Spritzy

Shock!

2011-08-26T20:00:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile, yes, I've been reminded by several lately. It's just too easy with Facebook to give a one-liner and move on. So much has been happening. I'm forging ahead on a new career path- within the next 6 - 7 months, I am giving up the engineering world to move to a world dominated by women. Honestly, it's not a decision I came to easily or readily but I know it is the right path for me. I've had to learn a whole new language and a new way of relating to people. I've had to learn social skills that I never knew I could learn. My reasons are many- I finally feel like I am doing something that helps people, my work schedule is completely in my control, my success is a direct correlation to how hard I work and the positive feedback is unending. Probably anyone who's followed my career will not be surprised that it was not my passion.

On the family front, there are many changes as well! Little Sudsy Pumpkin Pie is 3.5 years old and an absolute character. He is easy going, fun loving and a riot who loves to make people laugh. The things that come out of his mouth....oh so funny. I love this age when the mispronounce things- he calls kiwi piwis and nectarines are submarines. It's just so cute we can't correct him. He also love to put in a dramatic ummm when we ask him a question. Like he's really pondering his answers.

Smoochie just started 3rd grade and is quite the athlete. It doesn't matter the sport- she played her first season of baseball, machine pitch last spring and quickly because the team favorite. She was one of the most consistent hitters. Throwing a football around and she can throw a perfect spiral even though no one taught her.

Bubby has had the most profound changes. While diet definitely had a positive impact in managing his ADD, we started going to therapy last year and employing what is called 'Nutured Heart'. It's basically parenting turned on it's head- pay lots of attention to the good stuff and almost none to the bad. It helped our relationship with him but still did not fix the issues in school. At the end of the school year last year we started neurotherapy. They mapped his brain and compared it to a 'normal brain' and he's working on the areas that deal with focus and auditory processing. At first the changes were very hard to detect but looking at where we started a few months ago, he's a completely different kid. He can now take in multiple instructions and actually follow them. His emotional state has leveled out and he's turning into a very responsible young man. He's just started middle school and we couldn't be prouder of how he's handling it all.

That's it- I will try not to wait this long to update again.

Another school year bites the dust

2010-06-02T15:47:00.003-05:00

1.25 days of school left. It is hard to believe another school year has flown by so quickly. Smoochie's award ceremony was this morning and I stayed home from work since Hubby had to take Sudsy to swimming and I had neglected to inform the extended family in time. I thought it started at 9 so I was taking my sweet time this morning, took a bath, put on a robe and got on the computer for a bit. You know, since I don't spend enough time on the computer at my job. At 8:11, I had just taken my oatmeal out of the microwave when I glanced at my blackberry and saw it flashing red. I checked and that is when I found out I had 4 minutes to get to the ceremony. I threw my oatmeal in the fridge, quickly got dressed, slapped on a bit of make-up so as not to scare small children and pulled my wet mess of hair back and ran out the door. I got halfway to the auditorium and didn't see people filing in so I called home to check location. Library! Then I realized I'd have to check in at the front office so I had to run back home and grab my driver's license. I ran back out the door, waited in line to check in and made it only 10 minutes late. Then I proceeded to sweat the first 30 minutes after my jog to get their in time since we're now at about 80 degress in the mornings with 90% humidity. Lovely.

I'm fairly certain that if there were an intelligence test to have children I would not pass at this point.

Putting the pieces together

2010-04-27T12:41:00.003-05:00

I've struggled for years to put myself and my health as a priority. There is always so much going on and it feels like anytime I gain a bit of momentum, something derails me. Fortunately I'm stubborn and haven't given up on the idea.

So, I'm finally feeling back in control of what I eat and I run into a stumbling block. We've had to put him back to the strict phase of Feingold has we've slipped in the past months and his behavior is reflecting it. Luckily, I've done this before and I've learned the fine line between feeding my family and thinking creatively to reduce the caloric content of my meals. Hamburgers? Great! I'll put mine on a salad instead of a bun.

My office opened up a little exercise room a few months ago and I started spending 30 minutes several times a week on the treadmill or the elliptical. That was until I developed plantar fasciitis and had to drop it. However, a friend mentioned that she was doing a boot camp and I jumped at the chance to join her. This morning was a bit cruel with a 4:20 am wake-up call and my foot is aching again, but I refuse to give up. I refuse to give up on the notion that I can one day get healthy and make myself a priority.

Hope and despair

2010-03-30T15:26:00.002-05:00

One of my co-workers is like no one else I've ever met in my life. He is absolutely 100% certain of the future. He thinks he knows exactly what is going to happen and is quite frankly arrogant. Which makes him seem a little crazy. Problem is, I happen to agree to a small degree with what he says. And that irks me. One, because I don't like agreeing with people who have the know it all attitude and two because if what he says is true, the future is quite terrifying. Complete and total collapse of the dollar and society as we know it today.

Lost and found

2010-03-24T09:12:00.003-05:00

Missing: Motivation

I am seriously struggling at work. I have a bad attitude when I drive through the front gate and it doesn't get any better through out the day. As thankful as I am to still have my job and believe me, I do know how fortunate I am, I just can't seem to shake it. It would be one thing if I could go in, do my job and do it well and go home. If only it was that simple. With the new regime in place and all the 'initiatives' underway, it seems like everything is an exercise in futility. I flounder when I feel my efforts do not benefit anyone. I either need a change of scenery or a giant kick in the butt. Maybe both.

School lunches

2010-03-18T09:06:00.004-05:00

Since we started the Feingold program over a year ago, I've packed the kids lunches every day. I always felt guilty about letting them eat the school lunches anyways as they always looked disgusting and were loaded with fat, salt, sugar and a host of undesirable ingredients.

I stumbled across a blog today from a teacher in Illinois who is eating a school lunch every day to bring attention to this very issue. I've read through a few months worth and it appears her school lunches are more appetizing than the ones I've seen at our school, and believe me- hers do not look appetizing! Find her blog here.

I am extremely excited with both the initiatives by Michelle Obama and Jaime Oliver. It's time to stand up for our kids and protect their health!

Census

2010-03-18T08:33:00.002-05:00

With the build up and the hype surrounding the census, I had to make a big deal out of the day it arrived in the mail. When I saw it I jumped up and down screaming "The census is here! The census is here!". The kids quickly came running half scared to death. For all the hype, it was quite the let down. I did have one question, what do people do who have more than 12 people living in their home?

Home movies

2010-03-16T14:35:00.002-05:00

All kinds of nice viruses have made its way around our house the past few weeks. We've alternated taking turns getting sick and have spent quite a bit of time indoors watching home movies. The kids get such a kick out of seeing themselves when they're younger. Sudsy kept calling out his name while watching Bubby at his age. It's no wonder I mix up their names all the time.

I'm so thankful to have the kids on video to remind us how Bubby used to have a little lisp and how Smoochie crawled while dragging one leg behind her. It all goes by way too fast. Bubby's already heading into the tween years and gets calls from his friends (on their cell phones!!) at all hours. I don't even move when I hear the phone ring now as I know it's not for me.

Sudsy is talking up a storm and we're even able to understand most of what he says. He calls all big animals elephants. The kids are on spring break this week and hubby took them all to the zoo on Monday. We'll see if that helped clear a few things up for Sudsy.

How do you know?

2010-03-11T12:32:00.002-06:00

It is hard for us to believe, but Sudsy Pumpkin Pie will be 2 tomorrow. He is such a funny and happy little kid, even his terrible 2's are adorable. Hubby says it's time to start on #4. That sounds crazy to me. Absolutely crazy. And yet I won't completely rule out the possibility. How do you know when enough is enough? Or do some people (uhem, the Duggars) not ever know? We're out of bedrooms- is that a good enough reason to stop? I'm certainly not getting any younger and the risks go up exponentially every year. I think we have a wonderful family and I don't feel like anything is missing. Yet, when I think about the future, I know that we'd never regret having another child yet we might regret not having another one.

Someone talk me down, please!!!!

Getting back on my feet

2010-02-16T08:53:00.003-06:00

It's amazing that every time I feel like I am gaining some control over my life I must do something to screw it up. That's how I knew it was time to have another baby each time, life was getting a bit too easy. No, I'm not pregnant :) Last fall, I felt like life was going fairly smoothly so I decided to add a new business to the mix. After all the turmoil we'd gone through with changing our diets and seeing the incredible positive impact of that, I felt compelled to share that knowledge. Fortunately, I found a food company committed to the same and it was an easy way to share my hard earned knowledge with others. It is a joy, a passion, as well as both a source of stress relief and stress gain! It adds to my never ending to do list yet also adds to my sense of personal satisfaction.

In addition to my new business, I was also running a high stress, 6 month long project that just ended a couple of weeks ago. I have a bit of a reprieve at work and I took off a few days last week and finished up accounting for our other two businesses and pulling together all our tax information and dropped that off with our tax advisor. Another huge weight off my shoulders. I've finally started exercising again and am recommitting to putting my health at least on the to-do list. I'd love to say that any additional step I take will be to simplify, but I know myself too well to say that.

Morality without religion

2010-02-09T14:43:00.003-06:00

I wish more people understand that the basic assumption that religion = morality and the inverse, no religion = immorality was inherantly flawed and disproved time and time again. Here's an interesting article speaking to this topic.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T12:34:00.003-06:00

I'm not big into making New Year's resolutions because it usually takes less than a week for my resolutions to go down in flames. I was thinking that this year I could make resolutions that I'd really want to keep- drink more wine! sleep in more! have more sex! Sadly, I probably couldn't keep those either.

I do like the feeling of newness and freshness the new year brings. The anticipation of what the year will bring, what new things the kids will be doing and saying and understanding. There are many things that I would like to do better than last year but mostly what I hope for is more quality time with the family and good health for my family and friends.

Hard to believe

2009-12-08T13:33:00.002-06:00

That is has been 3 months since I have posted! In the past 3 months, I have started up a new business selling all natural food products, reapplied for my full time job in hopes of keeping it due to a reorganization, finished up the fall ball season with Bubby's team winning the championship, sailed through Halloween and Thanksgiving, and started preparations for Hanukah and Christmas.

Sudsy is more and more fun and spoiled every day. I should have know the moment these words left my lips that we were doomed...."I would never treat the third child any different than the others so there is now way the baby will grow up to be dependent and spoiled." We most certainly do treat him different and even when we do try to tow the line, one of the big kids will give in to his every demand.

Smoochie has moved up to the next level in gymnastics and still continues to cartwheel, flip and handstand on every flat or not flat surface she can find. We had snowfall for about 4 hours last week and the kids were able to have snowball fights and make snowmen and snow angels. Quite a luxury for us in south Texas.

I can't believe how fast the time is flying. I wish I could bottle it and save it forever.

Through the eyes of a child

2009-09-20T11:17:00.006-05:00

I am finally downloading the pics off the new camera and I find that the camera has made it's way into little hands... enjoy the view....

Simplify finances

2009-09-18T15:57:00.002-05:00

I'm obsessed with simplifying. After all, every minute saved doing something productive means another minute I can spend doing something unproductive. For the bills, I have everything set up and goes out automatically. I used to maintain a spreadsheet that itemized our cash flow and separated everything into categories so we could easily see where our money went. It took way too much time to maintain, so currently we have a 'rough idea' of where our money goes.

I already use QuickBooks for our businesses, but the banks we use for our personal finances does not support QB and quite frankly, it's much too complicated for our personal finances. I looked into Quicken, but I don't want to have two different gigantic financial software competing for space on my hard drive.

Any suggestions on how to automatic my budget tracking without too much complication, expense or time required?

Updates

2009-09-15T19:09:00.001-05:00

Work is crazy busy. I'm on a fast track project that we can't agree on anything and we keep redoing everything so it feels like I'll never finish but we have to finish. To sum it up at work: stressed.

School is now in full swing and baseball season has begun. Coach has decided Bubby is the pick for the required 9 year old pitching and since he just started kid pitch, we have lots of practicing to do. Every evening is baseball and we're still doing the twice a week 2.5 hour gymnastics practice.

One of our rent houses is eating our lunch and hubby has been spending every Tuesday and Thursday (the days Sudsy is in day care) killing himself trying to keep the house from falling down.

That's all.

Feingold

2009-09-03T18:15:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I feel like I am stuck between two worlds. In one world, I am an a cynic, an engineer, an immediate disbeliever in anything organized- religion, government, and so on. I need to see and feel something to believe it.

The other world is the mother in me. Bubby has struggled in school (and at home) since he was a young child with listening and following instructions. We tried every intervention possible short of medicine. In desperation, we tried Feingold. The program eliminates artificial colors, dyes, sugars and BH* preservatives from both diet and anything with contact on the skin or inhalation. It did make some sense after seeing the effect of red gatorade on Smoochie. However, the cynic in me wondered how a simple change like this could possibly help.

When it came to the choice between trying Feingold and homeschooling Bubby (as the school was threatening to suspend if we didn't medicate), we chose Feingold as medication was not an option for us. Honestly, I never expected the Feingold program to be the answer we had been searching for. Not only did the program work for us as evidenced by teachers who did not even know about the changes we had made to the fact we no longer had regularly scheduled meetings with his teachers, the principal and the school counselor.

Now I have been introduced into an entirely different world. This is a world that is open to all kinds of ideas that are not proven, not known and are quite controversial. Sometimes it is difficult to bridge the difference between the two but somehow in my mind, I have made peace and sense of it all.

Secret Blog

2009-08-31T10:26:00.003-05:00

I've been accused of starting up a secret blog (Sara). I didn't think it was a secret, but apparently it was. So here is the big announcement- I've started up a new blog with two of my friends. We have decided to be each other's back up and support for all things health related- mental, emotional, physical and the blog is a way for us to keep in touch and on track. I've tried to start up a blog dedicated to my health before but I can barely keep up with this one much less another one on my own.

Here is the brand new, secret now no longer a secret blog!!!:

*drumroll please*

Support Sisters

Making some progress

2009-08-26T09:03:00.003-05:00

We are doing fairly well with our new plan. Granted, this is week 1, but still. The kids and I laid out all the clothes for the week and this has saved so much time in the mornings. Instead of the usual arguing and stalling, they simply pick up the next outfit in the stack (hah, not really but they do grab something) and get dressed without any lip.

Every night this week (all three of them), DH or myself has prepared the lunches for the next day so we don't have the mad scramble the next morning. Progress has been made on at least one load of laundry every day. Best of all, I have a system for dinners now.

The weekend before, I plan out the meals for the week and try to gather all the ingredients. I write down the list of meals on the white board in the mudroom. I bought a small white board for the kitchen on which I write down the next evenings meal before we go to sleep. I also place any daily activities/things to remember on the little white board. I have a giant white board with the month in the mudroom, but since we don't live in the mudroom like we do the kitchen, it's nice to have the reminders right in front of us.

Today's board reads:
Wednesday
Family Fun Night!
Make your own pizzas
Bike ride and dominos

Family fun night

2009-08-20T09:44:00.002-05:00

It seems that when each weekend arrives, I throw myself a mini-pity party. Hubby works weekends do we don't get to do the fun family stuff that I'd like. Instead of feeling sorry for us, I decided to take action. Who says that fun family activities can only happen on weekends? We have declared Wednesday night Family Fun Night. We will probably have to shift the shedule a bit when baseball starts up this fall, but for now, Wednesdays work great.

Last night was our first Family Fun Night. We decided to go bowling. I'm wondering when bowling got so expensive? $45 for a four of us for one game? That seems quite steep. I am now looking for ideas for our weekly adventures, preferably ones that don't cost money.

Here is what we have on the list so far:

- family bike ride
- roller skating
- getting gelato from Whole Foods
- driving range
- rock wall at the gym
- Astros game
- we have tickets in December to see The Sound of Music
- movies

Setting mini-goals

2009-08-17T13:13:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite activities is to brainstorm ways to simplify. If I instead spent the time doing instead of thinking, I'd probably get more accomplished but what's the fun in that?

One of the big issues around the house is putting things away. The kids (and us) will leave one or two little things out and before you know it, the house is completely trashed. Once it starts piling up, all effort goes out the window which makes it doubly bad.

How to make life a little simpler? Keep on top of it. We've made a pact to implement a new idea every week.

Here are just a few that we've come up with:

- lay out school clothes for the entire week on Sunday
- pick out meals/recipes for the week on Sunday
- do not go to sleep unless the sink is clean
- run the dishwasher every night
- do a load of laundry a day (side note: only do one family member's clothes at a time to ease the put away stress)
- if you get something out, you put it away

What tips/tricks do you have for making life a bit more simple?

Dinner and laundry

2009-08-11T14:18:00.002-05:00

I have issues with both and would like to see them struck from everyone's to do list. In the mean time, I have figured out one way to make dinner less of an issue. My biggest problem is that I don't want to make the same dinner twice. Maybe once or twice a year but certainly not once a week or even once a month. That makes planning and coming up with ideas terribly hard. To make it a bit easier, I've added breakfast for dinner once a week. Last week was blueberry pancakes and sausage, this week was veggie frittata and breakfast tacos for the non-veggie eaters. I've also taken to the meals to go at Whole Foods. I have to grocery shop there once a week anyways, so I make it a week night trip and pick up prepared food.

The laundry problem is still a stinking mountain. I know people that do a load a day and while that is admirable, I just can't bring myself to get into the habit. I am too exhausted during the week to even think about laundry which means I get to waste the wonderful weekend swimming in 8 - 10 loads of clothes.

I think the solution is a personal chef and maid that comes every day. Anyone have advice on how to become independently wealthy so I can hire both?

My List

2009-08-06T08:22:00.002-05:00

I have a long list of things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Some may be realistic, some not as much but I've been thinking about my list lately and how I'm not really any closer to any of the items. I need to focus on a couple and do something, otherwise they'll never happen on their own.

Here is my list, in no particular order:

- travel by train across a beautiful part of the country (ie Colorado, California coast...)
- learn how to dance hip-hop, salsa, jive, all of it
- go to bartending school
- get good enough at golf where I'm not embarrassed to play with others
- complete a half Ironman (running a marathon pretty much cured me of my desire to do a full Ironman)
- passive cash flow exceed expenses
- learn how to play the drums
- take a year off from our lives and travel the world with the kids visiting off the beaten path places
- play golf at Pebble Beach
- hike the Grand Canyon
- visit all 50 states
- volunteer for the local women's shelter
- be my own boss
- grow vegetables
- have a fruit orchard
- make my own wine
- become fluent in Spanish
- try bananas foster

Brutally honest, so maybe tone deaf?

2009-07-29T08:35:00.002-05:00

One of our favorite family television programs is America's Got Talent. It is one of the few programs that we all enjoy. Mythbusters also falls into this category. Whenever a singer is on, the kids turn to me and say I should go on the show. Every time they then as me to sing something just to confirm. Then Bubby sings and he insists he would win. Then Smoochie sings and Bubby says she wouldn't win. Then Daddy sings and we all laugh.

The funny thing is, the kids are brutally honest, although Smoochie is usually able to soften the blow. For example, Bubby telling me that I need to go on Biggest Loser. Smoochie just tells me that I'm not skinny. Back to the singing, I can carry a tune, but I am certainly no rock star. So I find it amusing the kids think I could go on America's Got Talent and not get booed off the stage.

Bunkers?

2009-07-13T15:01:00.005-05:00

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

2009-07-07T08:46:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-25T12:14:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-17T22:44:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-19T12:19:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-12T14:22:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-29T15:28:00.003-05:00

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.

Hello blog!

2009-04-14T10:31:00.002-05:00

With my facebook obsession, it's so hard to find the time to blog. I can write some cheap on-liner and be done with it. Here, I have to actually write words to form a coherent sentence to then complete a paragraph.

So, enough excuses. My birthday came and went and hubby bought me a nice cake from Whole Foods. I had to call and ask for the ingredients in the icing to make sure it was Feingold approved and it past the test. Good to know I don't have to make cakes from scratch anymore!

We went to our favorite B&B, the Inn Above Onion Creek, with our business partners for our annual meeting. It was nice and relaxing and we did get our goals for the year hammered out.

The Easter bunny found lots of Feingold approved candy and the kids went crazy as they had not had candy since we started the whole deal.

I should get around to posting pictures soon.

Feingold update and gymnastics

2009-03-27T08:36:00.002-05:00

Bubby has had regular notes home from his PE teacher since kindergarten concerning his behavior. We had a different sort of note this week- a positive one!! His PE teacher said his behavior was wonderful, even better than the average child. Talk about astonishing! We have also noticed that he is much more polite and cooperative than usual and we haven't seen a melt down in weeks, whereas we typically see that several times a week. I'm convinced!

In other news, Smoochie has been asked to move to the next class up in gymnastics. She currently goes twice a week for one hour. The next class meets from 4:30 - 7:00 twice a week!! I'm not sure a 2.5 hour lesson is appropriate for a 5 1/2 year old. Not sure how we're going to handle this situation.

Big Boys and Spring Break

2009-03-21T16:15:00.003-05:00

Last week was Sudsy's 1st birthday. I had the extended family over for dinner and cake, which I made from scratch. For the first time, ever. I even had to make the dye to get the color blue (boiled purple cabbage and baking soda, in case you're curious). He's running now and more fun every day.

I took off a day and a half off from work to spend a bit of time with the kids during spring break. We took the kids to the rodeo, had some friends over for dinner, and basically spent time together as a family unit, which is rare with hubby and I working opposite shifts. We even managed to squeeze in a date night. Hubby took the kids swimming and to the planetarium and for a picnic at the park. It has been perfect weather. If the weather was always like this, well, we couldn't afford to live here.

Good news on the Feingold front. We are starting to see improvements. Nothing too dramatic, but definite progress. We have all messed things up more than once, so it is still a learning experience.

Feingold, day 2

2009-03-10T10:21:00.002-05:00

I am starting to feel a bit more in control. I have lists of meals and snacks that I think the kids will eat. I have baked the birthday cake for Sudsy, bread for sandwiches, pumpkin bread for snacks, made the 'untomato' sauce and ketchup and stocked the pantry and frig full of 'safe foods'. The kids always ask if it is legal before they eat something.

I have started a list that includes the exact foods that are approved and which stores carry it. This is hard earned knowledge. I spent half the weekend grocery shopping, the other half cooking, and the third half cleaning up the mess I made from the first two activities. Yes, I realize that is three halves. It was a long weekend.

Thursday is Sudsy's first birthday!! Last week he decided to take his first steps and it was in the evening and we were all home to witness it and video tape. I can't believe how fast this year has passed. We're having a family party Thursday evening to celebrate. We are so fortunate to have this sweet, fun baby in our lives.

I don't get it

2009-03-03T10:08:00.002-06:00

I do not understand our education system. The entire 'health' of the school is placed on one stupid test- TAKS. Bubby's in 3rd grade and this is the grade the kids get tested. For months, they have been talking about the TAKS test, taking practice tests, doing absolutely nothing except teaching to the test. They send home a 4 page instruction sheet on what to do to and what not to do in order to prepare for the test. The entire earth stops it's rotation just so the kids can take the test.

Today is the test day. We follow the instructions and send our child to bed early to make sure he gets a full night's rest. We plan to skip the morning run and have a healthy breakfast agreed upon. My alarm goes off this morning and guess who appears right outside my door, fully dressed. He woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep because he was worried about the test today.

Uncle!

2009-02-27T17:42:00.002-06:00

I don't know who I was kidding. I can't even manage to update my main blog regularly. So, I am so sorry to announce that I will no longer be maintaining my other blog about my journey back to health. I KNOW you are all so disappointed. Don't worry, that doesn't mean I have given up on dropping the baby weight and getting my body back into peak condition. I just don't plan on blogging about it regularly. That and quite frankly there was not much to post about.

I have vastly revamped my diet and am now exercising 5 days a week. And I have toyed with the same 5 pounds for two months. Quite frustrating. Something has to give though and it will not be me. Do you hear me body??? I refuse to give up!! Yeah, so take that.

On to Plan Q

2009-02-25T08:31:00.002-06:00

It appears that the dress-up clothes and morning runs aren't helping Bubby with his impulse control issues at school. We're still getting notes home nearly every day. Last ditch effort is the Feingold diet. Hubby and I need to have a conversation first so that I can make sure he is 100% on board. If he's not, there is no use in even trying. It is labor intensive and it will require 150% commitment from all of us. If it means that we don't have to put our son on stimulants, then I am willing to try. This is the end of the road though. I don't see any other options.

Boys and drugs

2009-02-18T08:23:00.002-06:00

Hubby and I had another fun filled day with the principal at Bubby's school. It is actually the first such meeting this year, but if his behavior doesn't change quickly, the punishments will get serious quickly.

His behavior is completely normal, only he does it at innapropriate times. He is a sweet, funny, smart, personable kid but does not have any impulse control. We have had many, many discussions and many years of trial and error on how to help him. In my mind, this is the end of the road. We have already picked the low hanging fruit and none worked. We are throwing everything at him, including changing his diet drastically. If this doesn't work, I just don't know what we'll do. This has to work.

We know many, many of his friends that are on drugs for ADD and I don't in any way judge their decisions. We have chosen not to medicate and are very uncomfortable with the idea. I am just so afraid that if this doesn't work, we will have exhausted all other options. He is capable of so much. We really want him to succeed and he really wants to succeed. This has to work.

Just one of those days

2009-02-11T09:45:00.003-06:00

Do you ever have one of those days when you think you just can't do it one more time? Everything at work is irritating me. I am extremely thankful to have a job, but I just can't put up with all the BS that goes around one more day. I'm working from home today, but I desperately need a vacation. Could also have something to do with the fact that I'm on day 3 of South Beach and I am missing my fruit and wine and chocolate and bread....this detox is none too pleasant for me or those around me.

Karma bites

2009-02-06T15:24:00.003-06:00

The accident I was involved in recently could have been avoided if either I was giving enough distance between myself and the car in front of me for the given weather conditions and or my vehicle was properly maintained. I learned from it and have been a safer driver since. I had to travel close to down town the other day to apply for my TWIC card. Another government mandate to 'help protect the safety of the American people'. Whatever. I was told I had to do it, so I did it.

On the drive home, I was traveling on a notoriously heavily policed freeway and was sure to mind my manners more than usual. I'm traveling behind a vehicle who is going the posted speed limit. A cop is off to the side, so the vehicle in front slows way down. I wait for the car on my right to pass and then move to the right hand lane. I do want to travel the speed limit. That car sees the cop and slows way down. Cop pulls off side of road and gets behind me and turns on his lights. I start moving over to let the cop pass. He keeps following so I pull off the freeway. I finally figure out he's pulling me over for some reason that I can not comprehend. I stay on the feeder, waiting for a place to pull off the road. He finally comes on the speaker telling me to pull over now. Whatever, was trying to keep this guy from getting killed by people exiting the freeway, but we'll do it his way.

So, the usual asking for license and insurance. He goes back to his car and when he comes back with the ticket asks if I was following the black BMW in front of me. I explain what happened and he cites me for following too closely and not using my blinker. The whole scene would not have happened without him sitting there waiting. I usually use my blinker, but apparently did not (of course how he saw that from his vantage point is another story entirely). My violations were not even on the preprinted top 8 violations and the cop had to right them in. What a total crock!!!!

All I can figure is this is karma for not getting a ticket for the accident. That and a total racket to raise money for the city.

What a week!

2009-02-02T08:16:00.002-06:00

Clients meeting that lasted all day, even through lunch. Evenings spent completing my accounting for the businesses and pulling together all the documents for taxes. Met with the tax advisor. Also had to plan and execute the plan for a Super Bowl party.

I'm glad that week is over!!! Though the party was fun...will post pics soon.

If not a parent, don't read!

2009-01-23T10:11:00.007-06:00

One day last week, hubby tells me the story of how he was awakened. I'm sure his alarm had been going off for at least 30 minutes when he started hearing sounds from Sudsy's room from the baby monitor. He also hears Bubby and decides he'd better check out what was going on. Bubby went into Sudsy's room, took him out of the crib, and was proceeding to attempt a poopy diaper change! Both boys were covered in poop and tons of poopy diaper wipes were gathered up around them. Sudsy had poop on his hands, his face, his feet....

My first thought? I hope Sudsy didn't eat poop. My second thought? You didn't take a picture??? I wonder if they have stinky diaper stickers for scrapbooking. That would have made a great page in my album! I'm sick, I know.

Vindicated! Not really.

2009-01-22T13:08:00.003-06:00

Finally took the truck to the shop yesterday. Yes, the back brakes were bad and we already knew the tires needed replacing. So I asked hubby if I was now cleared. His answer? No, I know how you drive. Let's see how long this $3888 lesson keeps.

Facebook

2009-01-21T11:56:00.001-06:00

They should call it Black Hole. I have heard from more people from my past in the last week than I have in the last fifteen years. It's not just for kids- I can't believe how many 'old' people are on!

Circuit City

2009-01-14T08:50:00.002-06:00

Over the past week, I have been searching for a Wii Fit. I called two different Walmarts twice a day. I bookmarked two different websites that tracked the status of Wii Fits in various stores. I didn't want to pay more than retail and I didn't want to buy an expensive bundle. Finally, Circuit City showed up as having the Wii Fit in stock. I quickly jumped over to buy and realized I had to buy two accessories in order to qualify. Frustrated and sick of the routine, I did. Four days later, the ad shows up and the accessories are $5 off each. So, I sent an email and within 24 hours, I received a reply that a credit would be applied to my card. Now that is a good company.

Of course, two days after I ordered, a friend emailed me to tell me they were in stock at Walmart and did I want her to buy it. Hopefully, mine will arrive by Friday.

We're new to all this Wii stuff as Santa brought the kids one for Christmas. So far we have We Cheer, Wii Sports and Guitar Hero only. We had a fun family game night last night where we all calculated our Wii Age for Wii Sports. Smoochie was 80, Bubby was 52, I was 37 (rock on!) and hubby was 78. Sudsy Pumpkin Pie loves to watch. We've been alternating each night with the Wii and dominoes. Unfortunately, this will all end soon as karate starts tonight and the sign-ups for baseball are Thursday.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-06T12:44:00.002-06:00

My goodness- 2009??? Seriously? I remember partying like it was 1999 and it feels like just days ago. Of course my memory is so good I can't remember what happened days ago....

I digress- happy new year! This is my year- I can just feel it! I've started another blog to help me figure out why I can not stay on track when it comes to getting and staying healthy. Check it out here: Change the Mind, Change the Body.

In other news, I got myself into a fender bender this morning and ran smack into the back of someone who decided to stop abruptly when the light turned yellow. I've been telling hubby that the brakes felt funny in the truck and we needed to get them looked at and he finally got the message. I'll be completely embarrassed when the repair guys take a look and nothing is wrong except my driving abilities. Yes, I was following too closely and it was raining and I was thinking about the meeting I had to get to in 20 minutes. But whatever, I'm sure it was a mechanical error.

So, back to the new year. Here is why I know it's going to be my year. One of our deadbeat tenants finally moved out and we'll get that place back on track. We plan on paying off two of our real estate related loans and have a concrete plan on how to do that and get our finances back on track. I feel confident that I will stay on track with my healthy lifestyle. Best of all, I have a vision for what I want to do with my life and am putting together a plan to move towards that vision.

Talking to your kids about racism

2008-12-23T10:23:00.004-06:00

Bubby's best friend was busted for writing a list of curse words. His dad called us to make sure we were aware of the incident as Bubby was not one of the boys caught. Turns out that one of the words on the list was the "n" word. We've been known to slip up and let an expletive fly occasionally, but this is a word NEVER used by us and we wanted our son to understand the hate and hurtfulness implied with using it. Discussing racism is probably a talk long overdue as our children see the differences in people, but don't have a concept of words used to describe them. For example, they both call black people 'brown'. Like when we asked Smoochie who she voted for in the mock election at school, she replied the brown guy not the white hair guy.

To start off the conversation, Hubby explained how hurtful it was growing up Jewish and all of the hateful words thrown at him. We also explained how it is wrong to use hurtful words and the he was never, ever to use the "n" word as it was a hateful word against blacks. Apparently it is the word of the month with the 3rd graders. He had told one of his black friends that was saying it that it was a bad word and she had asked her father if it was a bad word and he had told her no. Also, of the four boys that we making the list of curse words, two of them were black. Makes it really hard to drive the point home when he is receiving mixed messages.

I am beginning to understand what people meant when they said child rearing gets more complicated when they get older.

Quickie

2008-12-17T18:51:00.004-06:00

Work: crazy
Holidays: ready

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies

Stockings hung by the chimney with care

Memory is the second thing to go, what's the first?

2008-11-25T14:26:00.003-06:00

I happened to glance at my last post and noticed I used Smoochie instead of Sudsy. I presume if I can't keep the kid's real names straight, I shouldn't expect to keep their nicknames straight. In fact, it has gotten so bad that I just call them all Boo.

I was telling a coworker about the wonderful benefits of the neti pot and how I rarely ever get sick anymore since I started religiously running salt water through my nose. After that conversation, I was definitely due for Murphy's Law to kick in. I spent the later half of last week and part of the weekend laid on the couch with the worst cold I've had in years. Of course I was home alone with all three kids. I did start feeling better Saturday and Sunday I was back on my feet again.

Sunday evening one of my bestest friends and her family came over to visit. I really, really, really wish she lived in the area, but thankfully they moved about a year ago and are within driving distance, albeit a long drive.

This year I have kicked butt on Christmas presents. After posting last week that I hadn't started, I made a few trips around town, bought a bunch of stuff on amazon and am now nearly finished. I usually waste a lot of time second guessing and watching the sales, but I don't have the time, energy or patience for that this year. Instead I decided to save receipts and if I find a better deal later, I can always take it back. It's really taken the pressure off.

The kids are off from school this week and they spent the entire day yesterday watching home videos. They loved watching themselves and the few that I caught, I noticed that Sudsy has the same facial expressions as Smoochie but looks like Bubby.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!!

An update

2008-11-17T19:51:00.004-06:00

I've rewritten the opening sentence to this post three times. Why is it so hard to blog after you've been lazy and not posting? I guess it's the same as not running after training (and completing) a 5K. It gets a little easier every day to just not do it. Sorry Diana!! I need a kick in the butt!

So, Bubby's team one the championship. They played a perfect game and Bubby had several great plays- one being a throw from third base to first to get the guy out at first. The Aggie game was enjoyable. Not the game itself because it was a total blow out, but catching up with friends was nice.

This past weekend was fun as well. Saturday was a surprise party for a friend- her husband totally pulled it off and we were all impressed. Sunday was 'Breakfast Club'. We started this a year ago? maybe longer and we'd get together in the morning because the kids are typically well behaved then and we're no fun since having kids and can't stay up late anymore. They've turned into all day parties. The kids asked if we were spending the night.

Back to the grind at work today. I found out I'm not getting the new position I was angling for, which meant a new boss, which would have been a really, really good thing. I'm disappointed, but it probably works out for the best. Work seems to be drying up for that group so I could have been out of job before I'd even started.

Sudsy is starting to cruise. He pulls himself up and walks if you're holding his hands. We've told him that he's only 8 months old and by all means, please don't hurry to get mobile, but he didn't listen to us. Guess that proves he's our kid after all.

And just to make everyone feel better, I'm not done with my Christmas shopping. In fact, I haven't even started. My goal is to be done by Thanksgiving every year, but that looks less and less possible every day.

I'm getting more and more excited about Obama's presidency every day. I was one of the swing voters until two weeks before the election. I believe he will make a difference and will lead our country in a new, better direction. I'm positive about our future, however I do think it will get worse before it gets better.

Enough randomness for one night.

Update: And by 'swing voter', I was deciding between Obama and throwing my vote away by voting libertarian....

Busy weekend

2008-11-04T12:46:00.007-06:00

Halloween kicked off a weekend filled with activities. Saturday morning, I managed to not only drag myself out of bed, but feed and dress the little ones and pick up my mom to get to a fun run. Friends of mine from the office have become my support and inspiration in the journey to become healthy again. We met our goal of completing the 5K run and Bubby and Smoochie participated in the 1K kids run.

My friend's daughter, who also participated in the kids run, came home with us and we spent the rest of the day playing. They jumped on the trampoline, we went swimming at the pool and then played on the playground at the fast food restaurant after dinner. We had such a busy, active day that Bubby kept insisting it was Sunday.

Sunday afternoon was Bubby's first karate tournament. There is much build up and anticipation for a 45 second spar. He was down 2-0 and then came back to win 2-3. He was so excited that he ran to me yelling 'Mom! I won!' as he tripped and fell flat on his face. Thankfully he wasn't injured although I almost injured myself laughing so hard. Not much rest coming up this weekend either.

Friday night is Bubby's championship game for baseball and Saturday we're heading to College Station to watch the Aggies get slaughtered.

The Gaggle of Kids Proud Bubby The Fall The Spar

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T11:22:00.004-05:00

I was amazed and awed by the original costumes I saw last evening- a homemade twister dress and matching game board hat...Dorothy with her new black puppy Toto, unfortunately my kids are never the ones with the original costumes. Heck, people should be lucky I had candy since I waited until the last minute for that also.

Here's the crew from last night:

Drug Free

2008-10-28T18:05:00.002-05:00

I appreciate what the school is trying to do- talk to kids about drugs early and often. However, I think the material may be a bit over my kindergartner's head. She came home today to tell me that she is drug free because she is wearing the bracelet they gave her at school. And that everyone is drug free at her school. I told her that I was drug free, but not everyone is. She then asked if Dad was not drug free. I corrected myself and said that everyone in her family is drug free, but not everyone in the world is drug free. She then proceeded to tell me that people who drink and eat a lot every day are not drug free. Oops, guess I'm not drug free after all.....

Mudroom bliss

2008-10-16T18:09:00.004-05:00

I finally cleaned up the mudroom. It is organized, neat and it makes me happy every time I enter the room, even if it is to do laundry.

Note the lockers, one for each child, so there is a home for backpacks, baseball gear and such. A calendar lists each day's activity so Daddy can't claim he didn't know about something. A magnetic board gives space for invitations. The shoe storage provides a home for the stray shoes that pile up around the house. And when the garage is finally cleaned and organized and we can actually park our cars in it, the key holder will be the perfect spot for the car keys.

This is what I dreamed of when I envisioned simplification several years ago. It has taken much heartache, money and time, but we are finally starting to live the life I dreamed about. Walking the kids to school in the morning, just steps from our door. Walking to the ball field for baseball practice and games. Calling the grandparents and even the great-grandparents for quick babysitting.

To sum it up, we're finally moving past the resentment and crap colored glasses due to the construction process and all the issues with the builder. We are starting to fall in love with our home and our new life.

Burning down the house

2008-10-07T16:17:00.002-05:00

Watch out! Mama's cooking!

Good thing we just had fire extinguisher training. Too bad also since I had to use the last charged one in the house. The frightening thing is smoke was billowing in the kitchen and the smoke detectors did not go off. Yes, the house still stinks. No, those were originally taco shells. Now who wants to come over for dinner?

Fire extinguisher training

2008-10-03T09:05:00.005-05:00

One of the fire extinguishers at the house is several years old and the line on the pressure indicator was right between good and empty, so I decided to teach the kids how to use one. First I taught them the acronym PASS: P- pull the pin, A- aim at the base of the fire, S- squeeze the trigger and S- sweep back and forth. Next, I had Bubby 'put out a fire' which was really a piece of foam. Hubby thought I should have started an actual fire in our backyard. Then we had a discussion on when to try to put out the fire versus running away and getting help and when to dial 911. Smoochie then said she didn't know the number to dial 911. Apparently she inherited my intelligence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update on the training. Bubby wants to change the acronym to PASSS: pull the pin, aim, squeeze, sweep and scream.

Electronic decluttering

2008-10-01T12:16:00.002-05:00

When I started my new job with big oil over two years ago, I came with a PDA and cell phone. Work added another cell phone. I carried around three devices for over a year until my work cell was replaced with a blackberry. That eliminated the need for my PDA. And finally, I am free of my personal cell. Our contract with our wireless provider terminated and hubby went for the iphone (which is really cool, btw). I rarely used my cell, so now I am down to just one device and it is liberating. So, if you try to reach me on my old cell number, that is why the message says this number has been disconnected.....

Such romantics!

2008-09-30T15:23:00.002-05:00

We returned from our annual New Braunfels trip Sunday. The weather was perfect and the company, even more perfect. Our extended family knows how to have fun together. I'll see if I can get a clip of the movie my sister-in-law took of Smoochie dancing. My brother and cousin-in-law played DJ. By the end of the night, we were all dancing- my parents, my aunt and uncle, my grandparents....

At lunch Sunday before heading home, my uncle mentions something about September 28th. At that point hubby and I looked at each other and said- oh yeah! Happy anniversary!

Ike

2008-09-21T13:05:00.003-05:00

Camping out in the living room the night of the storm

No serious damage

Making the most of the experience- at folks place in the country

All is fine

2008-09-18T13:36:00.003-05:00

Hubby had to fly out Friday before the storm to get aircraft out of the area, so he sat in Denver until Monday. Fortunately, my parents agreed to ride out the storm with me and the kids. We decided my house was the safest as it has twice as many hurricane clips as required by code. As I'm sure everyone around can attest, it was a long and scary night. The power finally went out for good around 2 am. We all slept in the living room and cleaned out the storage space under the stairs in case we heard a tornado. When daylight finally broke and the wind wound down, we were able to survey the damage. Branches and trees down, fences blown over but no major damage anywhere. We were very fortunate.

We made a quick decision to pack up and move out to my folks place in the country as the baby was cranky and clammy and the kids were getting stir crazy. We emptied the refrigerators and headed out thinking we'd be back in a day and all would be back to normal. We finally arrived home Wednesday night and are living at my folks as we still do not have power restored. My office is closed, the kids are out of school this entire week.

One of the rentals has a significant hole in the roof and some sheetrock damage, but I consider us extremely lucky. About half the people in my family are waiting on power, but none of my family nor friends had major damage and thankfully no injuries. My thoughts are with those still struggling with the aftermath of hurricane Ike. I'll post pictures soon.

Hunker down

2008-09-11T09:47:00.002-05:00

Hurricane Ike heading for us. No plans to evacuate, but we do need to pull all the patio furniture and plants into the garage. Of course you're never really sure what to believe, but the news is saying if the hurricane stays on its present course, we could see 100 mph winds even where we live. It is terrifying. The last hurricane that past right over our house was 1983. I was 8 and thought it was great fun. We went outside when the eye passed over our house. Totally peaceful and calm- it was bizarre. Stay safe everyone!

Labor day fun

2008-09-03T19:40:00.002-05:00

The weekend was relaxing and enjoyable, thanks to Gustav deciding taking a hit on Louisiana. Saturday I took Smoochie to a birthday party for a boy in her class. She was the only other child there for half the party until a family friend showed up. I felt so bad for the mom. The boy didn't seem to notice.

Sunday, we enjoyed spending the day with family at my aunt and uncle's house. My cousin and her boyfriend had a big announcement. After eight years of dating and seven of living together, they made it official and stopped by the JP last Friday.

Monday morning we felt like doing something fun together as a family since it is now a rare event that both hubby and I are home at the same time. We picked up his folks and drove to the Kemah boardwalk. The sky was overcast and a cool breeze kept the temperature quite nice.

Not sure I agree with this...

2008-09-02T12:26:00.001-05:00

And instead of blogging about all the exciting events of the weekend (I'll get to that later)...

You Are Elmo

Sweet and innocent, you expect everyone to adore you. And they usually do!

You are usually feeling: Talkative. You've got tons of stories to tell. And when you aren't talking, you're laughing.

You are famous for: Being popular, though no one knows why. Middle aged women especially like you.

How you life your life: With an open heart. "Elmo loves you!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Back to school

2008-08-25T21:04:00.004-05:00

Smoochie laid out an outfit for the first day of school days before school started. Note the attention to detail- the headband, lipstick by the collar, necklace and fingernail polish laid out where the hands would be. I did talk her into wearing something a little less formal the first day.

Hubby decided it was a great idea to draw a skull and cross bones on Bubby's back in permanent ink the day before school started. Friends had invited us over for a back to school party. After tattooing their son's back, we probably won't be invited again.

Aren't they sweet when they're not fighting?

I love this picture of hubby helping Smoochie with her backpack and the school bus in the background.

All went smoothly the first day back. Both kids were up and dressed before school even opened. Smoochie went into her classroom, sat down and didn't look back. Hubby had to drag me out of her room. I probably would have stayed all day.

I just don't understand

2008-08-13T08:20:00.002-05:00

Ahhh, family. So wonderful and yet so irritating at the same time. I am trying not to be completely and totally pizzed off at hubby's brother (W) and sis-in-law (L), but it requires a lot of energy. First, they get into a huge argument with their folks which happened while my father-in-law, who crawls in attics for a living, was helping out late in the evening with an electrical problem at their house. They don't speak for weeks, they ignore father-in-law's birthday and send flowers but don't call for mother-in-law's birthday. I try to overcompensate to make sure they know they are loved.

Then, they are a no show at Bubby's birthday party. No phone call, nothing. Weeks later they show up unannounced to drop off a present for him and also to invite us to my niece's party the next evening. Timing is suspicious.

We attend niece's party and bring invite to Smoochie's party. They happily accept and say they will be there. Halfway through Smoochie's party, L shows up with only one of their three kids. It was a lunch time party at a pizza place and L says they were late because they went to lunch first. Huh?

Smoochie has been begging to see the cousin closest in age (Flower). Flower is one year older. Hubby calls W several times last week. W finally answers phone last night. W insists we not only pick up Flower, but also her younger brother, Fish, because he gets his feelings hurt if Flower goes anywhere without him. Fish is three.

Hubby tells me over and over not to let any of this get to me. Please send zen thoughts my way because this might be a greater task than my capabilities.

Olympics fever

2008-08-09T13:29:00.002-05:00

I love watching the summer Olympics- the swimming, the diving, the gymnastics...I know the television will be on continuously for the next two weeks. The opening ceremony last night was unbelievable. The Chinese went all out. It is also educational for the kids. They are not only exposed to different languages and cultures, but different governments and the impact they have on their citizens. For all of our complaining, we are truly lucky to be born into a democratic society, even will all the flaws.

In other news, the life of leisure for the kids is almost over. School starts two weeks from Monday. The days keep flying by faster and faster. Next Friday we find out who the teachers will be and the following Friday is the open house to meet the teachers. I don't think Smoochie quite understands what she in for, but I know she will adjust quickly. The best part is no driving the kids anywhere in the morning- just walk them a few houses down to the school.

And the best news of all- our tax consultant finally finished and filed our taxes! And still seven days to spare (since he already filed an extension). Considering that we gave him the information the FIRST WEEK IN FEBRUARY, it's about time. Over six months. Ridiculous. Even I could do it in that amount of time.

Gotta run- I hear swimming in the next room...

Goodbye Nurse Karen

2008-07-31T08:48:00.002-05:00

Last week hubby and I attended a memorial service for the kid's nurse at the doctor's office. We have known her since Bubby was born, eight years ago. Nurse Karen was such a special person- calm, sweet and reassuring. Although it was never spoken until it was too late, she was the reason we looked forward to taking the kids to the doctor. Neither of us had any idea of the struggles Karen was going through and we wished we had the opportunity to tell her how much we cared for her and appreciated her. Fortunately, we did get the opportunity to tell her family. You will be missed Nurse Karen.

Court

2008-07-26T19:24:00.004-05:00

I feel like so much has happened in the past few weeks. Smoochie turned 5! Her party was at Incredible Pizza. That evening we let two of her bestest friends spend the night- her first sleepover. The next day was the family party at our house. With 17 family members in the area, it is just too many at the kid party so I have two parties for the kids. Luckily, Bubby's falls around Father's Day, so we combine the celebrations. Smoochie's birthday is close to hubby's and my cousin, so we do a joint party for them.

Incredible Pizza

The Morning After

Hannah Montana Jr.

Baby needs a hair cut!

Thursday was the long anticipated court date with Conn's. We could not arrive at an agreement at arbitration- their offer was supplying us with a new panel at cost which equated to 2/3rd's the price for the tv. And we won! The judge ruled in our favor and the next step, if they so wish to choose, is to double our winning for bond and move on to a jury trial. I would doubt they would try that as jurys are almost never sympathetic to big business, but then again I wouldn't put it past them.

Back to work

2008-07-06T20:13:00.004-05:00

Summer vacation is over for me. The week before last was Bubby's 8th birthday. His birthday party was at Minute Maid Park with a tour of the ballpark. The adults found it enthralling, the kids thought it was boring. We spent the last few days of my freedom traveling to my parent's cabin in Hallettsville and spent one day at a water park in the area and then headed to Temple, Texas to visit friends. I started back at work on Tuesday and it felt like I had never left. My cousin had a 4th of July part at her house Friday and we decided to brave the crowds and went down town for the fireworks. Since my company pays for the display, they get a 'special area' just for employees along with shuttles, food and drink. It was way more crowded than I expected, but well worth the effort. We all thought Sudsy would throw a fit since he cries at any loud noise, but we stuffed cotton in his ears and hubby held his hands over his ears and he really enjoyed watching the fireworks.

In the dugout:

Conversation with Biggio:

Birthday dinner at Johnny Rockets:

At Splashway Water Park:

At my parent's property:

Full on press

2008-06-16T16:23:00.002-05:00

I have few days remaining at home. The 1st of July is back to work and I am dreading and looking forward to it at the same time. Our pace of life will increase tremendously, I will miss all the one on one time with Sudsy, and I will get probably 3 fewer hours of sleep a night. However, it will be nice to use that mushy stuff in between my ears again and I do look forward to having adult conversations without constant interruptions from little mouths. It will be a solid 6 months of work as I have used up every drop of vacation for maternity leave.

I have frantically tried to finish projects around the house because I know nothing will get done when I go back. A technician is here right now installing the alarm system, the gutters go on in a few weeks and Hubby's putting down the last palate of grass. He also installed the basketball goal which was Bubby's birthday present from last June, just in time for his birthday on Wednesday. I've organized the scrapbook room and it is not only usable but being used. I am now only 10 months behind. The final big tasks I would like accomplished this month are clearing out the garage and finishing the fence.

Speaking of the garage, we replaced the Focus with my dad's old suburban being that 3 kids won't fit in the back of the Focus. It will be an interesting experiment to see if an F-150 and a Suburban will fit.

Traffic

2008-06-14T17:39:00.002-05:00

Most of the traffic on my site is for one post, located here. I'm not sure whether to be amused or scared about the level of intelligence around us. Second highest ranking post here.

What a week

2008-06-04T13:43:00.004-05:00

Last week was crazy. Monday, hubby, Sudsy, mother-in-law and I flew to Oregon for his grandfather's 90th birthday party. The older kids stayed with my folks for the week. The party was a surprise and I'm thinking surprising anyone at 90 years old is not a good plan, but all went well. It was Sudsy's first flight. He slept through both up and back. We stayed at the Village Green Resort, which was absolutely beautiful.

We arrived home Friday afternoon in time for Smoochie's dance recital rehearsal Friday evening and the recital Saturday afternoon. It was also Bubby's baseball championship game Saturday afternoon. Then we went over to friend's house Saturday evening for dinner and play time on their Wii. Sunday was a birthday party and we all crashed early Sunday evening.

Summer fun

2008-05-26T15:52:00.003-05:00

Graduation, a wedding, and Memorial Day fun...

Nicknames

2008-05-16T09:58:00.003-05:00

Since I now have two sons and one daughter and calling the new baby 'the baby' will quickly be inaccurate (I can't believe how fast they grow up!), I will follow Sara's lead and give them all nicknames. And since they all have nicknames in real life, this shouldn't be difficult at all.

The Boy = Bubby
The Girl = Smoochie
The Baby = Sudsy

Speaking of nicknames, Daddy called the girl Smoochie the other day and she proceeded to tell him only Mommy can call her that. Such attitude from such a little package!

BBB and graduation

2008-05-14T18:53:00.004-05:00

No response to my Better Business Bureau complaint. I really did not expect one. I got what I needed out of it already- just for him to know that he screwed up and we know it and would never in a million years recommend him to anyone.

Mother's day was nice. The kids got me two new pairs of pajamas and I think daddy might be second guessing that choice as I have not changed out of them all day today. The girl made her bed and mine, so I no longer accept the excuse that she does not know how to make the bed. We spent the day with the extended family and enjoyed the unseasonably cool and dry weather.

Tomorrow is the girl's graduation from pre-K. I remember when I found out about the ceremony for the boy and thought to myself how ridiculous to have a ceremony with caps and gowns- it's pre-k for goodness sake and then proceeded to bawl like a baby through the entire thing. I'm prepared this time. Kleenex is already stocked in the purse.

Baby is doing well. He has slept through the night 2 of the last 3 nights. He is smiling and belly laughing and even though the ceiling fan gets the most smiles, I do manage several myself. Here is a video of him talking to the fan....

Life moves on

2008-04-23T21:25:00.004-05:00

Today I registered the girl for kindergarten. It is hard to believe that she is already old enough. Sudsy is 6 weeks old today and he has seamlessly entered into our family. The older ones fight over who gets to hold him and they track how long to make sure it is equal. He slept through the night three times last week- twice for 7 hours and once for 8 hours. I went out with a friend Saturday night to see the comedian Brian Regan and my parents babysat all three without a hitch. I also went with a friend to the Astros last night and let daddy have a night alone with the kids. The calendar has been so full that I barely get any down time. I'm wondering how I fit work into this schedule!

Big sis always gets a smile

Baseball season has begun- opening day parade

School Carnivals

Word of caution about Jim Waller- do not use this builder!

2008-04-10T14:51:00.003-05:00

I have been meaning to write this post for months as I hope it saves one person from the grief we have experienced over the past year in building our dream home. There is a saying that in any project you can have quality, schedule, or cost- pick two. Unfortunately, with our new home, we received none of the above. We were promised a 90 day construction, barring any weather delays. We finally moved into the unfinished home 8 months after the foundation was poured. The budget is currently 25% over and we are still finishing on our own to save money. I had to bring in two carpenters, painters, roofers, and plumbers to fix and finish what was not completed. The builder walked off our job last December and we have not heard from him since. We lived through multiple subs walking off the job and the ones who stayed, doing subpar work and complaining about the builder.

If you are considering using Jim Waller, who has several company names- MasterMark Enterprises as well as Calvert Christopher homes, I strongly encourage you to look elsewhere.

Kids say

2008-03-26T12:41:00.003-05:00

Hubby and the boy attended my last ob appointment before Sudsy was born. While in the waiting room, the boy picked up a magazine about pregnancy. Inside were sonogram pictures, one of a boy and the other of a girl. He brought it to me and said- this one is a girl and her name is Labia. I told him to go tell his father and we both were brought to tears we were laughing so hard. A little later he wanted to know why it was so funny and we explained 'labia' was a female body part.

Later that afternoon, we stopped by the store to get jeans for hubby. There was a shirt that said I don't give a with a picture of a rat and a donkey. Hubby and I chuckled when we saw it and the boy asked- why is 'I don't give a rat's horse' so funny? I explained that it was a picture of a donkey and another name for donkey is a curse word. Since he's such an expert on curse words with not only knowing how to use in context but also how to spell them on (read back to the 'f' word incident in 1st grade) he caught on quickly and then asked if he wore that shirt to school what would happen.

Arrival

2008-03-18T17:51:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, March 12th was the big day- 'Sudsy Pumpkin Pie' so aptly named by the girl made his big debut. I was induced around 9 am and he was born at 4:21 in the afternoon. Not so fast for a 3rd baby, but he was turned sunny side up, so I had to work for it. Overall, it was as pleasant a delivery as I could have ever wanted- night and day different from the first two. It was quiet, peaceful, controlled and not the least bit stressful. Obviously medicated as well :)

He's doing very well and other than a little jaundice that will lead us to 3 doctor visits in one week, no issues. I am feeling much closer to normal than I would anticipate at this time. The siblings are adjusting well and want to be with him and hold him all the time.

Artist

2008-03-10T20:54:00.002-05:00

This evening, hubby decides to draw a sketch of himself and the girl:

Then she asks for one of Mommy. I give him the evil eye and before he even begins, he knows he is in trouble and starts laughing so hard he's crying. Apparently, I have one really swollen leg and a tiny head.

Baby baby baby

2008-03-05T09:16:00.003-06:00

I find out today whether next Tuesday or Wednesday is the big day. I am nervous, excited, anxious and almost ready. Physically, I'm ready. I still have work to finish up- writing a report, transferring information, setting everything up for the time I'll be out of the office. I've resigned myself to the fact that the house will not be finished in time for baby, but we have made lost of progress the past month. The grass is mostly down, the fence is part way up and the water heater issues are fixed. Most exciting are the gas lights that are finally installed on the front of the house.

Weekend before last we took the kids on the sibling tour at the hospital. They practiced holding and diapering a doll baby and were officially crowned the toy police to make sure baby doesn't play with dangerous toys or toys that are choking hazards.

Last weekend was a baby luncheon given by my mom and mother-in-law. It was mostly family with a few close friends and was wonderful to get to catch up. I really am lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful people in my life and I do not take that for granted.

I survived the first two days of work this week which I had been dreading. A group of 10 from Canada were in town for tech assurance purposes on our project on Monday and Tuesday was a workshop to identify risks. They both went well and I'm glad to have that behind me. My project team also presented me with a very nice card and gift cards to Babies R Us, which was totally unexpected but much appreciated.

Kids

2008-02-24T12:43:00.003-06:00

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I'm trying to get the house organized and put together before baby comes, because it definitely matters to the baby. I have made quite a bit of progress with the nursery but still feel like I have miles to go on the rest of the house. Hubby is making quite good progress with putting down grass and if the rain would ever stop long enough for the ground to dry out, we might get a fence.
The kids are getting excited and also regressing a bit, especially the girl. She's been clingy and whiney and I have been tired and exhausted and lack any sort of patience these days, which makes it all worse.
Here are some pics that I finally downloaded.

She is fascinated with the spinning of the washing machine.

I wonder what she's dreaming about? Pinewood Derby- Judge's Favorite!
TV issue still not resolved, so right now, it's just a dream...
Yes, I am this huge and bloated!! And my friends are too good to me.

Shower

2008-02-12T08:52:00.000-06:00

I finally finished the book Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka and it was an ephiphany. It has completely changed the way I view my son and and I am slowly working on changing my reactions to include less anger and more empathy. One of the messages in the book is to try to understand why they are acting the way they do and it is not because of defiance or because they are out to get you.

One of the big struggles we had was getting the boy out of bed and moving in the morning. When I looked at it from an angle of understanding, I realized that it takes quite a bit for his father and I to get out of bed and get moving in the morning as well. My routine includes a warm bath and a cup of coffee while hubby prefers a long, hot shower. As a trial, we replaced the boy's evening bath with a morning shower and the results are amazing. He still doesn't bounce out of bed, but 30 minutes of begging, pleading and yelling have been replaced by a five minute warning that the window to take a shower is closing. He is then a happy, agreeable child after the shower. The more subdued morning has spilled into his school day and he goes off to school happy and is now having more good days than bad. All because of a shower!

True colors

2008-02-11T15:03:00.000-06:00

I knew that my mom leaned towards the right on her thoughts and ideas, but I had no idea just how closed minded she was until the other morning. We had a conversation about politics, which I always tried to avoid. I tried to ignore the fact that she called all the candidates by their last name, except for Hillary, which I do find a bit demeaning. Her hatrid for Clinton has long been clear. Not that she's my choice for president and nationalized medicine for all scares the wits out of me after learning about how well Canada's system works, but I do think she deserves the same amount of respect as the others. How much respect politicians deserve is a whole other conversation, but I digress.

I made mention that I was so glad it did not look to be another right wing extremist in the running on the republican side. I stated that I could not take another 8 years of it in office. She mentioned that she liked Bush and that she thinks he did make our country safer. I couldn't disagree more on that point, but when she added that she's terrified because of all the Muslins moving into our country, I nearly flipped my lid. I tried to remain calm as I explained that it is actually a peaceful religion and that radicals exist in every society. I also mentioned the very fact that our country is 'the melting pot' is what made us great. Then she proceeded into a tirade on how difficult it is to work with this nationality or this other nationality. I think she needs some serious diversity and inclusiveness training. Like maybe making friends with some people outside her tiny world. I'm still irritated by it all. Certainly not to say that I don't have my biases and prejudices, we all do, but I do at least try to understand where people come from and understand how cultural differences can affect our interactions.

Monkey

2008-02-04T15:39:00.000-06:00

One monkey off my back this weekend. Well, actually two. I went through the 6+ months of boxes stuffed with the 'to be filed' papers and sorted and filed and organized. I hate filing. The even bigger monkey was finishing up the books for both businesses and incorporating all the comments from the bookkeeper and organizing all the data and dropping it off with the tax guy. Whew! I hate tax time.

The next major task at hand I've nicknamed Operation Baby. We need to prepare the nursery, stock up on baby supplies, buy and install infant car seats, pack the bag for the hospital, take the kids on a sibling tour at the hospital and probably the most challenging is to agree on a name.

I've already warned hubby that completing Operation Baby just means that I'll next be on him about finishing up all the little projects around the house. Aren't hormones fun?

The windows

2008-01-25T19:36:00.000-06:00

Hubby and I have been trying to reframe the way we look at the house. It is difficult because each and every day we find more flaws. Speaking of which, we finally hired a real plumber to come out and assess the damage. If anyone is interested in installing tankless water heaters, I've become quite the educated resource. Where was I? Oh yes, positive reframing. It really is quite amazing that we are now living and breathing in a space that we envisioned and created. We are more than pleasantly surprised with how easy and nice it is to live in this house and how well it really does work for us.

Three windows that we had the architect add on the east side of the living room frame nature perfectly. I can lay on my couch and watch the sky change colors and trees blow in the wind. It is a picture frame that changes throughout the day. There is a similar window in the master shower on the second floor that I equally enjoy.

I finally made the phone call I have been dreading and brooding over for months. I called the architect to give feedback on his recommendation, our builder. He was more than appreciative for the feedback and immediately stated he will never be recommended again. I had a brief twinge of guilt, although I don't wish our experience on our worst enemy.

In other news, hubby had the luxury of taking both kids to the doctor to get a strep diagnosis- the boy on Tuesday and the girl today. Luckily we got it early and they are up and playing like nothing is wrong.

Boom box

2008-01-24T13:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening as I walked the boy home in the cold drizzle (seriously people- enough of the cold and the rain- this is Houston- we're not supposed to have winter here), we ran across the neighbor boy down the street and his friend. The boy shouts out- Brian! Brian! Hey Brian! Is that a radio? They nod and then the older kid turns to me and says- this is an old timey radio- like what you used to have? It's a circa 1980's something boom box with a tape player and I solemnly nod yes. The kid responds with our stuff sounds a lot better.

When did I get old? How did this happen? And since when is a boom box considered an old timey radio? Isn't that a phonograph or something?

Actual Door

2008-01-13T10:04:00.000-06:00

Not the best picture and the trim has to be painted before it can be installed, but you get the idea...

Door

2008-01-09T08:09:00.000-06:00

We finally received our long anticipated, very hard to find, custom craftsman front door last week. This is what we ordered, although ours is stained ebony. I'll have to update with a picture of ours this evening. The locksmith came and rekeyed all my locks Friday, the carpenter installed the door on Saturday, and we had people out yesterday to stain it. The carpenter still has to install the trim around the door, but has to cut the stone first to make more room.

In other news, we are heading to arbitration with Conn's over the tv issue. We filed a small claims lawsuit and they denied any responsibility for selling us a smashed plasma. Unfortunately, the courts are backed up and it could be March before we get a date for arbitration. Looks like we won't be having the SuperBowl party at our house. I'm really not up to it either, I am still terribly exhausted and now it hurts to sit, to move, to walk. I don't remember this from the first two, but I'm sure its part of the blocking bad memories so our species will survive.

My in-laws brought us a housewarming present yesterday....a Keurig single cup brewing machine. We've decided to put it in the master bathroom as our bedroom is upstairs and the kitchen is downstairs. We have something similar at work, so I'm already spoiled, but having a coffee bar in our master suite has me all a flutter.

Still much, much, much work to do on the house, but we're very slowly getting it punched out. The builder has dropped off the radar, which is ok with us because now it is all in our control and nagging him to get things finished wasn't working very well. Hubby is insisting on laying sod himself and I've tried to convince him of the folly of his idea. I replayed the story of him insisting to move our possessions into storage and the many treatments required by the chiropractor to fix him. He insists laying sod will not screw up his back. I insist he's not 16 anymore as he was when he worked as a landscaper and that I need his help more inside to prepare for the baby!!!! Approximately 9 more weeks until our life is completely turned upside down again.

Crossing

2008-01-03T08:54:00.000-06:00

School started back today. The kids really had a hard time getting up and going, which is understandable since the last two weeks have been late nights followed by late and lazy mornings. I'm fairly certain I didn't get out of my pajamas before noon (sometimes 5 pm) except one or two days. Today is also the first day the boy has been a walker. The girl and I walked him the 2 houses down and across the street the school. Also had a quick chat with the crossing guard. This is what we've spent the last nearly two years dreaming about!

Nano

2007-12-30T15:14:00.000-06:00

Moving stinks. Boxes seem to multiply when placed in the house. And none will magically empty themselves.

I've been more tired than usual. Doctor's office just called to tell me that I am anemic.

We still don't have grass. This is especially fun with a dog.

I received an IPod Nano for my present from hubby. My seven year old is teaching me how to use it. This could take awhile.

A Christmas poem

2007-12-29T18:00:00.000-06:00

Twas the night before Christmas, when my son finally asked.
Mom, there is a secret I really need to know.
Some kids at school say it is their mom and their dad
who leave all the gifts, it's all just a show.
Others say Santa is true and they just don't know.
I am really confused and don't know what to believe.

I answer with a question, surprised it has taken this long-
Are you sure you want to know?
A quick nod of the head from the boy and I answer, yes it is me.
I knew it he says with a cheer.
So soon you will leave to buy gifts for sister and me?

No honey, I will not leave, all the gifts are already here.
Now that you know, from your sister this secret we'll keep
and we'll all still believe in the magic in this time of year.

Wednesday, December 19, 2008

2007-12-20T09:13:00.001-06:00

The official move in. The kids were so excited it was nearly 10 pm before they fell asleep. The dog didn't know quite what to think and was pacing nervously around the house. Hubby and I spent the majority of the evening unpacking to make sure we knew where all the essentials were for the morning- towels, soap, shampoo, coffee maker, filters and mugs.... When my head first hit the pillow in my long anticipated wait for my pillow top king sized mattress, I had to let out a sigh of relief. Home sweet home.

CO

2007-12-17T11:33:00.000-06:00

I didn't want to post anything until it was official, lest I ask for additional problems. Now I can safely say that we passed the electrical and plumbing final on Friday, and the mechanical and building final today. Which means.....the city will issue us the certificate of occupancy!!!!

Cursed

2007-12-10T10:45:00.001-06:00

Yep, I'm fairly certain our new house is cursed. Another day, another two failed inspections. We finally unwrapped the 50" plasma and it looks like it was shattered by a baseball. Over half of our brand new appliances have dents or scratches. And of course, no one wants to take responsibility. Sure, why not us? Although none of this is our fault, we keep paying through the nose. Fair? Who cares! Screw the little guy.

Gone

2007-12-05T10:11:00.000-06:00

I've often wondered what the other side of sanity would look like. I've walked the line between sane and insane before. I was fairly certain I'd know when I got to the other side. What I am finding out is that it is actually a fine line and stepping over it is not obvious.

Here is just a small sample of the things I have done lately. Saturday evening, I stopped at a red light like it was a stop sign and then started proceeding into the intersection. Fortunately, I slammed on the brakes when I realized what I was doing.

This morning, I showed up at my dentist's office for my appointment. It seemed like I had just been there, but hey, it was on my calendar. I signed in, sat down and alarms went off right when the receptionist was about to tell me I wasn't scheduled for that day. It then dawned on me that Dr. Teller is my dermatologist, not my dentist. Teller/Janik- one can see how I would get those confused.

Monday, I called for the gas meter to be installed. Again. First time the guy came out, and he made a list of all the reasons why we weren't ready. Something about lines not being installed yet. Second time, he put the meter on, and it started twirling around. Everything should have been capped off or connnected. Well, there was one line at the oven that was not capped. So, the plumber fixed all and I called again. Now the lady tells me we have to get an inspection first. She was not sure why the order went through the first two times. We can't move in until we get gas (i.e. heat and hot water). I cried. I threw things around in my office.

Did I mention that I ran my checkbook through the wash? You know- the one we're using for building the house and has the record of what we've paid to the subs.

Quite frankly, I am afraid I am a danger to myself and others. I find myself pulling incredibly stupid maneuvers in the car, flying off the handle at the slightest issue, and crying when something doesn't work out the way I think it should. And somebody help me if my husband doesn't do exactly what I want him to do. Like when the glass people installed a mirror in my powder room, even though they were not supposed to as I have a decorative mirror to hang there. I told him to make sure they remove it. He said it looked nice and we should just leave it. He got an earful of expletives and finally complied. Just for good measure, I left a nice message for the builder that was saturated with sarcasm. Even people at work are starting to fear me.

None of this is good for my health or the health of the baby and I have never had blood pressure issues until the last few weeks. Everyone is telling me to rest. Hah. I need to get away. Far, far away.

Move in

2007-11-25T20:46:00.000-06:00

I've started and restarted this post four times. The house (or lack thereof) has been weighing on me heavily and I have not been in the best of moods. I am seriously lacking the confidence that the house will ever be finished. Tiler #4 has failed to show up for a week straight. There's only about a day's worth of work left. The HVAC guy won't return my builder's phone calls. Each day brings a new problem, issue, disappointment. I know this will all pass and hopefully one day we'll look back on this and laugh, but right now, it is all consuming and extremely anxiety inducing.

Even though nothing is finished, all is about 90% there, we are planning moving in our belongings Wednesday. I do not know when we will be able to follow. If a small miracle happens, and we actually can get gas and electricity connected, we may be able to follow suite. But nothing, I repeat nothing will be finished.

But here are some pictures......

Playoffs

2007-11-06T08:39:00.000-06:00

I have mentioned the boy's baseball team this season. They are the number one seed and we are in the middle of the playoffs. They lost the first game of the playoffs on Saturday and it was a nail biter. The other team really stepped up and ours played worse than they had ever played before. Luckily, it is a two game elimination, so we moved into the losers bracket after the game Saturday.

Instead of playing Saturday, Thursday, and the following Saturday to win the championship, our schedule is Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. We won last night's game, so it is the next round this evening. The kids are nervous and hopefully last night renewed their confidence. The parents are holding their breath the entire game. Go Riverdogs!!

Butterfly princess and the ninja

2007-11-04T11:53:00.001-06:00