Bunkers?

I am more than a little curious with the level of hysteria that seems to be bubbling right under the surface. Rumors of ammunition shortages from people stocking up. People stating over and over in various conversations "we just don't know what is going to happen". While searching for the Feingold approved dino nuggets on the Costco website, I come across a whole selection of shelf stable, prepackaged foods. A 6 month, 4 person supply for 2 grand and people are buying this?

Is it normal human nature to assume the worst will happen? Are we entering another 'cold war era' where everyone builds underground bunkers and stocks it with supplies? Am I missing something by not buying into all of it?

The princess and the pea

Ahhh, sweet mattress. You are the best of times and the worst of times. Ever since moving into the new house, Hubby has had problems with his back. He went to a chiropractor and a massage therapist with regularity. He insisted his back hurt every morning. I on the other hand woke up rested and peaceful.

Fast forward a few months and I ended up sleeping on his side of the bed and I woke up with a sore back. We switched the bed around and now I'm in such pain I can hardly move. I spent an hour and a half with the massage therapist and now I'm bruised and in pain.

Now we have to decide on a mattress. Anyone have a sleep number bed?

No coherant thoughts

It is so freaking hot!! It has not rained the entire month of June and the heat index is well over 100. We're used to this weather for a bit in August, but at least we usually get a little relief with some rain. Everything is crispy and it will be interesting to see if the fireworks are allowed this 4th of July. Talks of a water ban and we just did our landscaping including a new maple tree. That would not be good.

In other news, I'm saddened by the news from Jon and Kate. I'm not a regular viewer of the show, but I've seen enough to form an opinion. Not only do those poor kids have to live with cameras in there faces for fun family outings, but now they get the break up of their parents marriage and I'm sure all the nightmares to come recorded on film. I can only imagine how difficult it is to raise 8 children but I would have much more respect for them if they chose to save their family instead of their show.

Last night was Bubby's 'birthday party'. We're trying something new this year. Every year, I put together a big party for each kid and then we have a separate party just for family. It is exhausting and expensive, so this year we've dialed it back. Bubby had 4 friends spend the night and we set up sprinklers in the backyard and let them jump on the trampoline until they nearly passed out, fed them pizza and a cupcake and turned on a scary movie. They were all very well behaved and having 5 nine year old boys in the house was much easier than I anticipated.

Smoochie chose to spend the night with a friend rather than tough it out with the boys. Hubby had the boys under control, so I decided to head to bed around 11 since I had to work today. I'm almost asleep and the phone rings and Hubby had to go get Smoochie because she was scared. I was finally able to get back to sleep around midnight after they got back.

By the way, if you plan on taking children other than your own to swim at Lifetime Fitness, you must have waivers filled out for all the children. Oh, and the city pool in our city closes at 6:50 pm during the week. Despite all of that, I think they all had a great time.

Hilarious

We just returned from a 10 day vacation in California. We started off in San Diego (thanks to the lovely aspect of standy flying) and drove to LA. We spent the day in Disneyland and then picked up our RV for the week to drive up the coast. All five of us, in a 31 foot trailer. Lots of family time and I will post pictures soon.

We just returned home tonight and our bodies have not adjusted to Central standard time, so we're sitting around the dinner table eating pizza at 10 pm. Somehow we got on the subject of baby names and I would get caught up in the conversation until I realized what we were talking about and would exclaim- HEY! No more babies!!! The kids are emphatic that they want a little brother and sister so after one refusal on my part, Bubby turns to Hubby and says- Hey Daddy! Sneak in there!! We were all in tears.

Later on in the dinner conversation, Hubby tells Smoochie that she needs to get her back pack off the floor. Apparently some of the educational aspects of the trip paid off and she tells him that the floor is her backpack's natural habitat.

It's weird being back to what now feels like our giant sized house. The close quarters definetely brought us closer together.

Advocate

After a recent run in with an assistant coach on Bubby's baseball team, I have been trying to make sense of the lesson I need to learn from it. Our parenting style has always been a little more laid back. We purposefully try not to shield our children from the world, but try to use each instance as a learning opportunity. On the flip side, we don't intentionally expose them either, but our main objective is to raise self reliant children that have confidence in themselves and their abilities and to be thoughtful and kind to those around them.

Back to the baseball saga, one coach in particular would try to adjust Bubby's swing and stance in the middle of his bat. I could see my son getting rattled and could see that most of the time, the coach was telling him opposite of what he should be doing. He's been playing long enough to know where to stand in the box. I asked one of the helper dads to pass the message on to please stop adjusting him while at bat. The coach then proceeded to call me over to the dugout and chew me out. In front of all the players and the parents telling me that he heard the calls I was giving him (all I ever say is to watch the ball and you can do it) and that I was a terrible coach and he sees my son getting all emotional because of me. He continued on and I again repeated my request with no judgement attached. Finally I had enough and just walked off. After the fact I find out that he has quite a reputation and I am not the first that he has attacked or even the first that day.

I've been mulling over the lesson in this for me. I finally realized something that is probably so obvious to all parents, I just must be really slow on the uptake. There are adults in this world that are involved in helping children to serve their own needs and not the needs of the children. My job is step in when those situations arise and be my child's advocate. That is not a life lesson they should learn on their own. Looking back, I wish I had done more to help him with his teacher last year who was down right evil. I wish I had stood up to her and the school to tell them it was not ok in addition to just telling my son that sometimes you get teachers (or bosses) that are not nice and you just have to bear it. I wish I had done more. Finding the right balance will be a challenge, but no one knows Bubby better than his father and I and he needs to know that we are his advocate.

Rumor mills

Gotta love the old rumor mill. My company, Big Oil, decided it was time to trim costs after the drop in crude prices. And the best way to trim costs? Well, tell people to take it packing of course! The big, thoughtful idea was to make the whole process 'transparent'. January of this year the talks began. It is now May and we still have no idea what is really going on. Apparently everyone has been ranked and the rumor is 10% must go, but no one has any idea where they stand or when they will announce. Just rip off the band aid already! We're all tired of worrying about it.

Yes, I know

I'm not doing any better keeping up. We've had a tough few weeks around the Spritzy household. Sudsy had quite a run. First, he came down with a fever. Didn't think too much of it until it hit 104.5 a few days in. Then we started to get concerned. Doctor drew blood and it was most likely due to a virus but he was also showing signs of an ear infection. The day his fever spiked, he had an appointment with the eye doctor to finally do something about his blocked tear duct. The doctor was able to open it up in office (while strapping him down and having two nurses hold him down and puncture the thing with a long needle and me trying to comfort him from a distance!!!) but we are thankful he did not have to undergo an operation with anethesia. Yet, anyways. 90% succcess rate, but he does seem to have a little discharge again so it may have closed up.

So, Susdy was on oral antibiotics for the ear infection and antibiotic eye drops for the tear duct probing. And not sleeping at night for an entire week, of course. Things seem to be looking up until he starts coughing and wheezing and having difficulty breathing. Back to the doctor and after a nebulizer treatment, he shows improvement. Several days of albuterol treatments (round the clock, every 4 hours) and his breathing is back to normal, and the cough is finally starting to disappear.

It's no wonder that 10+ inches of rain and lightning and thundering all night didn't wake us up. Only clue to the events of the evening before was the fact that school was cancelled and the roads were under water. Thankfully Bubby caught the information about school on the radio.

Did I forget to mention the fleas? Not sure how that slipped my mind, but I found out Saturday my HOUSE was INFESTED with FLEAS. Sorry to yell. Pest control companies are closed on the weekend and there was no way I was living like that until Monday. Fortunatly, my parents saved the day. Mom took the kids to her house and Dad and I vaccumed, sprayed, spreaded, bombed and told those fleas what they could do with themselves. Talk about disgusting.