Thursday, November 13, 2008

deep breath

tonight was a rough night in parenting.

i don't really want to go into details and point blame at any one child, but let's just say that i almost utilized that crazy safe haven law we have on the books (temporarily, as it were) and free myself of 2 kids. i would then only have one. which one? he's a boy if that narrows it down. i can't believe of the 3 of them the 5-year-old boy was the best one. he knew momma was about to blow a gasket and to steer clear. the girls, being too much like their mother, did not know when to give up and almost put me over the edge. of a cliff.

i calmed down. they are all fine. i need to go over the events of the evening in my mind and find a better way to handle things next time. yes, we all know there will be a next time.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

piano lessons

The Muss started taking piano lessons the beginning of October. Today was only her 6th lesson, but she is almost completely through her first book. Her teacher showers her with praise and tells me how quickly she is picking up the music. She really seems to love it and when she sits down to practice at home will go on for quite a long time. She doesn't practice as much as she should, but I don't make her so it is more my fault.

Sometimes, being the oldest, I think she feels like she doesn't get as much attention as the others. She isn't the boy. She isn't the tiny pixie-like toddler flitting about the room. She is the oldest and because she is the oldest she is expected to do more. I was the oldest so I get it. I understand how she is feeling and also understand that later in life she will enjoy being the oldest. More experiences to share, first to go to college, first to leave home, and many other firsts but it still all seems unfair now. We do our best to divide and conquer with the kids giving them each one-on-one time when we can. It is difficult though. We both work outside the home, J. is in school full-time (for not much longer, woohoo!) and there is always so much to do around the house. It is hard to find the time.

But for this 1/2 hour a week my dad comes over to babysit Boo & Kiki and I take the Muss to her piano lesson. I sit and listen to her learn the notes, play and sing. She plays sweet duets singing along with her teacher. It is really lovely. She knows I am proud of her and think she is amazing. I really need to tell her that more.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

veterans' day

Also my mother's birthday. We had my mother and step-father over for dinner tonight. One of the moments I want to remember is the kids trying to surprise my mother as she came into the house. They hid on the stairs and shushed eachother so loudly that I'm sure my mother heard them as she was coming across the street. As she walked in the door, they jumped down and yelled "SURPRISE!!!" Then the Muss strummed the guitar as the 3 of them sang "Happy Birthday" to her. I got a tear in my eye it was so sweet. They had crafted her some lovely birthday cards and we ate, talked, had cake and played. Good times.

Monday, November 10, 2008

diagnosed

Almost a week since the election. An election that should have invigorated me and I still cannot muster the energy to get off the sofa and cook dinner. What is up? I think I have found the answer ~

Now what to do about it...

Sunday, November 9, 2008

100 years

We had a pretty uneventful weekend I am sad to say. Just not much I could motivate myself to do. Hmmmm, seems to be a pattern here.

One thing we did do today was go to the 100th birthday party of a lovely lady from our church. Everyone in my family has known this lady for our entire lives. The Muss was especially excited to go, she just loves her. There were a few hundred people who came by for this event today. I guess when you live for 100 years, you get to know a lot of people. She greeted each one individually hugging them all. What an amazing woman to have lived to see so much in her lifetime. She mind is still sharp and her body is healthy and she is one of the kindest, most caring people you could ever meet. Now that is something to aspire to.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

and the weekend

Since it's a Saturday, I should really be doing laundry and cleaning my house. Seriously, the furr....UGH. Is it cruel to shave a dog as winter is approaching? I can't handle the fur. I think I need one of those hairless dogs. Also, one that takes care of itself while we go on vacation would be nice. Do they make those? I didn't think so. But really, the fur. I could build another pet with the accumulation under the sofa....and the dining table...and the bookshelf.

Then the laundry...UGH...it mocks me. I have getting the laundry hauled to the washing machine, then washing and drying the clothes. It is after that there is an issue. I just can't seem to get the laundry out of the dryer, fold it and, here's the kicker, actually put it away. Just can't do it. So, I am ashamed to admit, we live from laid out piles of clothes that I have to hunt through every evening to find outfits for the next day. Love it.

I need a laundry fairy.

Friday, November 7, 2008

wow, am I tired

This week has totally wore me out. I have no idea what is up, but it certainly isn't me. I am so jazzed that it is Friday and the kids are in bed. I am looking forward to watching Bill Maher tonight while partaking of an adult beverage. Hearing his take on the events of this week will surely give me some laughs.

More boring than the usual boring today, sorry 'bout that. Just can't muster up anything better.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

feeling many things

No matter who you supported in this election, we would all have to agree that it was a momentous one. With an African-American heading one ticket and a woman in the 2nd seat on the other, it was definitely turning out to be history-making. But for me it was more than that. When Barack Obama came to my city before he had even clinched the Democratic nomination I took the Muss to see him. I wanted her to be a part of the history being made. We are a very overlooked speck on the map politically. A Red State in the middle of the country that almost never turns Blue. Plus, only 5 electoral votes so no one really cares about us. We are far from being one of the coveted "swing states" so the fact that he came here was enough to get me off the sofa.

While he was definitely an excellent speaker and drew a packed crowd, I saw more in him. He really believes what he says. He really wants to make the United States and the world a better place. He does not seem to be pandering to any particular group of people. He is for the underdog. He is the underdog.

From that moment I became a believer in his mission.

Then after the big conventions, the real campaign began. And it got ugly. I was really afraid that the fear the other side was spreading was going to smother the hope that Obama was trying to give us. Then from the fear came the lies, the misconstruing of everything said, the pundits and their pundittiness, blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, etc. GAWWWW, make it stop.

Then it stopped. Finally.

And I really do feel like it is the dawn of a new day. I am not naive enough to believe that this will heal all the wounds, but I do believe that it is a start. A great, big start. I don't believe President-Elect Obama can fix all that ails in our country on January 21st or even in a year, let alone a term. We have much to fix. What has sunken us to a new low from the past 8 years of whatever you call the past 8 years will take some time to get past.

However, I believe that he told the truth throughout his campaign. I was reassured by his calmness during the chaos. By the way he stood tall and strong while others tried to knock him down with all they could muster. He smiled that warm smile and touched the hearts and minds of the masses.

Now let's move on, the people have spoken. Get over it, FoxNews.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

the day after

I have never been prouder to be an American than I was last night while watching President-Elect Barack Obama.

There really aren't words right now.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

election day

Today I am doing my civic duty and working at the office of the Election Commision for my county. Ok, I'm not really doing it by choice, I was drafted. We are the only state in the country that drafts our election workers like we draft people for jury duty. Man, I live in half-assed-backwards state. WTF are we still doing here? Anyway, you can't get out of this stuff unless you are dying in a hospital. Not this election. They think for some reason this one may be a bit busy. Gee, I wonder where they get that idea?

I have to work from 6:30am to 8:00pm and answer the phones to direct people where to vote and how to vote if they are not in "THE BOOK" as they think they should be. I get a break for lunch and dinner which they provide because we can't actually leave the premises. Don't feel bad for me, I have my own office this time (this is my 3rd or 4th election, we get drafted for 4) which is nice because I can surf the net and type on my blog while I am supposed to be working. Just kidding, I have been answering calls nonstop, but am taking a well-deserved break right now.

I have had some very interesting calls today, but let me put out a word of advice to those who would like to be able to vote. People, today is not the day to find out if you are registered to vote. No, this is something you should have checked on weeks, if not months ago. Also, I am very sorry if you were hospitalized with the flu back in March, but tell me WTF does that have to do with you being unable to get to us to register to vote before October 24th? Wow, there are a helluva lot of you who move during the months of October and November. While I can empathize with you moving across the country, but since you are a resident of Louisiana and you are moving to Oregon, you cannot vote in Nebraska. Sorry about that. Also, you people are driving me crazy.

Thanks I feel better. Break is about over too so let's wrap this shizzle up.

I will be off in a couple of hours and I plan to go home, cuddle up on the sofa with a my hubby and a cocktail and watch CNN until this thing is done. Lord, please help me make it through the night.

Monday, November 3, 2008

halloween continued

I am one of those people who loves to carve fancy pumpkins. Every year I let the kids each pick out a pattern from the book and I carve their choice for them. Yes, it is just a pattern, but they really are challenging. Some are much easier than others. This year, Boo chose a lovely skeleton-pirate guy. He was easy. The Muss chose a spiderweb with a spider at the bottom. That one was not easy. Kiki couldn't really decide, but I had a pattern to make a Barack Obama campaign logo and she decided she liked that one.

Like I mentioned, we weren't home on Halloween so I made sure to turn off all the lights as well as the motion-sensitive flood light for the driveway before we left. Then I lit our pumpkins to show off my handiwork. Then we left and did what I told you about yesterday.

When we got home, the Barack O'Lantern was gone. I looked around a bit to discover it shattered in my neighbor's driveway and a bit into the street. Now, mind you, this was the closest pumpkin to the house. This/these hoodlum(s) had to walk past my other 2 carved pumpkins to get to this one. Barack was targeted. I was disgusted. Why can't we all just get along? Why can't we just accept others differing opinions? I have some very good friends, not to mention family who are McCain supporters. So be it, but I am not. I respect their right to support the candidate of their choice, even though I think they are blooming crazy for it. Ok, not really. Maybe just a little crazy. Ok, not crazy, but I just don't agree. At all. Not that he is a bad guy. He just doesn't speak for me or to me at all.

So, Pumpkin-Smashers, I hope you got a good laugh when you destroyed my Barack O'Lantern, but let me tell you something. I carved a new one to light as a beacon to the world tomorrow night. Election night. And I will be the one laughing then.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

halloween night

We are never home to pass out candy on Halloween. Our block is mostly the over-80 set and is pretty quiet with just a few lights on. Plus J. is usually at work weeknights and that leaves me to take the kids trick-or-treating. This year J. was actually able to take a vacation day so I thought it would be great to go out on Halloween as a family for, like, the first time ever. Milestone!

So we went out on our candy spree with a friend of ours and his son who is just a bit younger than Boo (but quite a bit taller, that Boo is a wee one). My aunt and my cousin also came along because we trick-or-treat in their neighborhood ~ it is flat and most of the lights are on. Everything went swimmingly until the Muss decided she was tired. Everyone had better get the hell out of her way when she is done because if you don't she will make you pay. Needless to say, there was a scene. My cousin took her back to my aunt and uncle's house and the boys kept going. Kiki (aka Tinkerbell) was done dealing, but she had her daddy/pack mule to carry her where she needed to go.

After returning with our loot to my aunt's house, I wanted to take a few pictures of the kids with family. Especially one with the Muss and my cousin who is her godmother. They always get their picture taken together, it's just their thing. But no, you would think the flash was going to steal her soul and suck the life force from her being from the way she was writhing and wailing at the thought of having a photo taken. So I took a picture of that. She didn't think that was funny at all.

As you can guess, we went home. Thankfully our friend who was with us totally understands and is chill with the whole temper-tantrum-for-no-freakin'-reason thing. Also, as you can guess, the Muss went directly to bed, do not pass go, do not get to eat any candy on Halloween night.

Oh, so the whole point of this post was to mention what we found when we returned home. Stay tuned~

Saturday, November 1, 2008

it's been far too long

I can't believe how long it's been since I have posted! It certainly isn't because nothing has happened of interest or because the kids haven't been spouting their usual funnies. It must be because I have been busier than you know what and just haven't had time to put things into writing. Not wise, I know. Again I will be forgetting 10 times as much as I remember and there are so many memories to precious (or hysterical) to lose.

I have a story to share about Halloween night, but guess what, I'm too busy to type it right now. The crazies are about and I need to banish them to their beds. Once that is done, J. & I need to complete our ballots for the election so I can run them by the Election Commission since we will not be able to vote on Election Day. Why, you ask? Because I have been remanded to election duty once again and will be answering the phones directing people to their correct polling places. As much as I would like to send some of them to the wrong ones, I won't.

Friday, August 15, 2008

from the back seat

kiki: what is this song, Daddy?

J.: Hot Legs by Rod Stewart.

kiki: hout wegs?

J.: yes, Hot Legs.

kiki: oh, Captain Hook has hout wegs!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

not in hot water

Why, you ask? Let me tell you, my friends, it is because our hot water heater was not working. Well, technically (as my loving husband likes to point out) it was working, but it was leaking out of this pipe-thing sticking off the side. You could look at it and see it was 20-25 years old and so I figured that it would be smarter to just, you know, replace the water heater instead of just that little pipe thing. I had support from my dad who agreed that we needed a new one because the old one was, well, old. And from my step-dad who said that it was probably 50% full of sediment and stuff. And really, how hard can a water heater be to replace? A Saturday project at best one would think.

Clearly, I have no idea what I'm talking about since I don't even know what that pipe-thing sticking off the side is called.

So the original project for the weekend was to replace this little log type low retaining wall on the back patio that oozes dirt every time it rains with some lovely landscape block that my aunt and uncle so generously gave us. 2 years ago. We are a little slow on the home improvement thing. Well, it ended up raining all week and was just too wet to be trying to set in landscape block. So I chime in, "Hey, how about you replace the water heater?" My dad and J. agree and head off to Lowe's. I suggested that they go to Menard's (a locally owned chain), but they went to Lowe's because it is closer. We really didn't do any research about hot water heaters and such, just the prices. Which were all about the same. One would figure that you would get the same type of quality for the same money at any of the major home improvement stores. WRONG.

So they come home with a lovely shiny new Whirlpool FlameLock water heater. I won't go into details about the numerous trips to the neighborhood hardware store to buy this or that as they were trying to install it. Or even about the little blowtorch that engulfed in flames (also from Lowe's) and almost killed my step-dad. Or that despite using the liquid copper sealer stuff as well as sodering with a new non-flame-engulfing blowtorch, the thing still leaked water from several places. No, let me just focus on the true crime here. This particular brand of water heater. Oh, People, please google this thing before buying. I implore you. It is insanely heinous that Lowe's even continues to carry a product that has been causing nothing but grief since the beginning of this decade. This is exclusively sold at Lowe's and was the only kind of water heater available at Lowe's. NUTS, I tell you! I don't know how with good conscience I am going to be able to continue to shop at a store that sells something it knows is a PIECE OF CRAP. HOW?????????? WHY?????????? Do they have no morals? I think not.

Orange is my favorite color anyway. Guess where I'm going to shop from now on?

There is more to our Saturday, but I will have to post that later. I give you a teaser though ~ Mommy freaked the f*ck out.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

generation gap

Calling the kids in to wash up for dinner tonight, I see Kiki has been playing with blue sidewalk chalk. Her hands and arms were covered with it and she had rubbed her face so it was blue as well.

Me: Kiki, did you color with some chalk?

Kiki: Blue chalk, momma!

Me: I can tell, you look like a smurf.

Muss: What's a smurf?

Monday, April 21, 2008

and then at dinner

Muss: Mama, there's something weird going on.

Me: What is it?

Muss: Well, during Spring Break last week, the days seemed to go really fast. The whole week went really fast. Then, today at school, the day went really slow. Slower than the Spring Break days.

Me: Welcome to reality, sweetie.

breakfast exchange

Boo decided he wanted toast for breakfast this morning

J: Boo, do you want white bread or brown bread?

Boo: uhhhh, white....because I'm white.

That he is. I think he is even pastier-white than his mother. And that is pretty white.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

finally

Finally I am starting to feel better. I haven't been out of commission like this for as long as I can remember. It's like I had mono or something (but I didn't) and I have just been tired. Like I-can't-go-on-another-minute tired. Really tired. And I am still having coughing attacks like a 3-pack-a-day smoker (but I'm not). I am still using an inhaler like an asthmatic (but I'm not). But this week, I was able to take the kids to the zoo. AND WALK AROUND. Walk around for more than 5 minutes without needing to sit down and take a breather. And hack up another lung (how many are in there anyway because I'm almost sure I have hacked them all up). I am not at full speed, but I am better. That's a start at least.

So after walking around the zoo for 2 hours, I took the Muss to her tennis lesson. Thank the heavens above that Kiki fell asleep on the way there because I could not have chased her around the tennis center for an hour without losing my mind (and yet another lung). So the Muss had her lesson, Boo played with the siblings of one of the Muss' tennis mates and Kiki slept on my lap while I caught up with another mom who had a newborn (her 4th!). Then I got take-out on the way home because after all that activity, there would be no cooking for me. I was beat.

My mothering skills have not been stellar lately. I have been short with the kids, meals have been hap-hazard and I have probably let them play the Wii more than I should. Then there is the house. I was able to get it presentable enough to have a birthday party for the Muss on Sunday evening (a week late, mind you), but it was only clean on the surface. Barely.

Then there is the laundry. I have complained about laundry in the past, maybe not here, but my friends and family have heard my laundry woes. My issues with laundry are kind of like my own little personal inside joke. So inside, that I'm probably the only one who thinks it's hysterical, but whatever. Well, let me try to put my current laundry situation into words for you. We have a 3-bin hamper. You know, the kind that hypothetically lets one separate into different loads and once a particular bin is almost full to the top, then one would presumably put that load into the washer, then the dryer and then, if one were motivated, they would fold said laundry and put it in its home. That sounds so simple written out like that, doesn't it? Let's just say that this scenario has not happened here. In this home. In, well, let's just say, AWHILE. Like so long that those bins that are only as high as about my mid-thigh are piled up taller than I am. And I don't consider myself a vertically-challenged individual.

I am going to hang my head in shame now.

Friday, April 4, 2008

den of illness

Mid-point of our last week-end, J. hauled himself to the ER because he couldn't breathe. He has asthma and had caught some type super-virus that was kicking his hiney and, well, we figured the whole not-breathing-thing could not wait until Monday when our GP was back in his office. An x-ray, some blood tests and a couple of breathing treatments later he was back at home. Can't wait for that bill, we haven't even touched our deductible yet this year. So then he improved. A bit. Today wasn't necessarily a good day in the breathing department, but he is better.

In the meantime, the Muss and Boo have been hacking up little lungs this week. No fever or anything else of note, just the hack. I have some prescription cough meds I keep in the cupboard for just these instances and they seem to better a couple of days later.

All the while, I have been getting progressively sicker since Wednesday. I thought maybe some alcohol consumption Wednesday night with friends would kill the germs, but alas, it did not. So, by today, I am coughing up all kinds of colorful stuff accompanied by wheezing, fever, chills, a bit of nauseau (that was yesterday) and a headache that could fell a brachiosaurus.

Seriously, the kids, they are not quiet. They have no volume control, it is either at 11 or they are sleeping. They don't have the capability to be quiet. IT IS COMPLETELY FOREIGN TO THEM. Last night, I was not bucking for mother of the year. With the constant shhhhhh's and hushhhhhhhh's and for the love of pete, could you please be quiet's, well, let's just say they were not sorry that I was not home when they woke up this morning.

Oh, did I not mention that I didn't miss any work during this illness? Nope, well, not until today. I went in at 7a and left at 2:45p for a 3p doctor's appointment (wasn't supposed to be off until 4:30p). I succumbed to the modern medicine thing and got myself a couple of shots in my hiney, a couple of scripts and a free inhaler (WOOO!). That should all make another nice dent in the annual deductible. Except that free inhaler, of course. Why did I not miss work, you ask? Well, I was OUT with work people on Wednesday night, including my manager, and that would just look bad. You know what I mean, I know you do. Then today, it was a quest to win over the illness (I eventually did end up losing). When you talk on the phone all day, it sucks when you lose your voice. Doesn't work well at all.

So that is our week, it doesn't help that the Muss turns 7 tomorrow and we were supposed to have her family party. Luckily it was all family and very close friends and they are easy enough to reschedule (thanks family and friends).

Have you noticed anyone conspicuously absent from this post? Yep, Kiki. I may have mentioned before the issues we've had with Kiki and
her lungs and somehow she has stayed well during this bout of family illness.

KNOCK.ON.WOOD.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

at the dinner table

eating easter egg salad in whole wheat pitas with a side of grapes (yeah, I know, sounds more like lunch, but I'm lazy)

boo: last one done with dinner is a rotten egg

muss: HA! good one, boo

Monday, March 24, 2008

easter rush

I can't believe we made it! To church, that is. It is family tradition to attend the Sunrise Service at our church on Easter morning at 6:30am. Yes, you read that correctly, 6:30am. J. & I had our phone alarms set for 5:10am (mine) and 5:30am (his) so we would not oversleep. You can probably guess what happened. So at 5:58am J. wakes up to use his inhaler because he can't breathe. I have never been so happy for his asthma as I was yesterday because at that moment he happened to look at the clock before dozing back off and had one of those oh-shit-moments.

Yes, we need to leave the house by 6:15am to squeak in at the last moment and that was, oh, only 17 minutes from now.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

He quickly woke me up and somehow in my daze I got dressed and brushed my teeth, woke up the Muss, put make-up on, brushed and hair-sprayed my hair, the Muss' hair, sent her in the wake up Kiki while J. woke up Boo, brushed Boo's hair and told him to get dressed FAST. FRENZY of activity. The list goes on.

Let's pause for a brief moment and talk about Boo. Now here is a boy who cannot be rushed. Telling him to hurry is like telling a snail to hurry. He just can't ooze along amy faster. In fact, if you tell him to hurry he just short circuits and goes even slower. And he had to BUTTON. HIS. SHIRT. Thank heavens his shoes were velcro or my head would have promptly exploded into a million particles right there in the living room.

Now Kiki. Oh my. We had not done a trial run with the dress before that morning and that was an error in judgment on my part. Oh yes it was. I put the dress on her and she immediately began to writhe and scream DON'T LIKE IT! DON'T WANT THE DRESS, DON'T LIKE IT and then pulled and squirmed making it exceedingly difficult to button said dress. Then came the socks. She was no more pleased with the ruffled socks than she was with the dress and don't even get me started on the shoes. They were most definitely put on this earth to be a toddler torture device. Somehow I managed to get her dressed and ready despite all of this in about 3.5 minutes.

The Muss grabbed Easter hats and J. grabbed Boo's belt and we bolted out the door at 6:20am. The interstate was empty (shocking for a Sunday at 6:20am, I know), I put on my jewelry in the van and we made it to church at 6:32am.

Mighty impressive, I know. And we didn't look half bad.




Footnote: As I was lying on my sofa later in my food coma and exhausted from the day, my phone alarm went off at 5:10pm. Typical.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

not sure if I should be worried

I came home from work today to find J. sitting on the sofa in the downstairs family room folding laundry and watching Oprah.

Monday, February 25, 2008

shoe drama

via text messaging

me: did you get cupcakes and juice for boo's birthday at school today?

J.: yes, got cupcakes and juice. Muss had a fit about shoes this morning, she hates them all

me: oh yes, the shoes. Were they poking and rubbing in all the wrong places.

J.: yes, they live to make her life miserable...along with her socks.

Friday, February 22, 2008

at the circus

via text messaging

me: cotton candy = crack for Kiki

J.: and no nap...this will end in flames.

me: surely it will

Sunday, February 17, 2008

house = meat locker

We awoke this morning to a very chilly home.

Actually, laying in bed with the kids, I didn't even notice because we have to keep a space heater going in our bedroom at night otherwise our room would ALWAYS be a meat locker. It is right above the garage, poorly insulated, you catch my drift. But after letting Trooper out, J. came in to announce that the furnace was not working and it was 57 degrees in the house. Brrrrrr.

We have old wiring and such so I figured it was just a circuit breaker or something easy like that, I mean why would a furnace that is less than 4 years old go out for any reason. It is practically new!! Of course, he had already thought of the circuit breaker thing and that was not the issue. Dang.

To top it off, it is Sunday and any respectable furnace guy is going to charge a billion dollars an hour to come over and look at it. First we called the guy who installed the furnace since it is, after all, still under warranty. He was walking into church and said he would call us back when he got out. So he did. When he told us how much it would cost an hour for him to come out on a Sunday, I thought
how can this guy even call himself a Christian. I hope he went to confession. Whatever.

I perused the phone book and saw an ad that said
24-hour service at regular rates! and NO OVERTIME RATES EVER! and figured this was my guy. I had J. call him. He is conveniently preparing to leave on vacation, but referred us to a friend of his who covers for him when he is gone. I think this is code for "I'm really not going to come on a Sunday at regular rates, you fool! Call this dude and then we split the cash." J. calls furnace guy #3 and he is home sick with the flu. At this point, I am sure there is some conspiracy to get us to pay the above quoted billion dollars an hour to have someone look at our furnace. In defense of furnace guy #3, however, I will say that he did try to talk J. through some quick fixes on the phone. None of which worked, but he did put out substantially more effort than furnace guys #1 and #2.

In the end, we are just having to go without heat for a day. Luckily it is not sub-zero and we have a slight warm-up going on. The Muss and Boo are currently with J. and friends at a place that has all-you-can-eat pizza and ice cream and at least 50 million square feet of games and rides. They are not worried at all. Kiki is sick and home with me and is currently sleeping her baby cares away upstairs in the 1 warm room of the house.

Me, I am going to tie this entry up and eat some pizza myself while sitting on the sofa with a blanket and this laptop to watch that last
Desperate Housewives episode I still haven't seen. Yeah, the after-the-tornado episode, I'm a little behind. I can't believe no one has told me what happened yet.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

banter

via text messaging:

J.: I think you've officially lost all nail clippers in the house

me: they're around
just look harder

J: my point is I shouldn't have to, we have like 8 of them total

me: oh
didn't know you were trying to make a point


later in the minivan on the way to the Muss' tennis lesson:

boo: mama, what are we having for dinner?

me: minestrone soup and grilled cheese

boo: yummy, yummy, yummy, get your yummies here (sung to the tune of
lolli, lolli, lolli, get your adverbs here from Schoolhouse Rock)

me: so you are pleased?

boo: yep. am I so funny?

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

and we're back

After a long hiatus, I'm going to give this blogging thing a go again. I figured I would start with the photos because those are easy and require little thought. I now think I have posted in just over a month more than I did the entire year of 2007. Off to a good start. I know I have lived and forgotten lots of things that I'm not going to get back so I going to attempt to be more diligent about it this time. After that huge run-on sentence, if you are looking for grammar lessons . . . this is not your website.