.

DS is now standing up to pee instead of sitting on the toilet. And usually his aim is good. Phew! Unfortunately for me, he wakes up between 2 and 4 every night and needs my help to go potty. It is my job to turn on the light for him (even though the bathrooms have stools in them). *yawn*

Miss B got straight As on her report card. She's really doing great and is bored by the homework. In fact, she keeps wishing it was April so her homework would be harder! I think we're going to enroll her in the Gifted & Talented program at school.

Miss B and Miss S are doing well with their Irish dancing lessons. B has learned two dances and could compete in an upcoming feis (competition) if only she'd practice.

Due to the corporate shake up at my father's office, my parents won't be visiting after Christmas. However, they are going to join us on our vacation to San Diego this spring. They are going to watch the kids for us and visit our relatives out there. It should be a lot of fun for all of us. I can't wait!

My best friend visited us for a weekend in September, which was FABULOUS!! I miss her a lot, but had a blast while she was here.

Yesterday I discovered that webkinz will work on my laptop. For a long time, I couldn't get on the site, so this is great news. Woohoo! Now I can waste all day playing Goober's Lab. LOL!

The kids went as Sulley, Mike and Boo for Halloween this year. The following weekend Miss B and I discussed possible costumes for next year. We were working on Wizard of Oz, but after seeing two of the girls from B's dance school in Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes, I decided and B agreed that Cat in the Hat was better. She'll be the Cat, and S and A will be Thing 1 and Thing 2. If DH and I want to go along, we can be "Sally and I".

It's almost 2am, I'd better get to bed.

Three reasons to celebrate

2007-08-30T17:26:00.000-05:00

First, DS has caught on to going potty and refuses to wear diapers, even at night. He's had a few accidents during the day, but none at night so far. *knock wood*

Second, I got a job and I start in just over a week. Woo hoo!

Third, it's my birthday. Mmmm, cake!

Tomorrow's the BIG DAY!

2007-08-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is Miss B's first day of first grade. She is so excited to be going back to school. Four of her Kindy classmates are in her class, which makes it nice. And she really seems to like her teacher, who is new to the First Grade group this year (she taught a higher grade previously at the school).

This is a pic of Miss B and her teacher at Meet the Teacher night last week.

I've been scammed

2007-08-20T23:33:00.000-05:00

I'm so angry I could spit. DH and I were duped by a company based in Mesa, AZ, or is it Colleyville, TX, or could it be Orange Park, FL... It has so many names and locations. ARGH! They told us they could lower our credit card interest rates, so we said we were interested. Aha! They've got that on tape! Once they got our agreement on tape, then they mentioned the fee. An exorbitant one. Nearly $1000! DH told them he'd think about it and call them back. The next day he called back to cancel the service and told them we were not interested. Funny thing is, they have no record of THIS call. Hmmm. Now they've charged our credit card the nearly $1K fee, and claim that we agreed to all this. Once DH mentioned that we were contesting the fee with our credit card company, the CSR said, "You agreed to it. We have it on tape. Good luck fighting it." Nice, huh?!

I'm just sick over this. I'm annoyed and mad at us for being so stupid to fall for this, and to be dumb enough to give them our personal information. UGH. I don't even want to think about how long it could take to resolve this.

We've already posted complaints with the local branch of the BBB and also with ripoffreport.com. I don't think I'll ever do business with anyone again without checking ripoffreport.com first.

Now I'm off to check our credit reports...

conglomeration of an update

2007-06-26T22:31:00.000-05:00

I'm going out of town tomorrow night and will be away until late Sunday attending a sorority event. In the meantime, here's what's been going on here in the Lone Star state.

MIL, her DFiance, SIL, her DH and their two boys came to visit. They were all supposed to arrive the evening of Fri, June 8. However, that was the day of the FAA computer glitch. MIL's flight was delayed about an hour or two and DH didn't have any trouble picking them up at the airport. The same can't be said for SIL and her family. They flew out of JFK and the NYC area got hammered by bad weather and the FAA glitch. They should have arrived at 11:30pm but didn't walk in our door until about 6:30 Sat morning.

We had a birthday party for everyone on Sat, June 9. My aunt, cousin and her four kids came over to celebrate with us. A great relaxed pool party with delicious BBQd burgers was just what the doctor ordered. MIL surprised us by showing us that she can swim (she's terrified of the water and won't even get her face wet in the shower). She's been taking lessons, which is great. We celebrated (in order) DNephew M's 1st, DH's 40th, B's 7th, DNephew R's 5th, S's 4th, and A's 3rd (even though he's Sept). MIL made her famous potato salad for DH, and it was at this time that I learned that mustard can go bad. Who knew?! MIL and I went out and shopped for the kids, and that was fun too.

Sunday we hung out and relaxed again in the pool. SIL and I took the girls to get manicures and pedicures at a local place and then we shopped until we dropped. We were shopping for the girls' birthday presents, but I wound up walking out of the mall with 3 new pair of shoes. LOL!

Monday we got BBQ from the great place across the street for lunch and it was wonderful. Then DH took MIL and DF to the airport. Once DH returned, we decided to drive the 2.5 hrs to the small town where DH and SIL grew up. DH made hotel reservations and we packed up the cars. We arrived at the hotel around 1am.

Tuesday we got up and went to a local greasy spoon for breakfast and then drove around the town. DH and I had been back 2 yrs ago for his 20th reunion, but SIL hadn't been back in nearly 20 years. So we did all the things she wanted to do, and looked at all the places she wanted to see. We even stopped at the house where the parents of one of her friends still live. She chatted with them for a few minutes, but her friend was at work. Early that afternoon DH got a call on his cell phone from his dad. I could tell it was bad news. His beloved grandmother had passed away at 2am, so just about the time we arrived in his hometown. I quickly got on my phone and called SIL to tell her to pull over when we got to the next place (the HS) because DH had an important call. When we got to the HS, I went over to SIL's car and told them that DH was on the phone with FIL; then I went back to our car. DH finished the call and then went to tell his sister the news. While did that, I got in the back of our car and broke the news to our kids. S and A had no grasp of what I was saying, but B understood and began crying. We decided to head home, but we stopped in Austin so SIL could meet a friend for a late lunch. The restaurant was named Trudy's and I had a great burger there.

Wed was B's birthday and it took me a few hours to realize it. Around lunchtime I wished her a happy birthday and we began celebrating. We all went to our community's water park and spent the afternoon there. The DNs napped for a while, and so did A, which was surprising. It really was a great time. I think the visit to the water park started to convince BIL that this wasn't such a bad place to live. Later that day he went to visit a friend who owns a comic book store so he could pick up some new comics that he had to review for work.

Thurs SIL and gang went to BIL's friend's parents house for the day. These people are like family to BIL and R even called the man "Pop" before they left to come back here.

Friday we took the kids to the closest mall with a Picture People so we could get a pic of all five kids together. We got two decent shots, and between the coupon and SIL's club membership, the two pix were free. Then we headed to Chuck E Che*se to celebrate DNephew R's birthday since we'd be busy with funeral stuff on his actual birthday. He doesn't get to CEC very often so it was a huge treat. And B was about 2 yrs old the last time she'd been there. This one was great and not very crowded which made it very pleasant. However, there was one beotch having a bday party for her kid and she pissed us off. The live CEC came out for that kid's birthday and R and B went over and waited until he was finished with the kids from the party to say that it was R's birthday as well. Apparently this beotch seemed to think that CEC was only there for HER kid's party and did not like having our kids come up to him. She complained to the manager, and DH could overhear the entire conversation from where he was standing. The manager told her that there was nothing he could do. It's CEC, and kids want to see him. Deal with it. BIL took the gang back to hang with the family friends and we went home to start packing for the trip to RI for the funeral.

Sat morning we all packed our cars and left for the airport. We had nasty rainstorms here and wound up on three separate flights, hoping that our luggage would meet up with us in RI. We were originally scheduled to connect thru BWI, but that looked bad for making our connection, so we switched to a PHL connection. Then they announced that people on that flight should see the gate agent. We finally were placed on a cnx thru MDW and amazingly enough, our bags arrived in RI when we did. However, we arrived very late, then had to rent the car (we upgraded to an Acadia, which I do recommend), secure the car seats, and drivve an hour to DH's grandmother's house. We arrived around 2am.

Upon arrival, FIL had the TV blaring and was soused. I had to inflate and make 3 aerobeds, change 3 kids and myself into pajamas, and FIL still didn't get the hint that we were TIRED. No, EXHAUSTED. FIL had kindly gotten the bedroom ready for us. I was expecting him to give us his room in the basement, but he put us in Grandma's room! I was shocked and couldn't sleep in the bed that night. Since they had practically arrived in RI from FL and hadn't had time to unpack before she went to the hospital, all her clothes had been in her luggage. Between Tuesday and Saturday, FIL had simply opened up her bags and put all the contents in trash bags to be picked up by a nun to take them for charity. It was a bit of a surprise for me to see all her stuff packed up.

Sunday morning FIL informed us that the trip to the city where the funeral was to take place wasn't 1-1.5 hours away like he had mentioned on the phone earlier in the week (which was why BIL insisted that they get a hotel room in that town instead of commute with us from RI to MA) but it really was more like 2-2.5 hours. Great. Now we had to drive a long ass drive with the kids in the car, and no DVD player. Once we arrived in the town about 30 minutes before the wake was to begin, we grabbed lunch at McD's for the kids, as there wouldn't be time to eat until after the wake ended. The wake was nice, and it was great to see so many family members that we hadn't seen in years, at least not since B was a few months old. Granny looked fantastic; DH thought she looked at least 10 yrs younger. BIL and I took the kids to a playground across the street as the wake entered its last half hour. They needed to run off some energy. Then we headed to a cousin's house nearby to eat. Like his grandfather's wake, the food was strictly salad sandwiches (tuna, chicken or seafood). My kids didn't enjoy any of it but filled up on pastries instead. FIL and DH managed to get us somewhat lost on the drive home, and we drove through Boston and the big dig on the way to RI.

Monday we had to get up around 5:30 to get ready and on the road early as we'd have to fight Boston rush hour traffic to make it to the funeral home on time. We arrived a bit early, and had a chance to grab Dunkin Donuts on our way out of RI. We said our goodbyes to Granny, and the kids insisted on singing "A Bushel and a Peck" to her before we were ushered out to our car. I was privileged with doing the second reading, just like I did for DH's grandfather. I think I did a good job and spoke slowly and clearly, not the normal fast and furious way I usually do when nervous. The kids were quite well behaved through the whole thing, especially considering we're not regular churchgoers. The kids, especially A, got antsy at the cemetery. He took a flag off the neighboring grave and was waving it around. There was a beautiful gravesite reading about watching a ship sail off and those watching it think, "There she goes," while those on the other side/port watch and think, "Here she comes." The funeral director was a nephew of Granny's, and he added some levity at the end of the service. Granny was well known for sending a card to everyone on their birthday or special occasion, and popping in some money "to get a treat." So he said he had put in a card with $5 for her, but then instead put in $10 so that she could get a treat for herself and Buck (her beloved DH). We all had to laugh because it was so perfectly her. We had lunch at a local clubhouse, where again, all that was offered were salad sandwiches (this time egg and ham were included), so my kids didn't eat except for the pastries. It was during this meal that we learned that DH's cousin who is A's Godmother, is expecting and due in late December. Such wonderful news! SIL's family headed back to RI with us for the night.

Tuesday we slept late and then SIL and I worked on getting more of Granny's room cleaned out. We bagged up the remaining clothes of hers and Granddad's, and then began to tackle the clutter. She had drawers full of unused Mass cards and return address labels. DH and I packed up the family and headed out to the airport for another travel nightmare. Bad weather on the east coast delayed our flight to PHL. Then we were delayed due to storms in TX and PHL. Had I known we'd be there for six hours, I definitely would have asked my parents to drive to the airport to see us. Hindsight is always 20/20. At least the airline provided drinks and snack crackers and later, pillows and blankets for the kids. We pulled up to our house at 6am Wed, when we should have arrived at 8 or 10 or 11pm. Gosh, I don't even remember.

Wed the younger 2 had school and B had VBS, but I didn't take them to their activities. That would have been cruel. We slept late and tried to get ourselves back on track.

So that's pretty much it.

I've been tagged!

2007-06-26T22:26:00.000-05:00

The challenge is to use ONE WORD for each answer (no explanations).

Yourself: shy

Your Partner: outgoing

Your Hair: colored

Your Mother: terrific

Your Father: great

Your Favorite Item: computer

Your Dream Last Night: none

Your Favorite Drink: water

Your Dream Car: convertible

Your Dream Home: organized

The Room You Are In: office

Your Fear: cancer

Where You Want To Be In Ten Years: happy

Who You Hung Out With Last Night: DH

You're Not: organized

One of Your Wish List Items: money

The Last Thing You Did: eat

You Are Wearing: pjs

Your Favorite Weather: sun

Your Favorite Book: Brooklyn

Last Thing You Ate: cookie

Your Life: chaotic

Your Mood: tired

Your Best Friend: Amy

What Are You Thinking About Right Now: travel

Your Car: dirty

What Are You Doing At The Moment: blogging

Relationship Status: Married

What Is On Your TV: dunno

What Is The Weather Like: hot

When Is The Last Time You Laughed: afternoon

I'm so tired...my mind is on the blink

2007-06-20T23:21:00.000-05:00

Just survived having SIL and her family visit for a week, MIL and her DF for a long weekend, a birthday party for six people, and two airplane trips from hell sandwiched between a funeral.

Long story short -- had a great visit with the family. Kids got along great and were so loving to 1yo cousin. Party was a success and weather was great while we had company. Had fun visiting DH's hometown with our and SIL's families. Unfortunately while we were there we got a call that DH's and SIL's grandmother had died overnight. Researched and then made travel arrangements for family to attend funeral. Celebrated 5yo nephew's birthday 2 days early since his bday was the day of the wake; kids had a great time at Chuck E Cheese.

SIL's family had the trip from hell getting down here thanks to the FAA computer glitch and the bad weather surrounding the NYC area. They were to arrive Fri night at 11:30pm. However, they finally arrived at 6:30am Saturday! Their bad luck rubbed off on us and we were to arrive in Rhode Island Saturday around 8pm. We pulled into DH's grandmother's house at 2:15am. And our luck didn't improve yesterday. We should have arrived in Houston yesterday around 8pm, but pulled into our driveway at 6am this morning. *yawn*

Must.get.sleep.

And I almost forgot -- we did get some wonderful news. DH's cousin, who happens to be A-man's Godmother, announced at the luncheon following the funeral that she is expecting her first. She's just out of her first trimester and regaining her appetite. Her due date is somewhere in late December. Gran's birthday was Christmas Eve, so that's the date I'm hoping for.

One day and I'm hooked...

2007-05-26T01:22:00.000-05:00

Miss B finished Kindergarten on Wednesday, so I took her to the store to get her another Webkinz as a reward for her perfect report card.

On Thursday while the younger two were napping, I was able to get Miss B's Webkinz adopted and we started exploring Webkinz World. You can decorate your pet's room, feed them, and play with them. And I understand that you can somehow even play with friends. Now all these goodies (rooms, furniture, food) for your pets cost money -- KinzCash. And you can earn KinzCash in all different ways. One of the easiest ways is to play games in the arcade.

So we tried a few, and now I'm hooked on Cash Cow 2. I've spent hours on there the past two nights earning KC for Miss B. I'm finally understanding what all the hoopla is about. God help me! LOL!

Hmmm, perhaps eHarm*ny knows something

2007-05-15T22:43:00.000-05:00

DH and I have been married nearly ten years. Does eHarm*ny know something I don't? Is DH thinking of leaving me because of Sunday's unfortunate incident? I don't know. However, eHarm*ny just sent me an email that Singles are looking for me. Whoopee!

Any man who can shrug off Sunday's embarrassing moment is worth keeping.

My worst fear realized Sunday night...

2007-05-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

Sit down folks, this one's gonna be good and embarrassing, and perhaps a bit TMI...

So Sunday night DH and I were enjoying some time together after the kids were in bed. Without getting too graphic, we were *ahem* busy in bed. I noticed shortly after we started that I felt a little pressure down there; I had gas issues. I did my best to hold it in, but in a moment of weakness, it slipped out. I'd love to say that it snuck out silently, but alas, it was loud enough for DH to hear it. Of course I was so embarrassed that I began to laugh. What else could I do? I did apologize profusely to DH as soon as the giggles subsided. And I swore to him that that was the first time that had ever happened to me.

He made me feel a little better Monday when he admitted that I wasn't the first to do that to him.

Note to self: make sure to use the restroom before getting busy!

Today's ramblings

2007-05-08T21:35:00.000-05:00

As we were leaving our neighborhood to shop for DNiece's birthday present (oops, I brain farted -- her birthday is tomorrow and I had completely forgotten), I pointed out to S and A a lady walking a Yorkie. "Look at the little doggie," I said. To which S replied, "That's not a little dog; that's a TINY dog!" She had a point. LOL!

The A-Man cracks me up sometimes when he wants approval. He'll come up to me right after I've scolded one of the girls and ask me, "You happy mommy? I listen?"

His other recent funny was after he tooted. Usually if he does that, I'll ask, "What do you say?" "Scooze me." Recently he answered not with "Scooze me" but with "That wasn't me!"

And in other news around here, Miss B lost tooth number two today. She was trying to open the valve to an inflatable ball, and as she was biting on it her tooth simply fell out. So we called Daddy to let him know the exciting news. Apparently B wants to make sure Daddy sees the tooth before the Tooth Fairy comes, so we've asked her to wait a day before making her appearance.

Customer Service rave

2007-05-04T21:42:00.000-05:00

Just have to rave about my new favorite company, simplehuman. For Christmas 2005 we received the simplehuman soft touch trash can. It is stainless steel with a spring loaded top, making for easy opening.

Earlier this week one of the springs in the lid broke, rendering the top useless. I emailed simplehuman's customer service department explaining what had happened and asked how I could get a replacement lid. I received a prompt response explaining that simplehuman had improved the lid design and they would be sending me a free replacement via UPS.

The new lid arrived today, and I compared the lids and noted a substantial improvement in the construction. All I can say is that I am a very pleased customer and will be referring my friends to simplehuman.

And one thing making me VERY unhappy

2007-05-04T03:01:00.000-05:00

I just went to my online photo sharing site, clubphoto.com, only to find out that nearly two months ago, the parent company shuttered its doors. Apparently winkflash has gotten access to clubphoto's accounts, and will try to restore photos for members in about two weeks. I had an account there for over seven years, and I had many albums. I hope to hell they're able to restore my photos for me. I do have these photos somewhere on disks and/or on any of the four working computers in this house. However, having them online and in some sort of order was nice, and the ability to share them easily was great since we live so far from most of our family.

ARGH!

My productive day

2007-05-03T03:11:00.000-05:00

Little Miss S came to visit us in the middle of the night, thanks to the rain storm that woke her up. For a second night in a row I didn't sleep well.

Had to get up earlier than usual to get Miss B to the bus stop. Then had the pleasure of changing the first of the A Man's wicked nasty poopy diapers.

Got something for the little ones to eat for breakfast and popped in a DVD for them to watch. And promptly fell asleep on the couch until the DVD ended. Fed the kids more snack food and put in another DVD. Took another nap.

Let's just say that from about 8am to say 2pm all I did was check out the backs of my eyelids. They look great, by the way.

*blush*

A few things making me happy right now

2007-05-02T02:10:00.000-05:00

DH and I seem to be quite busy right now and some days it feels like we're two ships passing in the night. On Friday DH called me around lunchtime to see if I had already eaten. I hadn't. So we had a lovely lunch date at a cute local restaurant. It was so nice just being able to catch up with him. Most days we're trying to talk to each other over the kids, and it doesn't work.

DH had recently asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day. Honestly, I just wanted to sleep in or go out to eat, but not on Mother's Day with the rest of humanity. On Sunday DH suggested that I order some treats from Landi's, my favorite Italian place in Brooklyn (see link on right). To make it that much better, I had a coupon. Too bad the shipping will cost more than the food. LOL!

After she got off the school bus yesterday, B handed me a card she had made for me. It read,

"To Mom
From B

For all the hard work you have dun [sic]. I love you
so much. You have made my life cupleat [sic].

Love B"

*happy sigh*

Why Men Shouldn't Buy Baby Clothes and Dress Them

2007-04-29T10:56:00.000-05:00

I received this as an email from a friend. The clothes cracked me up and I figured I'd share the laughs.

Garage sale success

2007-04-25T23:47:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I got up at 4:45am, showered, got dressed and roused DH. We took our cars, which I had packed to the brim the previous night, to the local HS for the community garage sale. (Don't worry, we had someone watching the kids!) I located my friend who was sharing the spot with me, and DH and I parked and began unloading his car; it was 5:30. Then I got started on unpacking mine.

People started coming by checking out what we were selling, and going through items. And I began selling things at a rather brisk pace. By the time I looked at my watch, it was 7:40, and the sale didn't officially start for twenty more minutes!!

At the end of the sale, I gave a bit to the donation truck, and brought a small amount home. I tallied up the money I brought home, and determined that I made a cool $630! On Tuesday I freecycled a bunch of boxes that I had used for the sale. The woman who picked up the boxes happened to be looking for baby items for her SIL who is expecting a girl later this year. She looked at some of the things I didn't sell, and asked if she could come back the next day to pick them up as she had no cash on her. So she came by, and I made another $40. Yahoo!!

The pack rat in me thinks she could get used to selling at garage sales. Now I just need to talk my parents into having one while I'm visiting...

Fun grammar quiz

2007-03-30T10:33:00.000-05:00

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

The Tooth Fairy Cometh!

2007-03-07T22:58:00.000-06:00

About two weeks ago B came home from school and announced that she had a "wiggly" tooth. Sure enough, she showed me a loose tooth.

She gave me trouble during dinner last night because she said her tooth hurt and she couldn't eat dinner. However, she did not want me pulling the tooth out for her. It was decidedly looser than when she first showed it to me.

I called and spoke to my friend Beth at La Vie en Rose and was able to order B a Tooth Fairy Basket, which should arrive on Friday.

Of course, when I picked B up from school to take her to her Daisy meeting today, she had lost her tooth. DH went out of town today, so I asked B if she would be okay with the Tooth Fairy not taking her tooth until then so Daddy could see it. She thought that was fine. So the Tooth Fairy will hopefully bring B a little something tonight, and then take the tooth Friday night after DH gets a chance to see it.

When did my oldest become such a big girl?? It seems just yesterday I gave birth to her.

And for a repeat of last February...

2007-02-04T21:32:00.000-06:00

DH awoke yesterday feeling rather ill. And I thought back to when he was sick last February -- he was sick for the ENTIRE month!! So he comes out of our bedroom later in the day and mentions to me that it was in fact a year to the day from when he got sick. Unbelievable. We've agreed that he's going to be seen by our doctor as soon as he can tomorrow. Neither of us wants a repeat of last year, especially when he has a new boss this year. I'd also like him to get better because we're going to my HS reunion in two weeks. And the weekend after that we are flying to FL to visit his father and grandmother.

We're really worried about granny's health since her heart attack a few weeks ago. She saw her cardiologist Friday and he took her off the meds that she was put on following the heart attack and he also doubled her L*six dosage. When DH spoke to her Friday afternoon he said she sounded terrible, just like she did following her bypass surgery when her BP was very low from the meds she was taking. We're hoping she improves or at least regains the will to live, at least until we get down there. Ugh. If you're so inclined, please say a prayer for her. Thanks!

Little Darlings

2007-02-01T14:34:00.000-06:00

I had put the younger two in their rooms for naps, but they didn't want to nap or rest; they wanted to play. I figured that would be OK if they played in their own rooms. However, A went into his sister's room and started playing. Probably ten minutes later I decided to end the party and get them back to their beds.

What did I discover when I got to her room? She ran out of her vanity area and jumped on her bed. He was sitting on the vanity, with the cold water on full blast with the drain closed. The worst part about this house is that only the powder room sink has overflow drains in the sink. Water was pouring over the side of the vanity and onto the floor, through the door to her closet and the door to the toilet and tub room, and finally to B's vanity room and closet.

I may be on antidepressants that are rumored to provide a "don't give a sh*t" attitude, but, oh boy, did I care. I'm certain that people within a five mile radius of our house could hear me yelling and screaming at the kids that they don't play with water without Mommy or Daddy there. I used all the towels in the girl's linen closet plus half a dozen beach towels to dry up the spill.

He's currently asleep in his highchair and she's strapped in her booster and there they will sit until I decide that their time out has ended. Me? I'm tucked away in my bedroom at 2:30pm wondering if it is too early for a drink.

Houston, we have pee!

2007-01-31T22:28:00.000-06:00

Tonight A wanted to sit on the potty as I was changing his diaper for bed. So I brought him in and sat him down on the toilet. I wasn't expecting anything to happen until I saw the stream hitting the floor. I helped him hold his p*nis down so the rest would go in the toilet and then I cheered and gave him a high five. His sisters were called in to congratulate him as well, and daddy was called, since he was on his way home.

Wahoo! Can the end of diapers in this house be in sight??

The clouds parted, the heavens smiled

2007-01-25T22:37:00.000-06:00

and Houston had SUN today! Woohoo!!!

In other news, it was the 100th day of school today for B. She was so excited yesterday when we got her outfit together. She wore a pink and black leopard print dress, and chose her pink sparkly shoes to go with it. However, this morning she felt they were too loose and wore her black patent leather Mary Janes. Did I mention how excited she was? She came downstairs this morning fully dressed in her outfit (tights and all), and was looking for her reading glasses (on the old lady hanging chain, of course) and her white wig.

And we took full advantage of the gorgeous weather this afternoon and spent two hours outside playing. Ah, bliss.

Now if only A would stay in bed once I tucked him in. I swear I'm trying Supernanny's method of not talking to him and repeatedly putting him back in his bed, but it gets tiring after doing it for 30 minutes like I did last night. Tonight's session lasted probably 20 minutes, but I had to get back in bed and snuggle with him before he finally stayed. Not that I mind, but it really makes the bedtime routine LONG when I have to do that for each of them.

Oh well, less than 72 hours till DH returns...

When it rains it pours

2007-01-24T10:39:00.000-06:00

First, there's the lovely Texas weather. Apparently this winter we are going to enjoy monsoon season. Sunday was the first sunny day in about two weeks. Since then we've had more rain, and I believe we will be getting rain all. week. long.

I'm so damn tired of rain. Perhaps I should start building my ark...

Let's discuss how my week is going.

Friday morning we akoke to a cold house; the downstairs heater wasn't working. This didn't surprise DH and me because when I woke up at 3am, I could smell burning plastic. An olfactory inspection of the house didn't pinpoint the cause at that point. We called the warranty company at 9am and they placed a service request for us. Then we waited for the repair company to call and let us know when they could come by. Saturday between 12 and 3pm. Great. Lucky for us we have a fireplace and DH put that on to heat up the downstairs. Once the kids were home from school I kept them outside for a while so they'd stay away from the fire while it heated the house.

After the repairmen replaced the blower motor and limit switch on the heater Saturday, DH took B to see "Night at the Museum" again. While DH and B were at the movies I got a call from FIL. He was calling to let us know that DH's grandmother was in the hospital. She was having trouble breathing Friday night, so she sat up in a chair all night, instead of telling FIL. Once he woke up Saturday and found her, he said she needed to go to the hospital. FIL called her doctor and he agreed as well, and told grandmother that. Once DH arrived home, I told him the news and had him call his father.

DH had to leave very early Sunday morning on a business trip to Florida. His meeting started at 1pm and went until 8pm. He has each day planned from 7a to 8p every day through Thursday's close of the meeting. Which means I don't have many opportunities to talk to him.

S had an accident and made it to the bathroom but not onto the potty that morning. Then A leaked through his diaper. It was a hectic morning as I cleaned up the younger two and the bathroom, shuttled B to CCD and back, and got myself ready for my meeting that afternoon.

Sunday was a glorious day, sunny and warm. I had a sorority meeting at a restaurant in Houston, and I was pleased to sit with my back to the window. I swear I could feel the Vitamin D coursing through my body as the sun shone on my back.

Sunday afternoon the kids and I spoke to DH's grandmother, who started the conversation sounding tired but grew more animated as the conversation went on. The doctors admitted her to the hospital Saturday and put her on a heart monitor, gave her an ECG (or something), put her on Pl*vix, and diagnosed her as having congestive heart failure and a mild heart attack. She told me she was scheduled for a coronary catheterization Monday morning. I called DH's voicemail and let him know the update.

Monday was a Monday. It started as the kids woke up and came to my room. I noticed it was cool and confirmed that as the thermostat read lower than where it should have been. I set the temp higher, heard the thermostat click on, but the heat never came on. Great. WTF?! Then B got up ten minutes before we usually leave for the bus. She hurried to get dressed, but as we left the house the bus was going down the street. So we walked to a later bus stop where she was picked up. As the morning progressed, so did the Monday blahs. S and A didn't want to go to school and fought me on it. Meanwhile my wireless link to our printer wouldn't work, and I couldn't print the newsletter for B's school. I spent over an hour trying to reload the software so I could connect my laptop to the printer and get it to print. We wound up late to S and A's school and late dropping off the newsletter. Then I called the warranty company to let them know the heat wasn't working again. Luckily the CSR said we wouldn't be charged for the call. No kidding. I hadn't planned on paying them to fix a job that was supposedly fixed less than two days prior! The repairman showed up at 3:30 and was in the house for maybe 2 minutes. It turned out that the men Saturday did not tape the access panels shut, and there is some type of pressure switch that won't allow the unit to run without the panels on properly. Once he taped the panels, the unit worked perfectly. And yes, we had more rain. DH and I spoke later that day after he heard from his father. It turns out his grandmother has blockages in two of her three bypasses. They couldn't check the other one because of the leaky valve there. And her other artery has two small blockages. The doctors said that due to granny's age (92), they will not operate on her, but will treat the blockages with medication. From what FIL and granny told DH, they won't put in a stent because it could collapse the one artery she still has, effectively killing her immediately.

Yesterday we had more rain. However the highlight of the day was seeing my dad. He had flown in overnight on his way to AZ, and was bringing my grandmother's china which my aunt and cousin had asked for when we were cleaning out grandmother's house. I took B to the bus stop and then put on the Backyardigans for S and A while I hopped in the shower. As I was rinsing my hair, A came in the bathroom saying "Yucky, mommy. Look!" I looked at him holding up his dirty diaper!! ACK! I hopped out of the shower, threw my robe on and grabbed the dirty diaper from him. After the offensive diaper was in the diaper genie, I took him in the shower with me. Once we were all clean, we headed to the airport at the south end of town. Dad was about an hour late, so the kids and I watched planes take off and land while we waited. Once Bampa was finished, we got the china off the plane and went to the hotel so he could check in. The rest of the crew followed us to the hotel. We took Bampa back to our house to hang out, eat and wait for B to get done with school. The five of us headed out to a local Mexican place for dinner, and the kids were really acting up. B was mouthing off about where her food was, meanwhile we hadn't even ordered! Then A managed to throw half his dinner on the floor. And S was helping Bampa make his fajitas by adding her chicken nuggets or chips to them. I don't know whose children they were, but my kids are usually much better behaved in public. After dinner we took Bampa back to his hotel and we went home to bed. I spoke to my mom and DH after that.

DH and SIL don't like the answers that FIL and granny are giving them about the course of treatment. Since granny and FIL are in Florida, as is DH at the moment, DH has decided to fly over to where they are. He is going to fly there after his meeting ends tomorrow and spend the weekend and SIL is also planning on flying down for the weekend. They will be able to ask the tough questions of the doctors as they are concerned that FIL and granny are afraid to question the doctors.

So I get three more days by myself with the kids. I sure hope it stops raining because we're all tired of being cooped up. And I know everyone else will be taking their kids to the indoor play areas around town. Bah!

Are you a Yankee or a Rebel?

2007-01-18T22:36:00.000-06:00

Courtesy of my friend Kim, here's a dialect test you can take to determine how far north or south of the Mason-Dixon line your speech favors.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

Not surprisingly, my results were 33% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

Here is the link to the advanced test:
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest_advanced.html

And again, the results were just as I expected -- 15% Dixie. Wow! You are a Duke of Yankeedom!

I'm interested in seeing what DH's results are. He was born in New England but raised in Texas. I already know that what I call a "pillbug" he calls a "roly-poly". When we visit his grandmother in Rhode Island we drink cabinets.

His results: Part I: 55% Dixie. Barely in Dixie.
Part II: 44% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

At least I know that living in Texas for over a year hasn't worn off on me. LOL!

Ice + Houston = Closures

2007-01-17T20:54:00.000-06:00

So all three kids didn't have school due to cancellations. The day consisted of the kids trashing the house. This pic is of our patio table and chairs covered with icicles.

Here are the few highlights: My little man, the two year old A, is showing interest in the potty. So this afternoon he wanted to sit on the potty, and actually brought reading material with him. Like father, like son. LOL!

And three year old S has decided to nap only after she changes clothes. Yesterday's choice was jeans, a turtleneck, t-shirt, and sweater. At least all the tops were pink. Today's choice? A Del Sol t-shirt and a pink grass skirt. ROFL!

This inspired B to change into her grass skirt and do the hula on the stairs. However, I missed getting her pic today.

Where exactly am I?!

2007-01-16T22:38:00.000-06:00

I was under the impression that moving to the South, and Texas in particular, would mean mild winters. Seems that I should have stayed in the northeast this winter. They're enjoying unseasonably warm weather, and we're having an ice storm. Nearly the entire late news broadcast was dedicated to the weather -- road conditions, road and school closures, weather. A welcome change from sports. LOL!

The best description of Texas weather is one I heard late this afternoon -- Texas weather is one of extremes. When it's hot, you can't breathe. When it rains, it floods. And when it's cold, we get ice.

Stay warm everyone!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled boring read.

2007-01-16T22:29:00.000-06:00

Thank you for your patience.

We are experiencing technical difficulties.

2007-01-12T10:15:00.000-06:00

Please stand by.

I never hated New Year's Eve until I moved here.

2007-01-01T00:29:00.000-06:00

This is my second New Year's Eve down here and there is one thing that bugs the shit out of me. Fireworks! Nearly every shopping center has a trailer parked in it starting Thanksgiving weekend and it remains there until New Year's. These trailers are packed with the latest and greatest pyrotechnics idiots can buy. And buy they do. I've been sitting here for hours listening to firecrackers, M-80s, and all sorts of other bottle rockets going off. And it wouldn't suck so bad if DD2 wasn't scared shitless of thunder AND firecrackers.

Right after she went to bed, some idiot on the next street set off what must have been a case of firecrackers. No lie, the things were going off for at least 2 minutes straight!! And DD was hysterical crying and there was no way for us to console her.

I am currently awaiting the latest cacophony to awaken her. Would it be a bad thing if I wished that some idiot here blew off his/her hand while lighting these evil noisemakers?!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T00:23:00.000-06:00

I hope 2007 is a terrific year for everyone. For me, I hope to develop some closer friendships down here. I have a wall full of Christmas cards we've received, but I'm still reeling from the loss of my friends this fall. I'm also going to make taking care of myself a priority; I'm going to lose weight, get fit, and look great. Heck, I can't be all flabby when DH takes me to the tropics in 8 weeks! LOL! And I'm really going to try to be more patient with my kids, and keep the house neat and decluttered.

Let's see if I can make it more than one week with those goals...

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

2006-12-13T14:10:00.000-06:00

This is going to be a crazy few weeks here. We've got company coming for a week, a 2+ week long school break, and a major deadline for me. I'm helping out on the yearbook committee for B's school, and I've got to have the kindy montage pages finished before mid-January. So I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. Whatever you celebrate, I hope it is great. I'll see you around.

Here are the kids with Santa.

We call this one "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" though it should really be "The Ugly, The Bad, and The Good" because of the kids' faces. LOL!

And the ubiquitous family shot.

What bet did his parents lose?

2006-12-10T23:12:00.000-06:00

I'm currently watching a late night episode of Jeopardy and one of the contestant's first names is Lizard. I kid you not.

What a nightmare

2006-12-09T15:08:00.000-06:00

Tis the season. I found my more precious decorations, which were stored in the house, yesterday and continued decorating for the holidays. As I decorated the tree, I thought about the ornaments as I put them on the tree. There was the mirrored cowboy hat, which I received the year I was pg with S. The person who gave it to me was a Texan and member of the expecting board I was on. Then I unpacked the ornaments I received in 2003, 2004 and 2005 from that same board's ornament exchange. I thought back fondly on all the memories of these wonderful ladies, our laughs and our tears. And again it hit me. I am sad and lonely. And I cried.

I moved here, away from my friends, voluntarily over a year ago. Since then, I've managed to lose nearly every single one of my online friends. I've been dealing with this sense of loss and isolation for a few months now, but the feeling has become particularly acute now.

To make matters worse, DS is sick. He's wheezing and coughing. Last night we pulled out the big guns and started giving him xopenex in the nebulizer. He got nebbed right before bed and went down easily. However, about 4 hours later, he got up and was roaming the halls upstairs. DH got him settled back in bed, where he stayed for maybe an hour before he visited us. This time I took him back upstairs and tried to sleep with him for about two hours. However, between his fever and the coughing, I could tell he wasn't getting any rest and neither was I. At 4am, I gave up, took him downstairs and gave him more motrin, cough medicine and another neb treatment. Then I put him back in his bed and went to cuddle with B, who had come down and asked me to snuggle with her.

It was during the time I was with B, between 5 and 9am, that I had the nightmare. During the last two weeks I have called my parents and have had trouble reaching them; either they're out, Mom is working late, or other excuses. The last time they were this evasive was when Mom was diagnosed with bre*st cancer and didn't want to tell my grandmother or me until after our birthdays. In my nightmare we were visiting my parents, who were acting a little strange. I kept prodding them to tell me what was wrong, when they finally admitted that my grandmother had died. They didn't want to upset me before the trip north, so they didn't tell me until I had arrived. If I remember the dream correctly, my trip was scheduled about a week after her passing, so they didn't tell me, held the funeral without me, and then I arrived. I was so upset and hurt.

So here I am, still upset by this dream. The irony of me being deceived with respect to what happened to my online friends has not gone unnoticed, and I've been reflecting about that a great deal today. Meanwhile, not a day goes by that I don't think of them, wonder how they are, and wish I hadn't hurt them.

I've got to call my folks and check on Granny.

Curled up in a corner crying

2006-12-07T22:57:00.000-06:00

Last night was B's investiture ceremony for her Daisy troop. At her last meeting, she learned a song and some choreography to perform during the ceremony. Although I'm pretty shy around new people, I always enjoyed performing in front of an audience. Likewise, DH is one hell of a performer, being a music major, and has no problem standing in front of a crowd and teaching or performing. So where did Miss B get her stage fright? As the ceremony was about to begin, I realized that B was not in her spot nor was she anywhere in the room. I searched the church annex for her and found her curled up in a corner crying and sucking her thumb. She does NOT suck her thumb! She was quite nervous, but Miss Rosie, her leader, was able to convince B to stay in the front of the room, but stand behind her.

Once B was comfortable with that idea, the ceremony began, and it went wonderfully. Miss Chris, the other co-leader, and I began the ceremony by introducing the idea of Daisies exploring the world of Girl Scouts, and who Juliette Gordon Low was. Then Miss Rosie said her part, about the Girl Scout law, and each girl affixed their colored petal to the Daisy center Miss Rosie was holding. Then each girl recited the part of the Girl Scout Law for which their color represented. (There are 10 parts and ten colored petals; green stands for I promise to use resources wisely.) Following that, they recited the Girl Scout Promise, and then they performed their little song and dance. They were all so proud of themselves and they should be for the great jobs they did. B managed to recite her part of the law, but didn't want to perform the song and dance.

Just watch, I bet the kid goes into theater! LOL!

Lollipop

2006-12-06T21:38:00.000-06:00

As I was putting S, the 3 year old, to bed tonight, we talked about Santa. We sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring her. She told me she wanted a new big girl bed. I explained that I didn't think he'd be doing that since she got a big girl bed for her birthday this summer. Then she told me that she really wanted a crib and that she really wanted to sleep in her crib and not her big girl bed. So I dutifully explained to her that she was a big girl and had outgrown her crib and that is why she's in a big girl bed.

"You're a big girl," I said.

"No I'm not," she replied, "I'm a lollipop."

More proof

2006-12-05T13:26:00.000-06:00

Now the heater for the upstairs isn't working, and hasn't been all day. And, best of all, the repair company can't be out here until tomorrow morning...

Cosmic karma

2006-12-04T20:07:00.000-06:00

I'm sure I deserved it. The final night of FIL's and grandMIL's visit, our plumbing backed up. At 11pm DH and I discovered sh!t, water, and toilet paper floating in our shower pan. Four hours of furious plunging and two bottles of Drano later, we cried uncle and awaited the morning's arrival so we could get a plumber to snake the lines.

Then over the weekend B, the eldest, called to us to come upstairs. She wanted us to know that the younger two were playing in the toilet and drinking the water. DH had gone to see what B wanted, and put the little ones in time out for playing in the toilet. He told me that S said she had peed in the toilet, but he thought that she had flushed before they started playing in it. Of course that makes it only slightly less repulsive.

Fast forward to this afternoon while B was on the phone with my parents. I heard the little ones playing in S's room, and I went to investigate. I discovered S next to the toilet after having peed in it, while A had his fingers in his mouth, and a water stained shirt. I had just caught him red handed playing in the toilet. After washing off his hands and face, he got a time out. And I thanked God that S had decided to wait to poop, which she did while I washed her brother's hands.

I don't know how to make the toilet less attractive as a playground. Any advice for that would be greatly appreciated.

Meanwhile, I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve this sh!t, but clearly I earned it.

It's been a long time

2006-12-02T22:16:00.000-06:00

since I moved from Brooklyn to the suburbs. Almost 30 years, in fact. I'm certain I was living there when I last heard about this crime, although I think it was portrayed in "National Lampoon's Vacation".

This morning the phone rang at 8:30 and I figured it might be one of our east coast relatives calling. Nope, it was one of the guys who works for DH. I passed the phone to DH and listened to his half of the call:

"What?! Oh my God!"
"I'm not sure, but I think...I'm pretty sure insurance will cover it."

I imagined that the guy had been in a car accident. When DH hung up I asked him what had happened.

Imagine my surprise when he said that "John" just found his car on blocks. And I thought back to the last time I had heard of anyone having their tires stolen. DH then told me that at John's apartment complex his car and the car two spots over had both been put up on blocks. Since both were relatively new cars, it seems clear that someone had been casing the lot.

When was the last time you heard of this crime?!

Wonder Pets! Wonder Pets! We're on our way...

2006-10-31T23:22:00.000-06:00

to help a friend and save the day. We're not too big and we're not too tough, but when we work together we've got the right stuff. Go Wonder Pets! YAY!

The kids went trick or treating as the Wonder Pets for Halloween today. I spent last Saturday morning sewing A's Linny the guinea pig costume from some faux fur and was quite proud of how it came out. And this being Texas, one never knows what the weather will be for Halloween. Last year it was rainy and cool. This year, it was a steambath. When we took the kids out tonight, it had to be nearly 80 degrees with 80% humidity. Gross! Needless to say, he didn't wear it. I had imagined that it would be cool tonight, so I had purchased pajamas that would coordinate with the kids' costumes. So A's costume wound up being his camoflage pajamas as a stand in for the fur costume. For those who had no clue who the Wonder Pets are, A became "Camo Boy" and B was "Tuck the Ninja Turtle", S was just a cute duckling.

I'm proud of how their costumes came together; DH and I think they were darn cute. If only A had cooperated for pictures, so I could better show them off...

At least the costume search is finished for next year -- I've already got the Monsters Inc. costumes waiting for them!

Recent Highs and Lows

2006-10-29T11:36:00.000-06:00

Biggest low: gas prices here. I just paid $1.989 for gas! Yippee!

Next biggest low: I'm working on a full week of being sick. It had been sinus congestion but now it is becoming an upper respiratory infection or bronchitis. Great.

And the next: a friend was in town last week visiting family and we had hoped to get together. However, her kids were getting over being sick, and with me as ill as I was, we didn't get a chance to see each other. I'm bummed.

Highs: I finished sewing A's Halloween costume yesterday morning. Now all I have to do is cut out the Wonder Pets logos and iron them on to the kids' capes. My three kids are going as the Wonder Pets. B is Tuck the turtle, S is Ming Ming duckling, and A will be Linny the guinea pig. That is, if he keeps his costume on. Hope it doesn't rain like it did last year on Halloween.

Another high: I'm manic about getting this house in order. Even with being as sick as I am, I'm working to get the darn place in some kind of order. The workmen who repaired our water damage moved all the crap around in our bedroom, so I have no idea where anything is. I'm on a mission to get it all unpacked, sorted and put away. Meanwhile, I also need to get the boxes out of our one coat closet, because they are blocking the "Texas basement" (storage under the stairs). That is where I hope to stash the wrapped Christmas presents.

Just one more (possible) high: I hope to get some time this week to post again to my old mommy board. I've been laying low for over a month since some ugly stuff went down and I hope that they'll allow me to return.

So sad

2006-10-17T21:16:00.000-05:00

A 16 yr old boy was shot and killed at a local high school today. There are conflicting reports, but it sounds like it was a suicide, since there was a note. How terribly sad. I pray for him, his family, friends and schoolmates.

Wish us luck!

2006-10-02T12:08:00.000-05:00

We're about to reformat our computer. Hope we do it right!

Edited to note that the damn thing wouldn't let us reformat the hard drive. Must attempt to uninstall a service pack and then see where that takes us. Meanwhile, I really can't not have internet access, since I am responsible for preparing the elementary school's newsletter, and most of the work is done via emails. Maybe next week...

Blondie, this one's for you.

2006-09-20T11:57:00.001-05:00

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that, in being made, actually causes itself to become true. Although examples of self-fulfilling prophecies can be found in human literature as far back as ancient Greece, it is 20th century sociologist Robert K. Merton who is credited with coining the expression "self-fulfilling prophecy" and formalising its structure and consequences. In his book Social Theory and Social Structure, Merton gives the following definition:

The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come true.[1]

In other words, a false prophetic statement may affect humans (through fear or logical confusion) to take actions that will ultimately result in fulfillment of the prophecy.
Taken from wikipedia

Since I'm on a roll...

2006-09-15T22:15:00.000-05:00

First, I found out last night that my father's dear friend had passed away. Apparently my dad had been thinking a lot about him this month, and called him on Tuesday. He never married and lived alone. A woman answered the phone. My dad asked if he had reached Dick's apartment. The woman said yes, but that he had died that morning. So sad. My parents are at the wake tonight and will be at the funeral tomorrow.

Second, I never had grandfathers. Both had passed before I was born. So when I married DH, I got both a grandmother and a grandfather in the deal. Six years ago, Granddaddy had bypass surgery; this was around the time that B was born. He never fully recovered from the surgery but was able to be home to recuperate. We brought B up to Rhode Island to meet her great grandparents in early August. Granddaddy's leg wounds were weeping, and he was half the man he had been the year before. All he did was sit in his recliner and stare at the ocean. He had no energy, no appetite; nothing. He was doing poorly during our visit, and was rushed to the ICU the day after we returned home. So we drove back to RI from PA. Once it seemed that he was stable, we returned home on a Friday or Saturday because we had B's christening scheduled for that Sunday. Grandaddy's kidneys were failing and he was receiving dialysis. He was transferred from the local hospital to Beth Israel in Boston. In early September he was moved to a nursing home while he convalesced. Six years ago today his sons were en route to Boston to meet with the nursing home staff. He was not going to be able to stay there, and Granny, my FIL and DH's uncle were going to determine where Granddaddy was going to go. He wanted to be home in RI, looking out at the ocean from his recliner. However, before his family arrived at the nursing home, Granddaddy slipped away, making the decision himself.

B had just turned three months old and DH was on his way home from a business trip to Ohio. He called me from the road to see if I had heard anything about Granddaddy. I lied and said no because I was worried he'd be so upset he'd have an accident. As it turned out, he had gotten a speeding ticket in western PA; he was eager to get home and see his little punkin. Worse than receiving the news from Granny's sister was having to tell DH. That just broke my heart. Granddaddy was a US Army veteran, and DH played Taps at the funeral. I don't know how he did it, but he did, and it was beautiful.

Rest in peace Granddaddy on your sixth anniversary. And rest in peace Dick.

Another 9/11 story

2006-09-13T22:34:00.000-05:00

At just before 9am my father was sitting in the cockpit of a small jet, awaiting clearance from the tower to take off. From the tarmac my dad had a view of lower Manhattan. When he noticed that there was smoke coming from 1WTC, he radioed the tower asking if they knew what was going on. The tower responded that a plane had hit the tower. My dad sat in the cockpit in disbelief. How could anyone miss the Twin Towers on such a clear day?

Right around 9am he received clearance to take off. Shortly after take off, my father looked over at the WTC, which from his vantage point, looked like one tower. At that moment, he saw the fireball that was the plane hitting 2WTC. He wondered how a small plane (as he and the tower crew believed it was a small plane that caused the fire) could cause such a huge fire. Shortly thereafter, his flight was grounded at an airport just north of NYC. By the time he was on the ground, the towers were gone.

He and the rest of his crew were able to rent a car and drove back to the airport in NJ and then he returned home.

Years later I was sitting in the family room with my parents watching A&E's "Flight 93". My father got pissed when they showed the terrorists storming the cockpit, and he left the room.

I cannot imagine what went through my father's mind on September 11th and the days that followed, after learning what had happened. In the mid-80's my father left his job working on the 70th floor of 2WTC (the south tower) to follow his dream of flying. He became a pilot full time, not just flying for the military. If he hadn't become a pilot full time, would he still have been working at the WTC? What if he had gotten a pilot job with another company? These are sobering thoughts for me.

Brief moment of silence

2006-09-11T09:30:00.000-05:00

in honor of Chris, who is believed to have been in the North Tower, and most likely perished five years ago this minute.

Songs I heard a lot then

2006-09-11T08:54:00.000-05:00

Superman, by Five for Fighting

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find
The better part of me

I’m more than a bird...i’m more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It’s not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd...but don’t be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but won’t you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It’s not easy to be me

Up, up and away...away from me
It’s all right...you can all sleep sound tonight
I’m not crazy...or anything...

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
Men weren’t meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I’m only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me
Inside me
Yeah, inside me
Inside of me

I’m only a man
In a funny red sheet
I’m only a man
Looking for a dream

I’m only a man
In a funny red sheet
And it’s not easy, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm...

Its not easy to be me

And of course,

God Bless the USA, by Lee Greenwood

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

This is one I wish I had heard more, because I felt it symbolized what I felt:

Fragile, by Sting

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are

Five years later: memories and tributes

2006-09-11T02:38:00.000-05:00

Me: It was a beautiful morning. I remember that the lead story on the Today show was Michael Jordan coming out of retirement. DH and I got B dressed and then the three of us headed out to work/school. B and I were listening to my favorite NY radio station, WPLJ, as we always did, during the hour long commute to my office in central NJ. I dropped her off at her room at daycare, and left the daycare center. As I walked out, I took a deep breath, and looked at the sky. The weather was amazing -- the sky was a bright blue, and there were no clouds in the sky, and the temperature was perfect, not too hot, not too cool. It was a beautiful day, and it was a shame that I'd be spending it in the office.

It was a brief, half mile drive from the center's building to my office. In the two of three minutes of that trip, I heard the DJ's talking about something strange with the traffic reporter. They were describing something about a plane and a building. They had a TV on, perhaps Channel 7 (ABC) since the traffic reporter did the live traffic reports for Good Morning America as well. As I was putting it all together and realizing that they were talking about a plane hitting a building, I heard them on the radio. They were describing seeing the plane hit the WTC. At first they thought it was a replay, but then realized it was a second jet. Todd Pettingill said, "That was no accident." My mind reeled.

I parked my car and hurried into my building as quickly as I could. As I passed my coworker Cindy, I said, "Horrible day." Once at my desk, I logged on to my computer and tried to get onto msnbc.com or cnn.com. Also, I turned on the radio, and tried to get one of the two local NJ stations that we received inside our brick fortress of an office. Reception for NJ101.5 was best, so that's what we listened to all day. They had callers calling in from everywhere with eyewitness accounts. The worst one was the sound byte they repeated all day long, of a caller witnessing the collapse of the south tower. It took a while before I realized it was the same sound byte; I kept thinking other buildings were collapsing.

I called my mom at her office, but was told that she was at a doctor's appointment. So I called my parents' house and reached my grandmother. She hadn't seen the news, so I told her to ignore my ranting. She didn't know where my father was, so I gave up calling people for the time being. Once we heard that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and that rumors were flying that cars were exploding in the Pentagon parking lots, I decided to call my aunt in northern Virginia. My uncle was working at the time for a government agency, and I feared for his safety and also that of my two cousins, who also worked for government agencies or contractors. I was able to reach my aunt, who hadn't heard from my uncle. She said that his office had an emergency procedure in place, where the employees would be taken to a safe area in case of emergency. We assumed that was where he went. To this day I haven't found out where he did go. My one cousin left her office in NoVA for her boyfriend's apartment, since it was in a much safer area. My other cousin and I were in email contact throughout the day and I begged her to leave her office ASAP. Finally she left and arrived at her home safely.

Photo of my co-worker's daughter Alisa. The TV in our cafeteria was playing CNN. The headline read "America Under Attack." I was asked my my coworker Melissa to wait to go to lunch and cover her phone. Her eldest daughter worked in the World Financial Center, and had called Melissa right after the first plane hit. She was just coming out from the subway when the plane hit, and debris fell all around her. In order to appease her mother's fears, Alisa called her mother to say she was alright, in case she had already heard about the accident. While they were on the phone, the second plane hit, and Alisa was pelted with rubble. She screamed and her phone went dead. Melissa wanted to see the TV coverage in the cafeteria, but needed someone to watch her phone, and I happily agreed. Alisa didn't call, but a friend of hers did, and I was thrilled to receive the call. Alisa had been at his place, and was headed uptown. She was safe.

My boss, whose birthday was the previous day, and a few other people huddled around my desk to listen to the radio. My boss' husband was a private pilot. I think she shared the same personal horror that I did. My father is a pilot. What would you do to prevent someone from taking over your cockpit or your aircraft? I believe in my heart that the flight crews fought to the death to protect their passengers and aircraft. I shed a tear for the passengers, and for those office workers. I was certain in those early moments that the death toll would be in the tens of thousands.

I grabbed some lunch in the cafeteria, and watched the replay of the fall of the towers. I hadn't beleived when Cindy and Melissa told me that there was nothing left. How certain I was that only the top floors had collapsed onto the areas below where the planes had hit. I was down in the cafeteria with Cyndy that I used to work with; we watched in stunned silence. "All those people who didn't make it out," I said, trying to cry, but unable to.

DH called me and I made some lame excuse about being afraid to cross the bridges back into PA. I was going to my parents' house for the night. Honestly, I didn't want to be further from NYC than I had to be, nor did I want to watch some idiots from Philly talk to me about what was going on in My City. As we were talking, DH mentioned Chris. Chris who? I wondered. DH reminded me that his BIL's brother, Chris, was a firefighter and worked building collapses and rescues. That was his specialty. Was Chris OK? Surely he had been called. Surely he was there. Surely he'd be alright.

I finally couldn't take it at work any longer. My best friend was temping for a department at the other end of my office complex. Her EMS unit had been called up to go to Liberty State Park and await casualties. I told her to be careful and that I loved her. The bridges to NYC were closed; traffic was becoming a nightmare. As was usual for my conservative company, once the roads were closed due to flooding or snow, that's when they'd close the office. So once interstate travel became impossible, they allowed employees living in NY to leave. And then they let the rest of us leave as well. I walked out of the office to a silent world. Instead of hearing traffic, or seeing airplanes heading to Philly or Newark, I heard only birds. It was surreal to hear only nature, and it was to be that way for days to come.

I picked up B at the day care center and then headed to my parents' house where I immediately put the TV on Channel 7 (ABC) in NY, as I preferred them to the other two channels (Channel 2 - CBS and Channel 4 - NBC). Channel 4 (NBC) had lost their antenna, and was off the air, so the Philly affiliate was broadcasting in their stead. I thanked God that B was young enough that she wouldn't remember seeing the footage that was replayed endlessly.

Once my father arrived home, I greeted him at the door. I can still remember how he greeted me: "Helluva world to be raising kids, huh?" I firmly resolved to raise B, and any other children we'd have, as loving accepting people.

I cried myself to sleep, and awoke the next morning to another beautiful day. For one brief, shining moment, as I fully awakened, I believed it was all a terrible dream. But then the horror and dread returned. Of course it had happened. Otherwise, B and I would have spent the night at our own home.

--more to come tomorrow--

Photo of Chris, DH's BIL's brother, a firefighter who perished on Sept. 11, 2001. He was a 20 year veteran of the FDNY and was highly decorated.

The next visit with the parents

2006-09-10T23:02:00.000-05:00

The week following my parents' hit and run visit was an awkward one for us as a family. I had to relearn how to talk to them because the cancer had quickly built a wall between all of us.

We invited my parents to come over so we could head to the local base for an airshow the weekend following the cancer announcement. We took B, who was nearly 15 months old at the time, knowing that she'd enjoy seeing the airplanes. Traffic was crazy, so we wound up missing most of the show. Ultimately, we parked on the highway outside the base and watched the show from there. It was great because when the Blue Angels flew, they flew right over us.

That was Sunday, September 9, 2001. Who knew that the world as we knew it would change in 48 hours...

The rug pulled out from beneath me

2006-09-03T22:50:00.000-05:00

That's what it felt like five years ago. I had days ago celebrated my birthday by going to the US Open with DH and MIL. We spent the night at my parents' house and then went back to our homes in PA the follwoing day. That was a strange Saturday as DH and I awoke in my parents house. My parents were out, and no one seemed to know where they were or when they were coming back. However, it seemed like something was off...

It was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend 2001 and my parents called and said they were in the area. Could they stop by? Of course, I said. So they stopped by and I got them drinks in the kitchen. I forget where DH and my dad went, but finally, it was just mom and I in the kitchen. We were standing there when mom mentioned something about my jeans. "You know those jeans we gave you? They're not so great after all." I stood there wondering WTF she was talking about. My parents didn't give me jeans for my birthday... As I stood there trying to figure out what she was talking about, my mom then blurted out the punchline: "I have breast cancer."

And thus, the rug was pulled out from beneath me.

Mom hastily explained that the lump she found the year before, and had had biopsied the year before, shortly before eldest DD was born, which then was benign, was now cancerous. A second biopsy performed in August confirmed the malignancy. I felt myself falling into a deep black pit, feeling much like Alice in Wonderland tumbling into the Rabbit's hole.

And as quickly as they arrrived, my parents left. DH was surprised that they didn't stay for dinner, and was even more surprised when I told him why they stopped by. It was a hit and run. My wonderful life was now out of control.

2996: Tribute to 9/11 victims

2006-08-28T21:51:00.000-05:00

There are only two weeks until the fifth anniversary of the terrible September 11th attacks. There is a blog project, called 2996 (the number of victims), where one can sign up and be assigned a victim to honor on September 11th. Only 3 names remain. Who will you pay tribute to?

Funniest thing my eldest said today

2006-07-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

After spending the afternoon at the pool at MIL's community, MIL and her fiance decided to take the kids and me out to dinner. She wanted to try a new Texas steakhouse, but the wait was 85 minutes. That would've meant that we'd be seated around 8pm, which is usually when my kids are in bed. So we opted to see if Outback's wait was less. Indeed, their wait was only 20 minutes so we headed there.

While we were eating our entrees, eldest DD, asked MIL, "Gram, when you were a litte little girl, were there dinosaurs?"

I just about died laughing, and had to really concentrate on cutting my prime rib, while MIL choked and then laughed at the question. She nicely responded that no, there were no dinosaurs around when she was little. I suggested to eldest that she perhaps ask her Great Granny the next time we see her if she remembers if dinosaurs roamed the earth when she was little.

Of course, poor fiance did not hear the question, so MIL repeated it for him. He got a chuckle out of it too. And me, drinking only a seltzer with lemon, and probably needing to kiss MIL's ass, in case we need babysitting at all during our visit north, decided not to make any snide remarks about the possibility of fiance living with dinosaurs, since he is a full ten years older than MIL.

I always say that when the kids say or do something like this, I owe them money. I guess I'm going to have to put $100 in her account for this gem! LOL!

Six years ago today...

2006-06-13T22:13:00.000-05:00

I woke up when DH got ready for work. He had an appointment out of his office, which was unusual for him at that company. Before he left, he leaned into my belly and said, "Come to the light." I, of course, got annoyed because I wanted my pre-birth maternity leave to last as long as possible.

I was hanging out in bed, watching some TV, and fiddling around on my laptop. One of my coworkers had emailed me asking me if there was any news. I responded that no, there was nothing to tell. Someone was very happy to stay where s/he was. Then I worked on a 360 review of my boss. As I was sitting up in bed, I stifled a sneeze, and felt a sensation like I had just peed a little. Except I knew I hadn't just lost control of my bladder. I ran to the bathroom, cupping myself, and relieved myself. However, once I had finished peeing, there was still water dripping into the toilet. My worst fear has just been confirmed. My stifled sneeze had caused my water to break.

As any self respecting woman would do at that point, I jumped in the shower and made myself presentable. I didn't want to look terrible in the post-birth photos. LOL! At this point, I have to thank my friend Courtney for giving me a package of Poise pads for my 30th birthday. They came in handy during the time before I got to my hospital room. DH called after I got out of the shower. He was checking in on me while he was on his way back to the office. I told him he should probably stop at Circuit City to pick up some videotapes for our videocamera and come home because I thought my water had broken. His practically squealed, "Really?!" Then we said our I love yous and he then called his mother. MIL worked at the same office that DH did, so then the family phone tree was put into action and EVERYONE knew. Meanwhile, I still wasn't convinced that I was in labor, and hadn't wanted DH's coworkers and family to know just yet, in case I had only peed my pants.

After I was dressed and made up, I called my mom but she was at lunch. I called my parents' house and spoke to my dad. I told him that I thought my water had broken and I'd be heading to the OB's office when DH arrived home. Dad congratulated me and told me he loved me. He'd round up my mom and grandma and would meet us at the hospital. I then wolfed down a HUGE bowl of Cheerios, knowing that they wouldn't allow me to eat anything before delivering. Meanwhile, every so often I had water leaking from me. In hindsight, I realize that I was having contractions I couldn't feel and that was why I was periodically leaking fluid.

When DH arrived home, we loaded our bags in the car, and I put some mail in the mailbox. The neighbor across the street was in her driveway so we waved to her as we pulled away. She was the last persone we saw in the neighborhood. I considered asking DH to stop at McDonald's since it was on the way. However, it was on the other side of the road, I had just eaten Cheerios, and I hate vomiting and wanted to avoid doing so. We stopped at the OB's office and the rather stern woman doctor in the practice saw me. As I lay back on the table for her to examine me, I leaked what felt like a lot of fluid. She didn't even need to take a peek. She just said, "Yes, your water is broken. Head to the hospital." I asked the nurse which doctor was on duty that day and she told me it was the old school OB whom I had seen most recently. I HATED him because he stripped my membranes without telling me first, and was just typically a man. Naturally, I was upset and asked the nurse who the next doctor in the rotation would be. She told me, but said that the mean doctor would be on call until 8am the following morning, and since it was just after noon, there was no chance of me going that late. Damn.

Upon our arrival at the hospital, DH dropped me at the door and parked the car. I carried my pillow up to the Labor & Delivery ward (yes, I walked in there). We got settled in the room and I put on my belly band (to hold the monitors) and hospital gown. This was probably around 1pm. MIL, my parents and grandmother arrived and were shown into our room. This would be the room where I would deliver and recover, but then I would be moved across the hall into one of the semi-private post-partum rooms. We all hung out talking for a while, and when the contractions got a little painful, I asked for a rocking chair. It felt good to rock during the contractions, plus the fronts of the arms were rolled under, so I had a good place to dig in my fingernails when things got intense.

I can't exactly remember when they decided to give me Pitocin, but it was probably around 2pm. The contractions weren't really that bad at the beginning, plus I have a high pain tolerance. So we all talked and chatted for a while, until I really needed to concentrate on my breathing. Gail, my nurse, realized that I needed for the family to get out of the room, without my ever saying a thing, and asked our family members to wait in the TINY waiting room (imagine a phone booth that seats 3). So they all went down to the cafeteria and got some dinner. I had preordered a sandwich, since that would keep the best. I worked on my breathing for as long as I could stand it. Ultimately, the contractions felt like they were coming one on top of another with no breaks. I thought I was losing my mind. I couldn't think or make a decision. All I knew was that I needed some pain medication, and as much as I didn't want an epidural, I couldn't decide if I did want one. Finally DH and I agreed that I'd try Stadol, and if I needed more then I'd go for the epi.

Once we made that decision and DH could verbalize it for me, I was relieved. However, the wait to get the anesthesiologist to see me was excruciatingly long. I know at one point I was crying and saying as loud as I could that I wanted meds and I wanted them NOW!!! I was tempted to start screaming, knowing that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but my wanting to not freak out everyone on the floor got the better of me. Finally, the anesthesiologist arrived and I got my Stadol at around 5pm.

The following hour was pretty good. The Stadol took off enough of the edge so that I could handle the ctx with breathing. I was complete at 6pm, and I could push. However, the nurses and doctor were convinced that I had a full bladder and it was preventing me from feeling the urge to push. Now I'd already made one attempt at using the bathroom since I had arrived. I did not want a catheter, fearing that I'd get a nasty infection; plus, I'd had the milk with my cereal, and perhaps a few ice chips, but nothing else to drink. I simply did not have to pee. However I was overruled and got the catheter. Much to their surprise, I did not produce much once it was inserted, and the nurse said to me, "I guess you really didn't have to go." No shit.

At some point during all this, DH realized that our families were hanging out outside the hospital, and just below our 2nd story window. He got their attention, and periodically gave them updates on how things were progressing. When I began to push, he went to the window and gave them his pusing sign. So at 6pm, with a vague urge to push, but more wanting to find out who was in me, I started pushing. Rather surprisingly, the most hated doctor was a decent cheerleader, and I decided he was much better in the delivery room than in the exam room. When the baby crowned, DH again went to the window and encircled his head with his hands so they'd know. After about an hour, little miss B was born. She weighed in at just over 6 lbs, and had great Apgar scores.

I didn't even realize when DH went to the window and signaled to them to call our room, so when the phone rang minutes after delivery, I wondered who in the hell would have such impeccable timing. LOL! DH announced the arrival to the family by phone and then we enjoyed about an hour of private time with just the three of us. Then the family members were allowed in to see baby B.

Where was I

2006-06-12T22:12:00.000-05:00

six years ago today? This was my due date with B. I was convinced that my due date was June 21st, per my ovulation date. However, the doctors didn't listen to me, and calculated my due date by using the date of my LMP.

I had enjoyed a few days off of work, starting my maternity leave a week late. My last day of work I went out to lunch with the ladies from my department, and they treated me to a yummy lunch at Red Lobster. Their cheddar bay biscuits are DELICIOUS!

On this date, I celebrated the passing of my due date by shopping at Sam's Club, and then meeting my best friend at her office for lunch. I think I ate a chicken salad sandwich; I remember something falling onto my belly and leaving a greasy stain on my shirt. I remember thinking that everyone could see that it was my due date. However, I don't recall anyone asking me when I was due, and that disappointed me.

If I only knew how soon everything would change...

A fun (and expensive) way to spend a Saturday

2006-06-03T23:45:00.000-05:00

I spent all of today on an all day bus tour sponsored by our local scrapbook store (LSS). We went to three other stores around our huge city. Our home store is the largest of the four, and has, in my opinion, the nicest staff of the four. The highlights included the make-and-takes we did at the stores (a beach themed tag, a magnet, a "stained glass" pin, and a squash book), and meeting other women with the same hobby. Two other stores had lovely staff, and quite an assortment of scrapbooking supplies, albeit rather crowded. Our second stop brought us to the lowlight of the day, a store that I have no interest in returning to. Why? I was sitting in the front third of the bus, and we all exited the bus in a polite row-by-row order, so I was one of the first customers from the bus tour in the store. I (along with other women from the tour) overheard one of the workers explaining to a "customer" what was going on. The conversation went something like this:

Customer: "What's going on?"
Employee: "Oh, there's a bus tour today. We're giving all of our customers a 20% discount today due to the inconvenience."
Me (in my head): "So WTF am I? Chopped liver?!"

There were a few other women who overheard it, and at least one called the employees of that store on that snarky comment. Once we arrived back at our home store, the owner was told about that incident. I did jump in and say that I head heard the same thing.

Apparently our money is no good there, so I won't be going back. No loss though, because I'll have more money to spend at the stores who actually appreciate our business. And if I go on another tour, I'll either just stay on the bus at that stop, or I'll just browse and perhaps mention that I'm not a valued customer there. Or, my favorite idea, fill up a shopping basket with embellishments and then just leave it for some poor fool to put back.

All in all, it was a great time and I can't wait to do it again. It seems that they do this tour every six months, which is enough time for my pocketbook to recover. LOL!

It's contagious!

2006-05-31T14:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning DH had an appointment in town scheduled for 9am. I took the kids to daycare and golf school and parked my car in the middle of our two car garage when I got home. I knew he wouldn't be back until after I went to pick up B after golf school.

DH arrived home a little after 10 and told me his appointment was canceled. It was fine though since he had an 11am conference call. Later that afternoon he came out of his office to tell me he had missed the call. How? I asked, since I knew he had been in his office and on the phone. He had misread his boss' email, which read "conference call at 11 Eastern time". He knew he had a conflict with the appointment if the call was at 10, and just read 11am. Whoops!

Fast forward to today. I've taken the kids to daycare and golf school. When I got home I got on the computer to see if DH's BIL had emailed us pictures of DNephew. Then it was time to pick B up from golf school. Since it was raining, I took B to the movies to see Over the Hedge (very good BTW). As we were driving home I realized that I was supposed to see the doctor at 9:30 this morning for a recheck. Oops!

I just called them and they were gracious enough to reschedule it for tomorrow morning. I had better not forget this one!

He's here!

2006-05-30T22:22:00.000-05:00

SIL called DH earlier today to let him know that she had her baby boy. Since I wasn't home, I don't have all the details. What I know so far is that they started the induction around 9am, he was born sometime between 4 and 5pm and weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. She had an epidural so she didn't suffer, and pushed for 7 minutes and out he came. They haven't yet agreed to a middle name, and the first name appears to be Mac. Soon-to-be-4 year old big brother is in love with him.

About 9 hours from now

2006-05-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

DH's sister will be induced. As I type this, she is in her hospital room, all checked in and ready to go. Her baby boy's original due date was June 1st, but considering her firstborn was two weeks late and over 9 lbs, her doctor decided not to let her go over. At her last ultrasound, the doctor estimated that the baby would be a 9 pounder with a huge head (her husband's family legacy).

Let's all hope and pray that everything goes well and baby (whose name is still undecided) is born healthy and quickly.

This pic was taken the first weekend of May. MIL said on Saturday that SIL was "HUGE" and SIL told me that she's just started to get uncomfortable. Her feet have just begun to swell. She's very grateful for the mild northeast spring.

End of month update

2006-05-29T21:59:00.000-05:00

B's last day of school was last Wednesday. The school had a half day, and the bus driver let the kids sit where ever they wanted for the ride home. B was thrilled to be able to sit anywhere other than the front seat!

To celebrate the end of the year I took B to the movies. She had been begging to see "RV" for weeks so we saw that. It was OK, but really like a bad version of "Vacation".

Last Tuesday was the Kindy Celebration at school. There was an awards ceremony, slideshow, and musical performance. It reminded me of the Preschool Celebrations they had at the daycare the kids used to attend. However, this was sweeter with the personalized awards. Each child received an award, like "Awesome Artist", "Terrific Technologist", etc. B's award was the "Personality Plus" award; and boy, does that kid have personality plus! The slideshow was a compilation of pictures of the kids in the class taken since the beginning of the year. Clay's parents were sitting next to DH and me, and Clay's mom got choked up when the music started. The music accompanying the slideshow was Lonestar's "Let Them Be Little" (Richie McDonald/Billy Dean).

I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it,
no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon

So let them be
little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them
praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them
sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little

I've never felt so
much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your
wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every
night while we're on our knees all I ask is please

Let them be little
'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise,
give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in
the middle
Oh just let them be little

So innocent, a precious soul,
you turn around
It's time to let them go

So let them be little
'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise,
give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in
the middle
Oh just let them be little

Let them be little
Those of you who know me, know that I'm no fan of country music. The Eagles is about as country as I get. However, this song is so sweet and heartfelt, that I can't help but like it. And get choked up, of course. No great surprise to those who know me, and know that I can cry at a Hallmark commercial. LOL!

On Friday the 19th, I went to see first showing of The DaVinci Code at the local theater. I didn't have to be the first one in the theater, but I'm a cheapskate, and the first matinee is cheapest. I just recently read the book and was eager to see how it translated to film. I thought it was good and entertaining, but I thought that had I not just read the book that I would have been lost, missing some of the details. Of course, the book was way better IMO. I devoured the book in one weekend. I felt the same way I felt after seeing The Firm in the theater. It was OK, but a disappointment after the book. (And I finished The Firm in 24 hours while traveling through Europe.)

Texas wildlife, part 1

2006-05-26T23:37:00.000-05:00

Holy swimming snakes Batman! What the heck is this doing in our pool??!!

Once I retrieved our reptilian friend from the water, I sent him to a better place. I flung him over the fence into the neighbor's backyard. LOL!

End of the school year

2006-05-24T23:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of my big girl on her last day of school. She doesn't know yet that she will indeed be repeating Kindergarten in the fall. Believe me, she'll be thrilled when she finds out.

This is neat

2006-05-20T21:19:00.000-05:00

create your own visited states map

create your own visited countries map

Mom Make Over Day at B's school

2006-05-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

was today. The kids in kindergarten all had their moms come in and bring their makeup and hair accessories (and nail polish and lotion); it was suggested that we wear our robes as well. We moms were welcomed into the Kindy Day Spa and the teacher greeted us at the classroom door asking with whom we had an appointment. Then our "beautician" came to the door and led us back to our (their) respective seats. Soothing spa music was playing and the kids gave us massages on our backs and arms.

Then the hair accessories and makeup came out and madness ensued. I usually wear that CG Outlast lipstick, so I brought an old tube of lipstick, in a pretty dark shade. What the heck, right?! So Bridget used my face powder, blush, lavender and grey eyeshadow, and then my creme foundation. She had to apply my lipstick twice, because there apparently wasn't enough on me after the first application. Then she gave me a manicure and pedicure.

How do I look?! LOL!

Here I am with hair clips giving me pig tails.

Here I am with my two coats of lipstick (well applied, don't you think?!), eye shadow, face powder and blush, and as an afterthought, my creme foundation, which she did not blend (you can see it best on my nose and chin). Plus you can see my amazing manicure:

Here's my pedicure (photo taken by B).

I gave B big smooches on each cheek before I left. It helped to work off some of my lipstick. LOL!

Hooray for Mother's Day!

2006-05-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

I got an e-coupon from the Greatest Italian Take Out Place on Earth, better known as Landi's in my email recently. Once I started ordering Mother's Day gifts for MIL and GMIL, I realized I wanted to do something special for my mom. So I ordered her some of her favorite foods from Landi's. I was excited to see that they now have their stuffed eggplant available for shipping. I sent Mom some stuffed eggplant, lasagne, veal and mushrooms, round ravioli, and tomato and basil sauce. It arrived yesterday, and my mom danced and jumped around when she saw all the food.

After I placed Mom's order, I told DH that all I really wanted for Mother's Day was some food from Landi's as well. He was cool with that, so I sent us some veal and mushrooms (yes, the girl who HATES mushrooms, will eat veal cooked with mushrooms. I don't, however, eat the 'shrooms), lasagne, square ravioli, and tomato and basil sauce.

YUM! My order arrived today. I can't wait to eat it!

Plans are finalized

2006-05-10T11:22:00.000-05:00

DH spoke to his sister earlier this week, and as he thought, the baby's christening is scheduled for the Saturday when we will be away. Had it been on Sunday, we would have tried to be there. He also found out that the OB will not let SIL go past May 30th. She went 2 weeks overdue with her first, and she started contracting the morning of her scheduled induction. Her DS was over 9lbs and had a HUGE head. The doctors are expecting this boy to also be over 9lbs and with a HUGE head as well. SIL was originally due June 1, and had been told that she would not be allowed past that date. Now if he doesn't come by May 30th, then they'll induce that day.

DH and I spoke by phone while he was driving across the state. I was consulting a calendar and we talked about our plans for the summer and the drive up to NJ. Looks like we've narrowed down the dates for our departure from TX, and an approximate return date as well.

We're going to try to work in some time up at DH's grandmother's house in RI. We spent a quick weekend there last Labor Day. DH finds that house so relaxing that I know he'll want to spend more than a weekend. I know he also wants to be able to see his sister and have some time with the baby. He'll see if she'll still be on maternity leave when we plan to go to RI. Perhaps her family will go up there at the same time we do. Otherwise perhaps we'll stop at their house for a visit on the way up.

As happy as I am that we are going to spend the long weekend with my family as originally planned, I am disappointed that we will miss the christening. I know how much I was looking forward to it; I kept asking SIL when it would be so we could schedule our plans around it. I'm sure DH was looking forward to seeing his family; I imagine a bunch of his family will be going to the christening.

ARGH!

2006-05-01T11:58:00.000-05:00

I'm rather frustrated right now. Here's the backstory:
DH's sister is pregnant and is due in one month. We've been asking for MONTHS when the christening would be. Since it seemed that SIL and BIL would plan the christening for when we would be up north (they live in New England) this summer, I emailed SIL as soon as I had two dates (one Saturday and a later weekend) on which we had plans. I gave her practically the entire month of July, mentioning that my parents will be celebrating a milestone anniversary this July, but we'd schedule that celebration around the christening.

Fast forward to 2-3 weeks ago:
SIL called the house as I was running out to pick up the kids. I let the machine pick up. DH spoke to her about a day later and told me that she was hopping mad. It turned out that she asked her DH's family when they'd be coming in for the christening, and mentioned that they would not, under any circumstances, consider doing it the weekend in July when we'd be away. The family could work it out and come up with dates. Well, they did. They came up with the weekend that we're going to be away with my family. And not only that, but they all booked their airline tickets as well!! SIL told them that that was completely unacceptable, since we had already told them the date would not work, and the family had been told that. She refused to have the christening without her brother present. BIL didn't understand what the problem was, after all, we are ONLY going to an amusement park for the weekend, and we can easily change our plans. Not quite. We are going as part of a group, and that is the weekend. The tickets we purchase will not be good for other days. SIL told this to her DH (that we are going on a corporate-sponsored trip, and the dates cannot be changed for the thousands of people attending) and that his family will have to change their plans. Hey, they didn't follow the rules.

Fast forward to last night:
DH had called his father and grandmother. After the call I asked him what the situation was regarding the christening. So he told me that "We can't go." His family refuses to change their plans, since BIL's father's birthday is apparently around that same time, so they are making some sort of christening/birthday weekend thing. Which would be fine and dandy, but no one has told us that Pop is turning some special age, which would really matter. Most adults I know don't care when or if their birthday is celebrated, so does Pop's birthday really matter for that weekend, or could they move it one weekend either way?? I dunno. Apparently SIL was also told that it would cost $1600 to change the airline tickets. Quite honestly, with what I understand SIL and BIL bring home, they could probably afford to offer BIL's family the $$ to change their tickets. Heck, I'm so annoyed, I'm even considering offering up the $.

WTF?!

Now I have to decide what to say to DH about what we as a family should do. We've all been looking forward to this long weekend. We get afternoon admission tickets for Fri, then all day Sat tickets and a big BBQ, then tickets good for any day Sunday to the end of the amusement park's season. Our plan was to get there Fri afternoon, go to the park Fri, Sat and Sun, and then head back to my parents' house on Monday. We'd be able to take a leisurely, scenic and educational drive back, giving our oldest something to talk about at school this fall. Do I tell DH to go alone to the christening? Do we give up the weekend with my parents, brother, SIL and their kids, and go to the christening? Do we attempt to do both, especially considering it is about a five hour drive between locations? Or do we boycott the christening and enjoy the weekend we originally planned? Does anyone else see other options? Anything I haven't considered? If you have any ideas, please comment.

It's a done deal

2006-04-26T17:29:00.000-05:00

DH and I met earlier today with B's kindergarten teacher regarding B's placement for next year. She is smart enough to move on, but emotionally she's not mature enough to move up to first grade. She has given me trouble about doing her homework, and complains about the first graders having homework every night. In fact, she has told us that she never wants to leave kindergarten. So we agreed that she should be "retained" in kindergarten next year. It really was a no brainer. She's a quick learner, but is reluctant, and is having trouble making friends. She no doubt would benefit from another year in kindergarten in order to mature.

I know it is the right decision for her, but I still can help but feel a little guilty that she is being "left back." I really need to get over the stigma.

Hall bath makeover, Part 2

2006-04-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

Blogger wouldn't let me add more pix to my last entry, so here is the latest on the bathroom makeover:

I removed the tracks from the tub (with some help from DH). By the time I got around to cleaning the tub, it was last Thursday, the day my parents were arriving. I only had time to scrub out the tub and do a very preliminary scrape down of the gunk on the tub. There is regular white caulk and clear silicone on the tub and walls from where the sliding door tracks were. It is going to take some time and effort to get all of it off. In addition, I have to figure out how to cover up the three holes on each wall where the side rails were screwed into the shower enclosure. As a temporary measure I simply covered up the holes with some packing tape.

Here's how it looks today:

This is the tub without the guides. The crud on the tub is pretty gross, but I've gotten a lot of that up with some scrubbing.

This is the tub today, after some scrubbing and scraping.

This is the new shower curtain and rod. If you don't already have a crescent shower rod, you NEED one. They are fantastic! We had them in our last house and refuse to go without them. You can find them at Home Depot, Linens & Things, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. The guy who makes them is based in Houston, and when we got our last two, his was just a small time operation. Then he got a contract with Hilton and things have exploded for the guy. I'm very happy for him.

Hall bath makeover, Part 1

2006-04-20T09:09:00.000-05:00

I had been planning on removing the wallpaper in the upstairs bathrooms, or perhaps taking the easy way out and just priming over it all and adding a nice light paint color. That still may happen for the girls' bathroom where I plan to get rid of the hunter green wallpaper and paint a very light blue; perhaps an off-white with a faint blue tint. A's bathroom, which is the hall bath, is another story.

The first week I was here we experienced a water heater leak. Water was dripping from a pipe and it had filled the drip/overflow pan. In other houses I've lived in this wouldn't have caused much of a problem. However, our water heaters (along with the AC condensers) are in the attic. Water leaked out of the pan and onto the ceiling of the second floor causing damaage to the hall by A's bedroom. I hadn't noticed any water stains in his bathroom until quite a while later. As it turned out, water leaked through the ceiling in the shower/toilet room of his bathroom and caused some of the paper to start peeling. So removing that section of paper has become a little project of mine. I had to stop work on it while my parents were visiting and make the bathroom habitable. Here are some pix of it:

This is the shower enclosure before I removed it. (Toilet is to the left, and the door opens inside to the right.)

This is the BLUE wallpaper. It seems to absorb all the light in the room, since there is only a 100w lightbulb in this part of the bathroom.

The shower enclosure looked halfway decent, but the doors didn't slide easily, and it was starting to rust out at the bottom closest to the shower head.

Here is where I removed the wallpaper. You can see some of the damage from the water in the corner and at the ceiling line. I have to finish stripping the wallpaper backing here, then patch the wall and ceiling, and then I can finally start priming and painting.

This shows the shower without the sliding doors. You can see how chewed up the bottom track for the doors is.

B's first field trip with this school

2006-04-19T16:14:00.000-05:00

Today B had her first field trip with the school down here. The entire kindergarten went to downtown to visit the Museum of Natural Science, and more specifically, the Butterfly Center.

The kids really seemed to enjoy seeing the dinosaur exhibit that greeted us upon our entrance to the HMNS. However, I think they were awed by all the butterflies at the Butterfly Center.

I dressed B in a pair of floral shorts and a bright pink shirt hoping that it would attract the 'flies. If any were, they were quickly shooed away by her frantic arm waving. She did not like having the creatures flying anywhere near her. *sigh* She also was not in the mood to have her picture taken. It's great to have a moody kid. At least she did a good job eating her lunch. After seeing the Butterfly Center and eating lunch the kids were able to run off some steam by running up and either running or rolling down the hill across the street from the HNMS.

I wore a teal outfit and a beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly landed on my hip. Needless to say I was mesmerized by it. The top photo is a picture of this butterfly with its wings open.

It's been a while since I last blogged

2006-04-18T08:56:00.000-05:00

Here's the quick update:

I finished painting the bedrooms upstairs (four bedrooms plus DH's office). I have some minor work left to do, like paint the trim in DH's office, and the closet and bedroom doors. But everything for the most part is done. About two or three weekends ago we took the kids to a Houston suburb and ordered S's big girl bed and some additional furniture. It should be here by early June. Her big girl bedding arrived yesterday and looks great with the wall color.

My parents were in for the long Easter weekend. We all had a blast with them and, of course, the visit went all too quickly for my liking. There were 15 people here on Saturday for a pool party/BBQ and only twelve for Easter Sunday dinner. I considered pulling out the china and having us all eat in the dining room, but instead we ate on Chinet out back. Much nicer being able to toss the plates instead of wash them. Must convince my parents to visit more often.

Here are some pix of the renovations, provided blogger allows me to upload pix:
Table bed in guest room.
Table bed with bed made.
B's room with new bedding.
S's room (same wall color as B's room).
S's new bedding.
A's room.

Easter weekend recap

2006-04-17T23:33:00.000-05:00

My parents came in for a long Easter weekend and had a great time. I was like a crazy woman, working frantically last Thursday in an effort to finish everything before they arrived. Not everything got done, but it was going to have to be good enough. I left quite late for the airport but arrived in just about an hour's time, which was amazing, considering I left daycare at 5:40pm -- the height of rush hour.

DH had to fly to Cleveland the day before and his flight was scheduled to arrive about 15 minutes after my parents' flight. We ended up waiting a long time for his luggage to arrive, and by then the kids were nuts -- tired and hungry. On the way home we picked up dinner at Chick-fil-A.

Once the kids were finished, B gave my parents a tour of the house. She was their "tourman". LOL. Put the kids in bed and crashed.

Friday we put the little ones in daycare and B (who had off Thurs and Fri) stayed with the 'rents, DH and myself. Mom, B, and I went to Sam's Club to pick up food for Saturday's barbeque and Sunday's Easter dinner. Then we met DH and Dad at a local NY style pizzeria for lunch. Then back home to unload the cooler full of food. Once that was done, we wound up cleaning out my van since dad and I were going to Home Depot to get us a new patio set. The guys at HD took their time finding the set I wanted (they first brought me the chairs on a dolly, out of the box, with no hardware to assemble them), and then they took damn near forever to find the forklift to get the box down from on top of the display case, where they had an intact box of chairs. The afternoon was spent assembling the furniture.

We had planned to go out to dinner someplace for seafood, since it was Good Friday, but decided instead to stay home and eat the shrimp cocktail tray we earlier bought at Sam's. We also celebrated my mom's birthday a few weeks late with a delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream cake that we got at HEB. Later that night while DH and dad snoozed on the couches, mom and I hung out in the spa. It was great.

Saturday our church had an Easter Egg hunt, so we got the kids ready and my parents and I took them over to it. While we were there DH vacuumed the house WITHOUT me asking!! I was needless to say thrilled when I came home and discovered that he had realized it needed to be done and had gone ahead and done so. The kids enjoyed the egg hunt, but I think the little ones were more excited to open and close the eggs than look for more.

Saturday afternoon my aunt, uncle and cousins came over. My dad's brother lives in Houston, probably about an hour away from us. My cousin T and her two kids live on the other end of my town, about 30 minutes away. My other cousin J and his wife and son live closer to Galveston, so they're probably at least an hour and a half away. The younger kids were in the pool, along with DH, myself and T. The other adults hung out both inside and outside and caught up.

Sunday morning we attempted to go to Mass, but we were late, and there was absolutely no room inside the church. We tried standing in the hallway, but we couldn't hear a darn thing, so we finally gave up. I took my parents on a tour of our area, including a drive by the local HS. The thing is about a mile long and looks like what we Yankees would consider a community college. It really is amazing how big some things are down here. We had a delicious buffet brunch at our country club. Before we started eating we went outside for some pictures. The kids were hungry, as were the adults, so I just snapped a few and didn't really care how they came out. That is pretty evident from the pix I got.

Sunday afternoon my aunt, uncle, and cousin T and her kids came over for dinner. The kids again swam in the pool with DH and the gals cooked and dad and his brother had time to catch up. After dinner we sang Happy Birthday to uncle who turned 72 yesterday. My dad was a change of life baby for my grandparents, and he couldn't be more different from my uncle if he tried. It's amazing to think sometimes that they actually have the same parents. LOL!

Sunday night after the kids were in bed DH, my parents and I sat in the spa for a while. It was great. I think we all felt refreshed after a nice long soak.

Monday we took it easy. B went back to school but I kept the little ones home. We went out to Pappadeaux for lunch so my parents could have some yummy cajun food. After B got home we packed up the car to take my parents to the airport. It was very difficult for B to say goodbye to them (and it was for me as well). B cried a lot in the terminal, and I teared up. To cheer her up we let her choose where we'd get dinner. Once she got her Happy Meal and toy from the new movie "The Wild", she was happy.

Rest In Peace Bruce

2006-03-23T20:32:00.000-06:00

A week ago Tuesday my best friend called me unexpectedly during the day. She left a message for me to please call her so I did. I was expecting her to tell me some wonderful news, especially since she opened with "Are you sitting down?"

Unfortunately she did not have wonderful news, but rather heartbreaking news instead. A man named Bruce with whom DH worked had died. On a business trip. In China. He was out eating dinner with his company's Chinese representative and just slumped over from what I understand. DH's cousin, who was Bruce's best friend and co-VP of the company, had to go over that morning and tell Bruce's wife what had happened.

The past ten days we've been getting our information piecemeal from other relatives of DH's who also work for the company (it's a family owned business). Bruce's widow is living what is probably everyone's worst nightmare. Her 43 year old husband died unexpectedly halfway around the world. Either one or two autopsies were performed. The first was inconclusive, so either a second autopsy was performed, or they just guessed and listed "heart failure" as the cause of death. They needed a cause in order to file the insurance claim. We later learned that Bruce's widow won't have the benefit of having a stateside autopsy performed because the Chinese do not embalm. Bruce is being cremated in China and will then be shipped back here. The funeral will be mid next week.

I simply cannot imagine how awful it must be for his widow to not have the opportunity to have her questions about his death answered in a domestic autopsy. Nor can I imagine receiving a box of ashes and having to trust that they are those of my loved one. I am so accustomed to seeing open caskets at wakes that it gives me closure. Bruce's widow and their four children have been robbed of that. I'm so terribly sad about the entire situation.

DH will be attending the funeral next week and I am glad that he will be going to it. I'm happy to know that I married a man who cares enough to travel so far to pay his respects to the grieving family of a friend and coworker.

Rest in peace Bruce. We'll keep your wife and kids in our prayers.

Heaven on Earth

2006-03-16T00:45:00.000-06:00

Ah, the sweet taste of Brooklyn. Not only am I a Yankee, but I’m a New Yorker. And like most New Yorkers, I learned at an early age the value of great take out food. My favorite Italian take out place has had a web presence since 2001. However, they recently redid their website and it is much improved. Not only that, now a larger portion of their menu is available online. I am in hog heaven! I cannot wait to for an excuse to order ravioli, lasagna, veal and mushrooms, and marinara sauce from Landi’s.

Just seeing the pictures on the home page made me homesick. Then it really hit me once I saw a picture of the blue storefront. Okay, I'll admit it -- I always wanted to marry one of the Landi boys so I could have total access to their food. While I should probably be embarrassed to admit that, if you tasted their food, I'm sure you'd agree. I’m salivating right now, just thinking about the succulent lasagna, the way the veal just melts in your mouth, and the ravioli. Oh, the ravioli. I haven’t found a ravioli yet that doesn’t fall apart while they’re cooking. Except for Landi’s ravioli. Plus, they carry both the larger round ravioli, which my parents prefer, and the smaller square ravioli, which are my favorites. Oh, to soak up the sauce with some perfect Italian bread… Mmmmmm. If only I could order their baked clams online. *drool*

Must. Find. Excuse. To order.

Paint, paint, and more paint

2006-03-09T00:37:00.000-06:00

I finally finished painting the trim in the guest room. By the time I finished that, I decided that I should follow the advice given to me by the man who painted my last house. Jim told me that he always painted the trim first, then the walls, and finally, the ceiling. Now, I admit that I'm cutting corners, and time, and not painting the ceilings here. However, when I started painting B's room, the first item to see a paintbrush was the trim.

I painted the trim on Sunday, I think. Monday was cutting in the primer. Tuesday found me priming the walls, and today was the day to start putting some color on the walls.

I was, however, stymied in my attempts to finish the room today. DH is sick with his relapse of what ailed him for nearly all of February. He said he wanted to go to the doctor, but didn't want to go back to the GP he saw twice last month. So I found an internist courtesy of the Aetna website, and DH got an appointment for 11:30 this morning. We spent an hour and a half in the exam room, and I think DH got a decent examination. He had his lung output tested, before and after a breathing treatment; his pulse ox was taken; and they even did bloodwork. The diagnosis is not another viral infection, but bronchitis and sinus infection. We came away with four prescriptions (steroid, cough medicine, antibiotic, and allergy medication) and hope that we've located the physician we want to stick with. DH was shocked to learn that he had lost 14 pounds in the last three weeks. Not a bad diet, but not one that he'd recommend.

Lucky for him, DH seems to have regained his appetite so we went out for lunch at Philly Connection, the local cheesesteak place. I laughed out loud when I saw that they actually carry TastyKakes. However, being the New Yorker, I prefer Drakes Cakes.

Having spent the better part of the late morning and early afternoon with DH, at the doctor and later getting his prescriptions filled, I didn't have much time to paint. Therefore I only had time to cut in with the blue paint. I hope tomorrow to finish painting her room. God willing, B will be back in her bedroom by the weekend.

Next week B has Spring Break. God help me. I suppose I'll try taking her to the movies at least twice. I'm sure she's interested in seeing Curious George and may want to see Eight Below. I’ll have to find out if my cousin’s kids liked it, because they saw EB yesterday.

DH's viral infection, take 2

2006-03-05T15:55:00.000-06:00

DH arrived home Friday night and we had a lovely talk about all sorts of boring things. Then he started coughing while I was in the bathroom taking my contact lenses out.

He came into the bathroom to relieve himself of all the phlegm he had just coughed up, and then puked. Apparently it took him by surprise. So now he's dealing with the same symptoms he suffered from for much of February -- and it the first week of March. UGH!

The little ones are still sick. S has a runny nose but A seems to be doing much better since going on antibiotics last week. Perhaps I'll have to take S in to be seen by our new pediatrician.

I'm fighting a wheezy cough. I suppose if I'm desperate enough I'll just dig out some Xopenex from A's bout with RSV last winter and take some hits off the nebulizer... Meanwhile, I'm preparing to paint B's room.

Paint paint everywhere

2006-03-03T21:37:00.000-06:00

I started painting the guest room earlier this week. Tuesday I prepped the room and began cutting in around the corners. All was going fine until I impaled myself. I was standing on one foot stretching to reach a high spot, and when I put my left foot down, I felt searing pain. Lifting my foot up, I discovered a long thin piece of metal firmly implanted in the ball of my foot, just below the big toe. I pulled it out and hobbled and hopped down the stairs, hoping not to leave a bloody mess trailing me. Finally in the kitchen, I called out to DH while I doused my foot with hydrogen peroxide. DH determined that I stepped on a piece of broken paperclip. It hurt like a motherf***er. One bandaid with triple antibiotic ointment later I felt better.

Wednesday I finished the first coat of paint. While at Home Depot the other week, I decided to splurge and get the Wagner PaintMate Plus. This paint roller suctions paint from the can into a reservoir in the handle which distributes paint to the roller via a ratchet, much like a caulk gun. Painting goes a lot faster because you make so few stops to the paint can (or paint tray, as with a traditional roller). I ran out of paint just before I finished the room, so I decided to do a second coat on all the walls. I was afraid that the taupe color might bleed through the Water Garden color.

I finished the second coat on Thursday and started prepping B's room for paint. Since her room is a deep blood red and will be a very light blue, I need to prime. What fun! I started fighting a cold this week, no doubt brought on by the colds the little ones have and DH's 3 week long viral infection. I've tried to make myself useful this week while still taking it somewhat easy. That is why it has taken me three entire days to paint one room (not to mention the trim, which I still haven't painted).

Today I did manage to tape off the floors in the guest room so I can paint the trim. Perhaps I'll do that over the weekend. I also decided that I'd try to steam off some of the godawful wallpaper in A's bathroom. However, our wonderful steamer didn't work, so I need to use the powerful caustic cleaner to remove the hard water deposits in it.

And spending so much time in that bathroom helped me come to a few household realizations. First, there is no way I'm going to be able (nor do I now want) to remove all the damn wallpaper in the upstairs bathrooms. Second, the shower enclosure in A's bathroom is in such bad shape that I feel we have no choice but to remove it and go with a traditional shower curtain (and crescent rod, of course!). Third and finally, the people at Ace Hardware are wonderful and full of great information.

I'm accepting that I'm going to have to prime over the remainder of the wallpaper in A's bathroom with an oil-based primer with shellac; I'll likely just paint over the wallpaper in the girls' bathroom with this as well. I don't like it, but it'll be far easier to paint over the wallpaper than remove it. The shower enclosure is getting rusty in the corners, and the doors don't slide easily (and we've attempted to fix this), and the frame is all chewed up. The wonderful lady at Ace told me all about which primer to use in the bathroom. I'll be going back to her.

DH just arrived home from a few days away, so I must go.

Random Friday thoughts

2006-02-24T23:11:00.000-06:00

Today was report card day and B only had two minuses, which is less than last time. She needs to complete her work on time and turn in neater work. Also, she needs to practice some of her letters because she either writes them incorrectly or messy. I'm really proud of her improvements and accomplishments.

Today was the end of the little ones' first week at their new day care. I'm sure it is a really nice center, but it certainly isn't the old corporate day care that they were in when we were in NJ. It doesn't feel like home yet, and A, who never had problems with drop offs in NJ, has become clingy. He doesn't want me to put him down or let him go once we enter the building. I hope this phase passes quickly.

DH is feeling better, FINALLY!!! We sanitized our bedsheets and towels this afternoon. I cannot wait to sleep in our bed, after sleeping on the couch for three weeks. Not only do we have clean sheets, but my God, we've got the world's tallest mattress, and it is SO comfortable. Serta counting sheep, here I come!

I worked more on our HOA's "Modification" application yesterday, and did some research today. I hope to complete the application over the weekend and deliver it to the HOA idiots on Monday.

Oh dear, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo starts this coming week. Apparently this is the hugest thing in this area for the next three weeks. Sheesh, we just got rid of the NBA All Star game last week, and all the crowds for that. Now town will be crazy with traffic for the rodeo. I'll stay home, thanks; I'll watch John Travolta in Urban Cowboy and drool instead.

Update #1 on the HOA drama

2006-02-21T21:31:00.000-06:00

I've been getting pissed every time I think about the letter from the HOA. I started taking some action by getting my ducks in a row. So far I've:

Emailed a HS classmate who is a Harvard Law graduate for any referrals for lawyers in our area. I am also considering contacting two lawyers that I used to work with to see if they know anyone down here (Stacy, I'm talking about CL and JLM). If we have to go into mediation, I feel I need to have someone on my side. I searched fruitlessly on classmates for other classmates who went to law school. (I had sorority sisters and guys from our brother fraternity attend Cornell, Harvard and Georgetown Law schools.)
Called the woman who used to own our house. I spoke to her today and asked her about the landscaping (who installed the front and back landscaping), pool, modification approvals, and her cleaning lady. She was very nice and told me that the builder put in the front landscaping, and the lawn company that we use landscaped the back. She's pretty certain that they got approvals for the pool; the HOA person told me they have the basketball hoop approval on record.

This afternoon I had DH print off the Modification Application. Then he reviewed the letter and called Heidi. DH has been rather blase about this whole thing and keeps telling me not to worry about it. So it was a good thing he called, since he could play "good cop" to my "bad cop" call last Friday. DH explained to Heidi that he couldn't understand why there was a problem with the landscaping since it has been here for SEVEN years. He further added that we had confirmed this with the former owner, since we had only been in this house for about six months. Providing us with a glimmer of hope, Heidi said she'd mention this to her boss. She also asked if we had any pictures of the house from closing. I now must scour the house to find the color printout of the MLS listing, showing the front exterior. I do hope that they get this information and decide to approve the existing landscaping treatment.

On another note, I told DH today that if we ever move to another HOA-controlled community, I am going to demand that the HOA inspect the property before we close. I refuse to have this happen twice. Methinks I'll also google the HOA so I can get familiar with the covenants before moving.

Yet another "Welcome to Texas"

2006-02-19T21:09:00.000-06:00

I took B to the local grocery store yesterday afternoon. DH and I still haven't gotten TX plates yet, so we're like freaky foreigners here. When B and I were in the car and ready to leave the store, I noticed something on the windshield. Someone had rather kindly put a half eaten tortilla under my passenger side windshield wiper. Which after the entire HOA thing, just made me explode. I'm rather annoyed by these rather arrogant idiot Texans.

F*** all of you I say.

Home Owner Associations are THE DEVIL!!!!

2006-02-19T20:29:00.000-06:00

I had this nagging feeling that I'd live to regret moving into a community where the "Deed Restrictions are Strictly Enforced". When we made an offer on the house we live in, I requested copies of the HOA guidelines. We never got them until after we closed on the house, and then we had to go to the HOA office and get them ourselves. Our realtor was of no help.

Once I read the guidelines I was horrified at the stuff these HOA nazis have power over. There are five, yes FIVE, pages of plants we are allowed to use in our landscaping. The best part -- that's for both the front AND back yards. Who knew that someone else could tell me what I can plant in my own damn backyard, behind a six foot privacy fence?!?!

We received a letter in the regular mail from the HOA idiots complaining that we did not have a net on our basketball hoop. Oh the horror!! I think before the kids and I moved down DH received a letter mentioning the weeds in the front planting beds that needed to be removed. Lucky for DH a crew came by one day and asked if he wanted the front beds weeded and mulched. He gladly paid them to do the work. And he also installed a new net on the basketball hoop. We've been in compliance for some time and I figured we wouldn't hear from these idiots again until we needed to replace the net.

However, my bubble burst on Friday. I was hanging out on the couch, cuddling with the kids when someone came to the door. It was Miss Betty, our mail person. She had two things for me to sign. It was a certified letter from our wonderful HOA. I was confused since we had paid our HOA dues on the third of January, but I hadn't heard that they were penalizing anyone paying on that date. So imagine my surprise when I opened the letter. The nazis are complaning about the bricks that surround our walkway and keep the mulch in place. Now mind you, the only improvements we've made to the exterior were two mulch installations (one in the fall, and one early last week) and the basketball net. This house has been here for SEVEN years. And I suspect that the front landscaping has been here about that long.

With my blood boiling I called the HOA and asked to speak with the author of the letter, Heidi. I inquired about the problem and she mentioned something about the bricks and how they either need to have the holes not show, or be mortared into the ground, buried halfway, etc. And I believe that they are also not approved landscaping material. So whatever we do, we have to submit a Modification Application to the f'ing Modifications Board who will then have to pull their thumbs out of their butts to decide whether the landscaping that has been here for I believe seven years can stay, or whether we need to remove and replace it with something else. No matter what we do, we apparently need to ask their permission first. Can you f'ing believe this crap??!!

Then Heidi told me that the only modification that has been approved for this property is the basketball net. Well, call me relieved about that! Phew! Now I didn't ask about the pool in the backyard, but I suspect that that needs to be approved as well. I am half tempted to call and ask for an inspection while DH and I are both home so that we can find out what other SEVEN YEAR OLD capital improvements have not been board approved. Then again, I think I'd rather just let sleeping dogs lie.

In my research over the weekend I found the former owner's phone number, so I need to call her and inquire about who did the landscaping and pool construction and when these were installed. I may even ask her if she has records proving the age of these things. I don't know if it will help our case, but I'll be damned if the HOA is going to make us change things that have been here for SEVEN LONG YEARS without a fight. I'll email two attorneys I used to work with and see if they can recommend anyone down here if we need representation, and I'm researching the two local counties' Dispute Resolution Centers (we live in one county, the HOA is located in the other).

Meanwhile, all of this leaves me very nonplussed about the entire HOA. When we bought the house I insisted on having a kid-safe pool fence installed around the perimeter of the pool. DH was to do this before the kids and I moved down. He tried a few times to call the HOA and speak to someone regarding getting approval for the pool fence. He left messages and no one, NO ONE, ever called him back. So we said "F*** it" and just went ahead and did it. I need to scour our/his phone records to document his calls to the HOA. There is no clear rule against pool enclosures, nor is there any rule seemingly against semi-permanent structures in the backyard. However, I can just imagine that these idiots will try to pull some crap about the pool, pool decking, and fence as their next move.

I'm so f'ing pissed that I want to move, but I'm too lazy to get the house ready to sell, and it seems that this freaking state is FULL of communities with HOAs. We'd probably have to be millionaires to buy a piece of land to build on before we'll get away from the seeming HELL of HOAs. UGH!

The results are in...

2006-02-15T21:20:00.000-06:00

DH's chest x-ray on Monday was clear, thank God. The blood test shows a viral infection. He has an appt at 10:30am tomorrow for a recheck. I think I'm going to ask him to bring home a script for Tamiflu for me. I'm beginning to feel a little run down and I don't need this crap for two weeks, with two little ones home all day!

Monday Monday

2006-02-13T23:21:00.000-06:00

Today I made DH another appt at the doctor. He went this afternoon and was gone a good long time. He saw a different doctor than last time. The doctor took his time to get DH's history, then gave him a shot in the ass (antibiotic), and two scripts, one a different antibiotic (this is #3 -- Levaquin last wk, and two today), the other a cough suppressant.

DH also had blood drawn and x-rays taken. We should get the results tomorrow, and I hope and pray that they show something that can be treated. This sickness is ridiculous. In the 10+ years I've known DH, this is the longest he's ever been sick (over 10 days), and only the second time he's been flat on his back. We both had the flu over Halloween 8 yrs ago and it was ugly. This is worse.

Tonight DH had a coughing fit so bad that he vomited. He's dehydrated and now I need to get him full of Gatorade. He's sick of chicken soup and hungry for real food. However he's afraid to eat anything of real substance. This morning I made him scrambled eggs and I think he was overjoyed to get some protein. As for cockamamie ideas, DH hypothesized that he's sick from drinking the water from our fridge dispenser. The change filter light went on last week and I haven't gone to the Sears store to get a replacement. Sure buddy, that's the problem...

I'm grateful that his boss is very understanding. He knows how hard DH works, and when he heard just how ill DH is, he sent out an email to DH's team asking them not to bother him. DH was to run two training meetings later this week, one about 2 hours away and then one here in town the next day. The trainer who was to do this with him called our house this afternoon while DH was at the doctor and spoke to me. She apparently wants to postpone the sessions until DH is feeling better. Normally she flies into the cities and doesn't rent a car, so I think she's just nervous about getting around the state by herself. It was a strange conversation. She's a trainer with quite an impressive resume, so I don't know why she thinks she can't handle DH's team. DH talked to her this evening and she is going to work tomorrow to reschedule the two training sessions, including all the team's schedules and work with the hotels so they don't lose the deposits. Have at it babe.

In kid news, I am convinced that A is cutting all four incisors right now. He was pretty miserable, up early crying, up late crying. S has seemingly lost all interest in going on the potty. She's starting to sport a little rash, and I'm hoping that it will help give her an incentive to start going on the potty again. Tonight I had B write out her Valentines for tomorrow. In a surprising twist, she asked to do her homework FIRST before doing the cards. My patience was shot by the evening and I had a splitting headache, no doubt from not drinking enough water today. This prompted DH to ask me what I was planning to do about daycare. I admitted I wanted to put them in full time for a month to give me a kick start with unpacking, and then go down to part time care. DH was all for it, as long as it is indeed a short term arrangement. Yippee!

Shortly after getting the kids in bed tonight I started falling asleep on the couch. I wound up unconscious for about the next 3 hours, waking only when DH had the coughing fit I mentioned earlier. Now I'm awake and I guess I'll catch up on the Olympics I slept through by watching the late night rerun.

TGISunday!

2006-02-12T23:11:00.000-06:00

First of all, I accidentally hit the wrong key on the damn laptop last night and went back, erasing the friendly update email I was preparing to send to our friends up north. I was so pissed. And I still haven't been able to get into my gymboree.com shopping cart. Argh. I'll have to call them tomorrow.

DH is still sick; this is day 10 of whatever he has, and day 5 of serious antibiotics. It's driving me CRAZY!! I realize he genuinely feels awful. He's sick of eating chicken soup and drinking water. He wants something with taste. However, he coughs (and he can't tell me why he's coughing) so violently that it sometimes makes him puke. He goes from freezing to hot flashes in the blink of an eye. I realize he's miserable. He is still quarantined, sleeping and pretty much spending the majority of the day in our bedroom. I sleep on the couch in the hopes that I don't get this bug. DH has decided to go back to the doctor tomorrow and ask for a blood test to see if that can determine what this thing is.

I took the kids out to WalMart because I was meeting someone from freecycle.com there. My plan was to then go to the Bed Bath & Beyond and return a Christmas gift, and return a portrait to the photography studio in the mall (they've promised to reprint it for us and haven't yet). However the kids had different ideas, and by the time we were leaving WalMart, the little ones were crying and B was testing my patience. Being the nice mom I am, I stopped at Sonic to get lunch for us (and even called DH to see if he wanted anything). To continue my fabulous run of luck, my liimeade fell out of my cupholder when I came to a stop at a stop sign, spilling half of its precious contents all over the front floormat of my car. Fed the kids, then changed them and got them to nap.

Wondered to my mother what had happened to my life if my days consist of changing diapers and finding wonder in the different colors and textures of my children's shits. So this is what it has come to?! Great.

My mother was socked with 13 inches of snow and my dad is on a trip for a week. He has to deal with the snow where he is too, so we're not as jealous as we usually are. Normally when there is a blizzard, he's someplace fabulous and warm. Friends from NJ and MD sent me pix of the blizzard. It's times like this that I'm happy to be living in the South and in relative warmth. (Did I mention that winter finally hit Houston yesterday? Temps at 6 this morning were below freezing here.)

Called a good friend of mine who is a gymbo addict. It turns out she got a PT job at gymbo, just for the discount. LOL! I would have talked to her longer, but I heard a strange sound out in the family room. (I was on the phone in my bedroom, which is off the FR.) I asked my friend to hold on for a moment, and then I searched for B. I finally found her in tears coming out from a corner of the living room. DH had gone to investigate with me. She told us she had hurt herself and after further pressing, she finally told us what she had done. She climbed up on the built in TV shelf and then tried to jump and grab the fireplace mantel but didn't and fell on the slate. Lectured her on why it is not a good idea to climb and jump on things in the house. By this time I had already apologized to my friend and told her I'd have to call her back. If you wonder why I drink, it is times like this. I feel like a broken record with these kids and it seems my rules and messages just don't seem to get through. Even if I have the kids repeat the rules to me. ARGH!

I read part of the Sunday paper (wasn't that a great song by Joe Jackson?!) and decided I needed to run to Target and pick up the cordless phone that was on sale, since I didn't expect it to be in stock later this week. And again I had to pack up the kids and take them all with me. We killed some time by shopping for spring, summer and Easter shoes. The girls each got a pair of white Easter shoes with rhinestones on the straps, sparkling pink dressy shoes, and colorful flip flops. There wasn't a very good selection of boy shoes, so I'll have to hit the Stride Rite outlet for him. Then B had the bright idea of eating there, so we did. The kids meals are pretty darn reasonable and somewhat nutritious -- hot dog, juice box, apple sauce, and gummy fruit bites for $3.92 or so. So they ate and I had some water and finished off the 1/3 of A's hot dog that he didn't want.

The dipshit in front of me on the Express (10 items or les) lane pissed me off. She got up to the cashier and asked if he'd take her even if she had more than 10, since she apparently didn't see the signs posted ALL OVER THE LANE. And he was nice enough to say yes, so I watched him ring up about 20-30 stupid things she had stuffed into her hand basket. When she was finally out of earshot, I said to him, "So much for 10 items or less, huh?!" Schmuck. Both of them.

DH was feeling worse when we got home, having just puked twice. So he was of absolutely no help. I begged him to help with the bedtime routine, which was when he told me he had just puked. Thanks for that buddy. I know you feel like crap, but I still have to do all of the parenting when I'm sick... I'm so over his illness. Meanwhile he later asked me to get him saltines since Ritz crackers were too buttery for his delicate stomach. So I ran to the store for them, picking up some Smartfood popcorn for me in the process (and surprisingly, not getting the ice cream I've been craving). And I even got him a glass of cranberry juice (since he "doesn't want to contaminate all the cups by getting one"). He even contemplated aloud whether he should go to the ER. Poor guy.

Get better soon before I have an effing stroke dude!! I need some help here, and lemme tell ya, full time daycare for a month or few weeks is sounding REALLY GOOD right about now! I'm over doing the whole single parent thing while actually not being a single parent. That's why you took this job and moved the family. Argh.

At least tomorrow there will be one less body in the house for part of the day. I'm looking forward to that.

Gymboree hell

2006-02-11T23:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I braved the wilds of Houston to find the closest Gymboree store. They're having a great sale and I've got a ton of stuff in my online shopping cart. I try not to shop there often, but during their sales I sometimes have to pick up a few things. The Gymbo Baby Sale is great because most tops are $10, most bottoms are $20, and blankets are $10. These prices are amazing for Gymbo.

The store was crowded and hot. I was immediately greeted by a sales associate named Pilar who told me all about the sale and helped me quite a bit. I managed to find some things for A and SIL's new baby (a boy, due early June). Since FIL was a helicopter pilot I wanted to get some things with helos on them, and I was able to get some deals. When I complained to Pilar that I hadn't received the 25% off postcard, and gymboree.com had stopped sending me email, she told me that she'd give me the discount without the postcard. WAHOO! I got the girls each a few things, but I'd like to get some bottoms for A and another outfit or two for B.

Unfortunately, I just can't get to complete my transaction online. Thursday night I had 20 items in my cart. Friday morning I was down to 19. Now I'm at 18. Some are duplicates of things I bought at the store. I'd like to edit my cart and checkout, but the stupid thing won't let me in. Argh. This is one of the reasons for my lukewarm feeling for Gymboree. If they can charge ridiculous amounts for clothes, can't they funnel just a little bit of their profits into another server or two in order to deal with the rush they always have during sales and Gymbucks time?? Ugh.

Going to publish this post and see if I can get in to my shopping cart yet.

I survived. Whew!

2006-02-11T22:40:00.000-06:00

Today was the shindig at B's school for which I had to bake brownies. More about that later.

DH was been sick all week with something like the flu. He has some serious antibiotics that he's been taking but they don't seem to be working. He's feverish, and suffers from chills and hot flashes, hacking up a ton of phlegm, etc. It's really wonderful. Thus, I've been sleeping on the couch for at least a week. At 2am Friday morning I finally finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha. It was fantastic and I had trouble putting the book down every night while reading it (so I was up until 2-3 every night this week). Yesterday morning B came down around 6:50 and turned on the TV after getting my permission to do so. Then DH got up, got her breakfast and went upstairs to work a little in his office. I went back to sleep. Thank goodness DH looked at the clock at nearly 7:30 and realized it was too quiet and woke me up to get B ready for school. She normally heads out to the bus stop with one of us at 7:35, so I had to hurry to get her clothes and make myself somewhat presentable. She made it to the stop in time. Whew; that was a close one.

Today B got up at her usual time and came down to watch TV. I rolled over and let her watch it while the rest of us slept. Finally I had to get up, get laundry in the dryer, get a shower, get the other kids, change them, feed them, and get to the school to help setup and decorate for the shindig tonight. I got to the school at noon and worked for over an hour setting up the cafeteria and decorating the tables. Since the other parents had apparently been there all morning, they were all working well and knew each others names. I was the outsider just doing what was asked, without benefit of introductions. Oh well.

Got home, took care of some paperwork, and watched as the kids continued their destruction of the first floor, which was their goal while I was out. DH's job while I was gone was apparently only to make sure they stayed downstairs. Thanks for that.

I got the little ones bathed and dressed while B took a shower by herself in our bathroom. Once we were all ready we left Daddy at home and went to the big fundraising party at the school. There were games with candy for prizes, raffles of fantastic themed prizes (girl stuf, boy stuff, family game night, etc), raffles for class outings (mini-golf with the principal, bowling with the Kindy teachers, etc), a silent auction with tons of great stuff (each class had made something from a local "paint your own pottery" store, photographer credit, wine rack, etc), and a live auction, featuring a dog, and an autographed Roger "The Rocket" Clemens baseball. I actually bid quite competitively for the baseball, but bowed out just before the man standing behind me won the ball. However, the lady auctioneer thought I had won it while the spotters thought it was the man right behind me. The fellow and I worked it out since there was no controversy, but the spotters apparently had been concerned. My highlight for the evening was seeing a man in the cafeteria who was wearing a hat from my college alma mater. Right before we left, I asked him if he indeed go there and he did. He and his wife were originally from the Philly area, and lived right near from where DH and I just moved. It was so refreshing to talk to another displaced Yankee. His family has been down here 6 years and they love it. We even have the same summer survival plan, which includes escaping the oppressive heat and humidity by going someplace in the northeast with less oppressive heat and just as much humidity. LOL!

We saw B's teacher in the hall who told me that she's been doing better in school, finishing more of her classwork, which was wonderful to hear. We also had the pleasure of seeing Clay and his family. It was the first time we've seen them since we watched their kids the day they moved. Clay's mom told me she's been very busy with unpacking, and of course, I commisserated. She's preaching to the choir, and that is just what I told her.

I feel like I need a drink after going to this thing. I think the entire school's student population, plus their parents and siblings, and a few stray grandparents, were in attendance. It was CROWDED. Like shopping at the mall right before Christmas. And rather than deal with two or three loose kids, I kept S and A in the double stroller for the better part of the night. So maneuvering that thing around the tight crowded hallways became a recipe for disaster. Add in that this thing went from 5-9pm, when the kids normally go to bed between 7 and 7:30, and it became a disaster. Part of the Clemens auction confusion probably stemmed from my trying to rock A to sleep while waving frantically to have my bids recognized. They probably decided that any move on my part was a bid.

I've already eaten the brownies that remained from my baking fun yesterday. A beer is sounding really good... Hmmm... I think I better end this post.

Temptation

2006-02-10T23:01:00.000-06:00

I had to bake 2 dozen brownies for B's school today, so I did it this morning after she got on the bus. Let's face it, it is much easier to bake without little ones running around the kitchen. I was worried that someone touch a hot pan or trip me up.

Needless to say, the entire house smells delicious. In fact, all I could smell all day was brownies. Brownies in the car, brownies on my clothes, EVERYWHERE! I was very good and packed up all the brownies that would fit in the container, leaving me about 8 small brownies. Being the mean mommy that I am, I cut them up after I put the kids to bed, and I've had two tonight. I hope I'm feeling more generous tomorrow and let the kids have one each.

Especially For Mama Tulip

2006-02-08T21:29:00.000-06:00

Mama Tulip recently blogged about her DH's propensity to pass gas (read more here). In honor of that, I thought I'd pass on a website that may be helpful to her or others in the same situation: http://www.flat-d.com/products.html

I cannot speak to the utility of the products offered. If they can't give you a breath of fresh air, perhaps they'll give you a giggle.

Yay Steelers!

2006-02-05T23:47:00.000-06:00

So the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Hmm, am I allowed to use the words "Super Bowl" or should I say "Big Game"?? I'm glad the team from the East Coast and my former home state won.

My friend Tim was a big Steeler fan. Thinking of the Steelers makes me think of him and that makes me sad. Why is that? Because just over a year ago I got some disturbing news about Tim. He and his lovely wife Juli were divorcing, and he apparently got himself screwed up good to earn the divorce. Juli did everything she could to help him and so did our friends who knew. However, he just went mental. It sounded to me like he either had some sort of mental crisis, akin to a mid-life crisis, or got messed up with drugs. It's a pity because Tim and Juli and their beautiful daughter Anna made such a wonderful family.

Tim and I dated very briefly in high school, but I liked him more like a friend. We survived some strange times, like after he asked me to our junior prom and I had accepted, I later told him I couldn't go with him to the prom. I had heard that he wanted to go off alone with me after the prom (he was the only one of our friends with a drivers license at that time). Being the good Catholic girl, going to the prestigious Catholic school, his post-prom plans weren't OK with me, so I got out of the date. But we remained friends, and I was very happy about that.

Tim and Juli met in college and I loved her from the moment I met her. They were so cute together, finishing each other's sentences. I'd been to their home for dinners; DH and I went to Tim's surprise 30th birthday party. And I was privileged to be a part of their wedding ceremony.

I think what saddens me most is that they seemed to be one of those couples who are so perfectly suited that you just know they'll never get divorced. When you find out the awful truth, it shocks you to the core, and you wonder, if I was wrong about them...

I hope Juli and Anna are happy and I hope and pray that Tim gets the help he needs.