Is this wrong?

As I was dropping off the boy at the extended day program at his school at 7:15 this morning, I saw two sets of parents dropping their kids off in the parking lot. The school doesn't open until 7:30, so I'm not sure what these kids do in the interim, but it gave me a sick feeling. Elementary school kids, unsupervised, running around outside the elementary school.

I happened to be behind one of the parents and he pulled up at the same day care that I was driving my daughter to and dropped off his daughter. I was fairly far behind him though because he was driving 90 miles an hour between the schools.

And THEN I saw another women pulling into the parking lot to drop off her young son, only her son was sitting in the front seat and not in a car seat.

Am I too overprotective? Or do these people just not care about the welfare of their children??? I try not to judge other's actions, but I respond differently if it involves children.

I'm not sure I want to know the answer to this

Is Snapple tea supposed to have stuff floating around in it?

Frustration

It seems that with every version of Microsoft Word, the formatting becomes more and more difficult to understand and control. I can only attribute it to one of three things:

a) The developers are trying to automate the software in such a manner that it tries to anticipate your next move. And 9 times out of 10 it's wrong.

b) Additional features are hurting rather than helping.

c) I'm getting old and senile. I remember when we had write everything by hand! With pencil! And we didn't have those stinking pencil sharpeners. We had to sharpen them with our teeth!

Interesting Read

Do Bush followers have a political ideology?

While I tend to agree with some of the points made, I do think it's all a bit exaggerated. Although this was not the point of the article, what irritates me more than anything is the name calling and the mud slinging. As written by one of the commentors:

It's true: political labels are too often used as weapons rather than as descriptors with reliable meaning. "Liberal" and "conservative" have become code words for enemies and friends.

Honestly, I belong to neither side. I want the government to just stay the hell out of my life, thank you very much. I especially do not want "Big Brother" getting into my personal life which pushes me more into the liberal arena. And the Republicans have only increased the size of our government since gaining control. I do find it terrifying the numbers of Americans who continue to support the president without question or any analytical thought.

Thanks to Mister Crunchy for the link.

In honor of V-day

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love.You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

*Lifted from Journey of the Heart

Pro Child. Pro Family. Pro Choice.

Bumper sticker seen on a car in the parking lot at my office. I like that.

This is cool

Click here to pick out the words you feel best describe me. It will be interesting to find out if how I perceive myself is in any way similar to how others perceive me.

*Thanks to Spin the Moon for the link.

Fear Factor Dinner

We have one rule in our house concerning dinner time. Whatever you are served, you will try it. That doesn't mean you will have to finish it, but one bite is mandatory. Last night, we had cake left over from friends visiting this weekend. The girl happily ate her dinner and was served a piece of cake, but the boy would only eat salad, not the tuna noodle casserole. Getting him to even take a bite of the casserole was excruciating. Just one bite- NO! IT'S NASTY! How do you know if you haven't tried it? No cake then.

Finally, he scrunches up his fast, holds his nose and takes a bite. Then almost spits it out. We start cheering him on- you can do it! Swallow! It's just like Fear Factor! Pretend you're eating worms!

I am starting to get a complex about my cooking.

How sweet

Out of the blue last evening, my daughter says "You're my best friend Mommy. " She then turns to her dad and says "You're my best friend, too, Daddy."

Just makes my heart melt.

Bathroom etiquette

There are three stalls and three sinks in a bathroom. The middle stall is occupied by person A. Person B enters the bathroom and chooses the closest stall. Now person A is heading to the sink.
Do they:

a) pick sink closest to the exit
b) pick the corresponding sink to the stall which they used
c) none of the above, who needs to wash their hands anyways

Is it just me that thinks middle stall = middle sink? And why does this bother me?

Don't even get me started on people who don't wash their hands.

How does this work?

My husband and I met on the high school swim team. We've both grew up swimming and were on our neighborhood swim teams since we were both 6. It is only natural I assume that both of our kids are fish. They LOVE the water.

However, the fact that both of us understand the mechanics of swimming and that we had each earned extra money in the summers by teaching kids how to swim, we could not teach our own. They simply would not follow our instructions. So, we signed them up and the Boot Camp of all swim schools, the Houston Swim Club.

The girl was just barely two when we started her and within a month, she graduated out of the parent/swim class and swam in the classes reserved for those 3+ (which scared the crap out of us).

This summer, I'd like the boy to have the opportunity to swim on the swim team for our city. Here's the part that I can't figure out how to overcome- the practice is from 4 - 4:30 Monday through Friday until school gets out and then it is 9 - 9:45 every weekday morning. Hello? Ever heard of two working parents? My work hours are 7:15 to 5. Hubby's are all over the map, but with his move to Continental, I don't expect him to be much help at all.

A day in the life

I can't figure out why I am tired all the time.....

5:30 am - alarm goes off, press snooze
5:37 am - alarm goes off, press snooze
5:44 am - alarm goes off, think about getting out of bed, press snooze
5:51 am - drag myself out of bed & make coffee
5:55 am - empty dishwasher, run dryer again, pack lunch, fix breakfast, check email
6:22 am - get dressed, put on makeup
6:27 am - eat breakfast
6:31 am - beg kids to wake up
6:32 am to 7:08 am - get kids up, feed them breakfast, dressed, and in the car
7:25 am - drop off son at elementary school
7:35 am - drop off daughter at preschool
7:42 am - sneak into work, half an hour late
7:43 am to 11:14 am - work, put out fires
11:15 am to 12 pm - jog and shower
12:01 pm to 12:05 pm - eat lunch
12:05 pm to 5:10 pm - work, put out fires, sit through meetings
5:15 pm - pick up daughter
5:21 pm - pick up son
5:47 pm - 6:45 pm - prepare dinner, begin work brought home, feed family, clean up dishes, start a load of laundry
6:45 pm - 7:45 pm - bathe kids, talk to kids, read books, brush teeth, move laundry from washer to dryer
7:45 pm - 8:15 pm - fight with kids to go to bed
8:16 pm - 9:40 pm - finish work
9:41 pm - watch one recorded show on TIVO and try to unwind while working on business stuff- accounting, filing, taxes, etc
10:22 pm - fall asleep on couch
10:59 pm - move to bedroom, now wide awake
11:25 pm - finally fall asleep again

The shoes

Last evening, as I kissed my sleeping angel good night, I noticed a line of shoes against the wall. Thinking that was strange, I asked hubby what was going on with the boy's shoes. He begins with "well, he is your son." Apparently, he had lined up his shoes with labels to identify the purpose of the shoe. A baseball was set next to his cleats. An A&M logo next to his new Aggie flip-flops. A star wars toy next to his star war logo shoes. Nothing was set next to his every day shoes, because, well they're just every day shoes.

Creative problem solving

The party Saturday evening was nice. Much to my surprise, the huge ballroom was packed and I was not expected to be a seat filler. I did have my own version of hell Saturday morning when I spent two hours at the mall. I first looked for a new dress. The selection was either old lady or hoochy mama, so I decided to look for a shrug to go over a sleeveless dress that I already owned. Seemed like a simple task. I finally found two that might work, so I bought both and then attempted to find comfortable, dressy, evening shoes. I felt like I was on Mission Impossible. Again, the selection was either old lady or hoochy mama or just downright painful looking. I finally found a pair that didn't have a point at the toes sharp enough to spear a fish. They were inches higher than anything I'd ever worn before, but feeling brave, or more likely desperate, I bought them anyways.

When I tried on the shoes, I did not have on hose. When I wore the shoes, I had hose on. First stop at my folks to drop off the kiddos and I realized my heel was slipping out of the back of the shoe and I couldn't walk. Attempt #1- inserted moleskin in the heel of the shoe, drove to party. The walk from the car to the hotel, I quickly realized attempt #1 was a failure. I slid my way into the hotel, hanging from my husband's arm, while trying to come up with a backup plan. Ah ha! I can stuff a bunch of toilet paper inside my hose at the back of my heel. Attempt #2 success! Unless you count the fact that the toilet paper kept riding up my ankle and it was white and my hose and shoes were black.

I think there's a good reason why I never dress up.

Two hands butter!

In the middle of the usual dinner time mayhem, the boy picks up his cup of chocolate milk and proceeds to drop it and spill it everywhere. Nothing too out of the ordinary until his little 2 year old sister starts reprimanding him-

Two hands butter! Two hands!!

Neither hubby nor I can control our laughter which infuriates the boy. He retorts- if this is so funny, you clean up the rest!

My day off

Today is my off-Friday. In theory, we get every other Friday off. In reality, I very rarely see a day entirely to myself. This morning I am catching up on some work, but the good news is that I am doing it from home, in my pajamas. Yes, I know that it is 11:30. So what?

I am planning on going for a quick jog, shower, eat lunch and then begin one of my favorite activities in the world. No, not that. I am going to purge the closests. Yes, I do know that I am sick. Hey, I'm answering a fictitious person's questions right now.

I love getting rid of stuff. Seeing everything nice and organized and uncluttered and the bags and bags of stuff sitting by the back door, waiting for a better life. Now if I could only keep it from entering my house, life would be perfect.

Service award party

I was invited to a service award party for work. I heard that it was originally for people with 20+ years with the company. Not enough responded, so the requirement was dropped to 15+ years. Then 10+ and finally they could fill a room. I started polling coworkers to see if they were going. "To what?" was the reply. And then, "I didn't get invited". Strange-they've been here 14 years. I found out in someone's bizarre logic, anyone who met 5 or 10 years of service in 2005 was invited. Why they didn't drop the requirement to just 10+ years is beyond me. But hey, I'm not proud- free meal, free booze, I'm all in.

Then I started thinking -dangerous when I do that- maybe the 5 & 10 year people are seat fillers. If one the of old guys has to go pee during the presentation, do we have to jump up and run to his seat? Are they filming it for the stock holders? Is this just some big scam to show what a wonderful company we work for? Am I going to be on TV? A star? Watch for me.

Eastern medicine

After coming to the conclusion that western medicine is nothing but a bunch of trial and error involving drugs, I started researching the centuries old methods of healing. Ok, I'm stretching the truth. I had a major sinus attack and after prescription decongestants, antibiotics, and 3 days straight in bed, my mom brought over this strange contraption called a neti pot. Desperate, I was willing to try anything, even pouring salt water up one nostril to come out the other. Within a day, I was back to my normal life.

I must admit that now I'm a neti pot junky. I do it every day. And since I've begun, I have not had one cold even though the little germ monsters and the man of the house had colds. I even stopped taking my allergy pill every day. I take the neti pot with me when I travel as well. I can't imagine what the cleaning people must have thought when they saw this sitting on the sink.

Fantasy

I have a fantasy. Maybe it is a fantasy shared by many city slickers. I want out of the rat race. I want out of the "keeping up with the Jones" mentality. I crave freedom. I crave wide open spaces. I want to eat vegetables grown outside my back door. I want to eat fruit that I pick from a tree. I want to spend quality time with my children and to have the ability to tell them "go- run- play- be free!" I want a simpler life.

Warning- rant ahead

Everything and everyone is getting on my nerves today. I know it is stress related, but maybe this rant will help.

- The guy on the other side of my cube hacks and coughs all day long. When he's not sounding like a lung is coming up, he's yelling into his telephone.

- My new project sucks. I don't know what I am supposed to be doing and the client who I need to speak with has been out of the office for the two weeks I've been here.

- When I woke up this morning, I thought today was Thursday. Which would be a good thing because this Friday is not a working day (although I'll still be working from home) so I thought it was my last 5:30 am wakeup call for the week. Then I realized it was only Wednesday.

- I am trying to get back to my lunchtime running schedule and one of the three projects I am working on (another irritation there) keeps scheduling a meeting for right in the middle of my lunch hour.

- The space where my cube is located is behind locked doors since I'm working on "top secret proprietary technology" (whatever) and when someone goes in or out, the door squeaks for about 10 seconds as it slowly closes and then slams shut. And it's right next to my cube.

- Just the fact that I work in a cube!

I think I'm done. For now. Check back later- I am sure something else exciting will irritate me today :)

Losing it

Ok, fine. It's not the useless garbage in my head causing me to lose my mind. I'll admit it. It must be caused by intergalactic gravitational pulls or possibly aliens. Yesterday, I am sitting at my desk, searching desperately for my motivation (how rude for it to go on vacation without me!!!) and my stomach starts growling. It is only 8:30, much too early for lunch hunger pains. I try to remember what I ate for breakfast and that's when it hit me, I forgot to eat breakfast. I had my coffee, no way am I going anywhere without that, but forgot to eat. I'm the type of person that when someone tells me they forget to eat, I only half believe them. NO ONE forgets to eat. At least not me. Until yesterday.

When I picked up my son from the extended day program at his school, I searched for his name in the book to sign him out. Only I couldn't find it. Because I was looking under my MAIDEN name. Which I guess is understandable since I've only been married for nearly 10 years.

Numbers, passwords

I can't seem to remember anything these days. Like what someone just said, where I am supposed to be, what I am supposed to be doing, my kids names when I am yelling at them. I know it has nothing to do with age or stress, it has everything to do with stinking technology!

It is telephone numbers and passwords and user names crowding out everything else. Home numbers, business numbers, cell phone numbers, pediatrician, day care, direct line to the elementary school's principals office. Then the fiasco we call 'internet security'. Each website has their own special little rules for user names and passwords.

User name must contain one uppercase letter, at least two numbers, must be longer than eight characters, and rhyme with xylophone. The crazy ones at work are the worst and they expire what seems like every other week. It took me 15 minutes trying to think of a new password that I wouldn't forget in the 2 seconds it took to write it down.

Invalid password. That has been used before.
Invalid password. Not enough characters.
Invalid password. Not enough numeric characters.
Invalid password. You misspelled.

But I won the battle, with ScrewYouPasswordMonster1234 finally accepted.

Escape!

This weekend hubby and I went to one of our favorite places in the world, the Inn Above Onion Creek. We've been there twice before, for our first anniversary and again two years later. It has been 7 years since we went last.

The Inn is located outside Kyle, Texas, which used to be a quaint, sleepy little town. Not anymore- new developments are everywhere. The town is located off I-35, close to San Marcos. It seems eventually Austin and San Antonio will connect.

Saturday, we drove through Wimberly, visited a winery in Driftwood, drove around Canyon Lake and headed back for the delicious gourmet dinners at the Inn. Sunday morning we hiked around the property after breakfast and then shopped at the outlet mall in San Marcos and finally headed back to reality.

Two nights of uninterrupted sleep, fancy meals with adult conversations, and reconnecting- everyone needs a place like that to escape.

Lost parent of the year award

Friday, as hubby and I were scrambling to pack for our trip this weekend (more on that later), I pulled the boy's school project sheet off the refrigerator hoping my mom could help him with it this weekend. Well, hubby finally reads it and instead of a due date of next Wednesday, it was due the previous Wednesday. I lost a week in there somewhere. Now I understand why the boy was telling me about everyone's project. And I felt this big.

He did complete it yesterday and I will send a letter to the teacher explaining it is his folks that are deficient. He's only in kindergarten and his parents are already screwing up his life.

Talk to the hand

Last night, the boy asks the hubby to hold out his hand towards towards his face and to say "talk to the hand". Now, I've been know to throw a little attitude around, but it's one of those do as I say, not as I do situations and it irritates me to hear it coming from my kids. Anyway, daddy obliges and when the boy gets the hand in his face and hears "talk to the hand", the boy responds with "Hi hand! How are you doing?".

TALK TO ME

Please!!

I moved to a new project. It is just me and several clients and we're behind locked doors. This is especially cruel to someone who thrives on interaction with others.

HELP!!!

Word gets around

I have a large circle of friends who are in some way (past or present) related to work. One of the members of this group still works here, along with his father. We'll call him "Jack" for illustrative purposes. As I am leaving for lunch today, "Jack" asks me about a particular girls-only party that I hosted several weeks ago, wanting to know what it was all about. Jack's daughter-in-law happened to be one of the guests at this party.

Still not sure how he found out about it, but I sure wasn't dishing any details.

Laredo, Texas

To mark the occasion of hubby's last flight with Continental Express, the kids and I flew out with him on his trip to Laredo. Let's just say, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The kids seemed to have a great time. Between temper tantrums anyways. Between no naps, not being able to freely express themselves (i.e. scream) and the 2 am crying fit after the boy wet the bed, I'm glad to be home and glad to be at work.

It wasn't all bad. At lunch Saturday, the radio the restaurant was playing kept cutting in and out. The boy started up an impromptu game of freeze. We found a play area at the mall and the kids had a great time running around. The boy talked to some other boys his age briefly. When asked what the conversation was about, he answered that they wanted to play a game, but spoke Spanish. He couldn't understand what they were saying.

Saturday evening we took the kids to the planetarium at Texas A&M International University. Didn't know that A&M had a branch in Laredo, but obviously they do. The schedule on the website said it was about Saturn. Turned out it was a techno music laser light show. Not quite what I had in mind, but the kids insisted they enjoyed it.

That night, when we got back to the car, I was trying to buckle the girl into her car seat. It was dark, so I asked hubby to turn the overhead light on. He said it was out. The boy then stood up and said- maybe it's a clap on and proceeded to clap to turn it on. No, it didn't come on, but we got a good laugh out of it.

Both kids had a chance to sit in the cock pit and push a few buttons. And they got a real charge out of hearing their dad on the PA system while in flight.

Traveling

I am in Lake Charles right now for a work meeting. Hotel rooms are still hard to come by with most still shut down from damage due to hurricane Rita last September. The plant had 'trailer city' set up for months but is slowly sending the trailers back as the employees are able to move back home. Trying to find a room for this trip was terrible. Fortunately, there weren't any trailers available. Even more fortunately, the only rooms available are at the new casino in town- L'auberge du Lac. Tough assignment, but I'm handling it ok.

Hubby flew in yesterday evening to help contribute to the local economy. Our tally from last night- he was down $90 from playing craps, but I made $45 at Carribean Stud. We each had a beer, so that comes to $22.50 a beer. He flew back this afternoon and I think I'm done gambling for this trip.

The best blonde joke!!

Saw this on Chasing the Wind. The best blonde joke ever.

THE scale

I got a new magazine subscription in my stocking this year to Women's Health. It is a new spinoff of Men's Health, which is a much better magazine than most. In one of the articles, they recommended a scale to beat all scales. It is the Tanita BC-533 and measures much more than you'd ever want to know. Like total weight isn't enough, so there's body fat percentage, amount of fat surrounding your organs in your waist area (risk factor for heart problems), and a host of other things you never really wanted to know.

This evil machine arrived Wednesday on my front porch. I bravely stepped on. Hubby and I then had a good laugh at my expense. Next was his turn. Same reaction. The next morning, I woke up 45 minutes earlier to get my run in before work. The next day, hubby went for a jog, rode his bike, and lifted weights. We'll just call it a $99 wake up call.

Pennies

I have two letters to mail and a stack of now useless 37 cent stamps. Thinking I could find 2 cent stamps somewhere in my office building, I set out on my quest. Only to find 2 cent stamps are no where to be found. Next stop is the post office, which I will be bringing in a bag of pennies to pay with. I think it's only fitting.

Advertising out of hand

The naming of sports arenas and buildings is completely out of hand. When The Summit became Compaq Center, I refused to use the new name. Now we have Minute Maid Park (formally Enron Park), Reliant Stadium, and the Toyota Center.

Even the commercial breaks are now a commercial- "and now we break for the Ford moment". People are tattooing their foreheads for advertisements. And now, a town in Texas, has renamed itself Dish, Texas.

How much could I get for naming my kid James Coney Island?

Conception to reality

No, I'm not pregnant.

The contract for the mobile home park was finally signed yesterday. Now we're scrambling trying to find suckers to lend us money. Before the contract was signed, my stress level was about a 4 on a 1 - 10 scale. Stays pretty much in that range, with sharp peaks in the morning or if the kids get sick. Today it's a sustained 7 or 8.

Planning for something, low stress. Actually doing it, major stress.

Just like I'd imagined

We found the best place in town for riding bikes. It's the kind of place that if we were visiting from out of town, we'd wish we lived there to be able to use it. George Bush park, on the west side of town, has miles and miles of paved roads winding through trees and with long bridges ambling over streams. One route takes you to Katy, where you can hook up with an almost infinite number of routes. The other path takes you to Terry Hershey park, which has miles of miles of scenic routes. Having lived in that area, we used to ride on of the paths often but they have greatly expanded the park system.

So, Saturday we packed up the bikes and the kids and attempted our second family bike ride. The first being in our neighborhood, which with cars, sidewalks, curbs, and stop signs did not go very well. On the unobstructed bike path, the boy did great! We rode 6 miles Saturday afternoon and went back Sunday morning for another 6. The wind had picked up Sunday, so it took some coaxing to get the boy to finish Sunday, but he did. The girl kept herself entertained on the back of my bike by singing about the color of my shirt. It was all very enjoyable and we can't wait to do it again.

Happy Birthday!!

To Darkle! Happy birthday to you.....

Updates

Dad's still in the hospital, but doing much better. He hasn't had as much outside interest in his passing gas or bowel movements since he was a baby, I suppose. But it looks like tomorrow or the next day he'll be home. We kidnapped my mother last night and went to a nearby park and then dinner. It's the first time she's left the hospital since my dad went in almost a week ago.

The holidays are over and it's back to the grind as usual. The days of rolling out of bed at 7 to turn on the computer to start working are over as well. Sigh. It is nice to see my coworkers again, rather than just on instant message.

It looks like we've come to an agreement in the negotiations on a mobile home park and we're meeting to sign the contract on Friday. I am a little nervous as it is something I know nothing about. I imagine there's no better way to learn then when your entire future's on the line. Heh.

Need ideas

Dad's still in the hospital and probably will be through New Year's. We're going to celebrate with him, so I need ideas to make it a little fun. He's very active and is beginning to go stir crazy already. Last night, I stayed with him and had my mom go with hubby and the kids to dinner so she could get out of there for a moment. I took our portable DVD player and some movies he'd like, but forgot the power adapter. We'll take that to him tonight. And I'll stop by the blood bank to drop off some O-. I see that they are low and I've been called by the blood bank several times in the last few weeks.

So, back to my problem. Fun for New Year's Eve. Maybe take some games? If he's able to eat by then, some light snacky food? Need some help here!

Worried

Today my father is having surgery. It is due to begin in 20 minutes. He's having a part of his large intestine removed because it is precancerous. Hopefully it has not yet turned into cancer. My dad is one of the healthiest people I know. Eats right, is trim, and can outlast most 20 year olds on the bike. I know he's going to be fine and recover quickly, but I am still obviously concerned. Hopefully he'll be discharged from the hospital in time to spend New Year's at home.

Working from home

The joys of technology. Since I can log into our network from home with my company issued laptop, I decided to work the later half of last week and all of this week from home. Well, not really decided, but have to since the boy's out of school and the hubby's working. I have found out the benefits of a decent environment. Having a desk in a room with big windows really has made a difference in my psyche and my motivation. I am much more productive at home, even with my 5 year old interrupting occasionally for help with his lego projects. I do miss the interaction with colleagues, but since most of the office is out for the holidays, I am not missing much.

Not much can beat rolling out of bed and sitting down to work in your pajamas, well unless it's not having to work at all.

Some traditions are worth updating

Growing up, my dad always played Christmas music while decorating the tree. Unfortunately, it was not the style of music to my liking, John Denver or the like. After branching out on my own, beginning my own family, creating my own traditions, I of course went out and bought John Denver's Christmas CD (no offense intended for John Denver fans). After my husband would not even stay in the room while this was on, I decided I didn't need to subject my family to the same torture. While waiting in line behind 523 people at Bath and Body Works, I saw the Make a Wish CD with songs from Aretha Franklin to Melissa Ethridge. Much better.

Too contrived?

We have friends from out of town coming over this evening. Would it be too contrived to put their family's Christmas card front and center of our pile of cards? Or is it the polite thing to do, like wearing that hideous sweater from Aunt Pearl when you're going to her house?

Be specific

I'm working from home the rest of this week and most of next because the boy is out of school and the hubby is working. Of course that means too much tv for him while I'm preoccupied with my work, but I am calling in reinforcements to get him out of the house occasionally.

After lunch today, he asks if he can have the little box of jelly beans that I bought as a stocking stuffer, but forgot to hide, so now it was sitting on the counter. I say yes, but that he needs to save half of them for his sister. He took me literally. I picked up the container this afternoon and thought it was strange he could have made the package so sticky with just jelly beans. I found out why tonight. The boy tells the girl she can have the rest of the jelly beans after dinner. Exactly half. Because he only ate half of each one.

Ewwwww.

Broken record

I know I have complained about this before, but it seems the problem grows exponentially each year. I am referring to the sick and twisted individuals who develop product packaging, in particular toys.

The in-laws are heading out of town for the holidays, so we celebrated Hanukkah early this year. Sunday was an extravaganza of presents and food that almost rivaled Christmas. I guess with four grandchildren it all adds up.

So, back to my complaint. The developers must get great joy in the pain and torture they put parents through. Screaming kid on the left and another on the right- I want my helicopter! I want my Barbie! Calm down, 45 more minutes and I might have the first piece out. Plastic packing that requires kitchen shears strong enough to debone a chicken. Packing tape to hold the wires that is wrapped around every square inch. Tiny little hooks that don't spare a millimeter to grasp with the scissors.

If the same technology was applied to banks, jewelry stores and such- there'd never be another robbery again.

Catching up

I was so proud of myself. 95% complete with Christmas shopping, greeting cards mailed, most of the gifts wrapped weeks ago. I could sit back and enjoy the holidays with none of the stress.

Ha!

There's only 5 more days until Christmas!! Eick!! Went to the mall yesterday to get teacher gifts. Still collecting addresses to send out the last of the cards. Finally found the one remaining present for the boy from Santa -gave up looking for the Power Ranger Omegazord, which apparently has become some huge collector's item and instead decided to honor his wish for magic with a magic set. I already knew the force field was impossible and there was no way I was buying him a cell phone or an XBox 360.

I still haven't wrapped any of the Santa gifts. Have to figure out how to leave a clue from Santa that her big girl bed and dresser are upstairs in the spare bedroom. And if my Martha Stewart clone friend decides to bring over a big box of homemade rugala like she sometimes does, I'm totally hosed!

Ack! Holiday stress!

Special treat

When I picked the boy up from the extended day program at his school, the sun was starting to set. Clouds filled the sky and the sun reflected orange, purple, and pink across the horizon. Of course, I noticed none of this until my son exclaimed- "Look at the sky! It's beauuuuuutiful!". And it was.

As a special treat, after dinner, homework, and bath, we watched The Incredibles until the end (1 hour after bedtime) and I let them eat candy. Maybe I'm softening in my old age, but it was a special treat for the kids and me, spending quality time together during the week.

I'd love to retire and be able to do things like that regularly while they're still young. Maybe next year, maybe next year.

The Grocery Store Adventure

Grocery shopping with little ones is a challenge. Grocery shopping with little ones after work/school when everyone is tired and hungry is down right insane. Unfortunately, it was one chore not completed this weekend.

So tonight, I chose Mission Impossible. After breezing through the aisles, stuffing the kids full of samples, I make it to the checkout line a little smug. No melt downs, them or me. Unfortunately, I happen to have a knack for picking the line with the "high maintenance" person. Now, I've been THAT person before, but I try really hard not to be.

The old lady in front of me was really being a pain in the you know what. Don't get me wrong- I love old people. I want to be one some day. She's arguing the price on every item that goes through. "That's $1- check the ad! Can't you get any of the prices right? I picked the wrong cashier." I really feel for people making minimum wage, taking such abuse. Soon, a party of 6 employees has gathered, including the manager. I happen to know for a fact she was wrong- the yellow squash was not 1 for $1, it was the zucchini. But that's neither here nor there. I already had my groceries on the belt behind hers, so I was committed. And then the kids decided to lose it. Hold me! Can I have this! Uh! Pick me up! I want gum! I want candy!

Life with the little ones

Parenthood is a mixed bag of trying times peppered with moments of tenderness and always non-stop entertainment. Saturday night we took the kids out driving to look at lights.

"Look- candy canes!"
"I saw them"
"No you didn't. You missed them."
"No, I didn't. I saw them."
"Look- Santa!"
"I saw him"
"No you didn't. You missed them."
"Wait- go back- I wanted to see the gingerbread house!"
"waaaaaaa"
"I have to go potty"
"waaahhhhhh"
"You're going the wrong way- I have to go potty!!!!!!"
"waaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Ah, the holidays.

Not buying it

It's the same game every year. Hubby starts putting up the Christmas lights and gives up muttering- I can't do this- I'm Jewish!

Like being a Christian gives you some innate ability to hang lights. I used to hear it putting up the tree until I bought a prelit that is super easy to put together.

Not sure

Not sure what to blog about. I'm finally feeling human again, which is good. The weekend was nice. We went to a Christmaka party Saturday (Christmas & Hanukkah), which was fun and nice to see our friends. Stocked up at the grocery store since we've had nothing to eat in the house for weeks. Even ran out of chicken nuggets- the horror!!

Yesterday, the girl was singing a song about making scurvy pirates walk the plank from The Backyardigans. I can't get it out of my head now.

I've finished Christmas shopping, expect a few stocking stuffers for the hubby. Got over half the stuff wrapped yesterday evening. I like to finish early so that I can just enjoy the season and not stress about it.

My department at work received early raises and the rest of the office found out about it and are really ticked. Can't say I blame them, I would be too.

The boy is riding his bike without training wheels and is so proud of himself! We're proud too.

I am nearly done with my work on this project and am down to boxing up my files.

Not my week

This is just not my week! I'd like to call a do-over.

My head is still hurting, but I'm not sure if it's the sinus infection or a side effect from the heavy duty antibiotics. And then I did the stupidest thing ever this morning. I was supposed to go with hubby on a trip to Charleston yesterday, but couldn't because of my head. I'd already told the kids they were staying at my folks and they were so excited, so not wanting to disappoint, I let them stay over last night.

Well....I should probably end the story there....I'm backing out of the driveway this morning and stop because the garage door won't go down. I get out of the car to make it go down and the door closes behind me. I was obviously backing up fast enough to engage the automatic door locks. So, now I'm locked out of the house (house key on the car key ring) and my vehicle, which is still running. And my cell phone is in my purse, locked in the car.

I borrow my neighbors phone and call my mom- Mom, before you take the kids to school, can you please unlock my house? 45 minutes later, I am finally on my way to work. And my head still hurts.

Ouch.

After a week of fighting a cold, losing my voice, and struggling with sinus pressure that was about to make my head explode, I went to see the doctor yesterday. Got some heavy duty antibiotics to combact the sinus infection and powerful decongestants that kept me up half the night and make me feel like I'm on speed.

I'm just glad that the pressure is starting to subside. Will resume my posting some point later this week.

Passing on the traditions

We took the boy to his first A&M football game yesterday. It is the biggest game of the season, against our rivals, the Longhorns. We spent Thursday alternating between both of our families for Thanksgiving feasts and then headed to College Station that evening. Arriving just before the midnight yell practice (which happens at 8 pm the night before the t.u. game), we met up with hubby's buddies from the corp. It's been 10 years since we've seen some of them.

It was so much fun to introduce our first born to the traditions that make A&M unique. Yell practice, corp march-ins, shooting the cannon, our fight song and yells, the amazing band. He was humming the Aggie war hymn the whole way home.

And even though we lost the game against the #1 ranked team in the nation, we gave them quite a scare.

There is no god

I am not an articulate writer, so I enjoy it when I find something already written that is exactly what I want to say.

Penn, of the Penn and Teller comedy act, has eloquently captured my beliefs in his article There Is No God.

Thanks to Frank for the link.

The CIA is Watching Me!

I just received an email from someone at the CIA stating someone with my IP address has been to over 30 illegal websites and there is a list of questions attached. Knowing this is probably a virus, but curious enough not to just delete, I first check snopes to see if they have anything about this. Not finding it quickly, I next decide to call the number listed at the bottom, expecting to get a wrong number. Instead, it is the public affairs office of CIA and a prerecorded message states if I am trying to reach Steven Allison with the CIA about an email I received about viewing illegal websites, please delete the email as it is a hoax.

Someone must have had a beef with Mr. Allison.

Disturbing news

It was brought to my attention today that one of my coworkers is a convicted sex offender. I'm a big believer in people minding their own business and 'live and let live' but this involves a minor child. According to the database, he's been released for 10 years, but I haven't seen any evidence that a child molester can be reformed.

I do not associate with this individual outside of work, but I have had my kids up here on occasion. I am not sure what to do with this information. All I know is that this information greatly disturbs me.

Bribes

My son is a young kindergartener and is still struggling a bit to control himself in class. He's very social and loves to make people laugh. In our attempt to help with this effort, we've instituded a reward/punishment system, which is continuously evolving. The kids behavior is based on a color coded chart, with each student getting a clip. As they get in trouble or do better, they move their clip up and down the chart. White is neutral with yellow, orange, and red being progressively worse. Green, blue, then purple is progressively better. Here's our system so far:

white = 1 piece of candy, gets to watch tv in the evening
yellow or worse = no candy, no tv and we take away his bear for the night
green = white + instant reward of Burger King for dinner
4 whites in a row = Chuck E Cheese
3 whites in a row = varying reward, was a disposable camera once, getting the film developed another time and right now is a pumpkin pie

Today might be day 3 for white, so I was looking up pumpkin pie recipes on the internet. I'll just follow the recipe on the can of pumpkin, but I was looking just for grins. I stumbled upon a recipe site for engineers.

Enjoy.

More funnies

On the drive home from school yesterday, the boy asks to go to the circus again. It's been well over a year since we've been since we missed it this year. He asked if he could get the cotton candy when we go. I answered probably not and he got really upset. I have a moral objection against paying $12 for cotton candy. I told him that if he wanted it, he could take his own money and buy it. He asked how much and I told him $12 and he started getting upset because he only had 3 dollars in his piggy bank. He then stated that he did have pennkils and diamonds also.

Some things are just too cute to correct.

Tag!

I've been tagged by Michael at Chasing the Wind.

1) Do you use an alarm clock to wake up in the morning?
Yes, but I am usually awakened before the alarm by one of the two kids, the cat, or the dog.

2) What time do you set it for?
5:15

3) Do you hit the snooze button? If so how many times?
Anywhere from 2 times to as many as 10.

4) Have you ever abused an alarm clock?
Does pressing the snooze button 10 times count?

5) It’s “time” to spread some “It’s Blogcess” linky love.

Ok, let's see who's paying attention:
Sara at Accepting the Echo
Eric at Little Bit of This 'n That
Darkle
Random Dale Earnhardt Jr fan

Sell, sell, sell!!

I could use a little extra spending cash....

My blog is worth $108,391.68.
How much is your blog worth?

It's sad when...

... you meet your husband at the tire store to get the tires rotated on both vehicles at the same time so you can have a conversation, the first you've had in weeks

... you wake up at 7 am on the weekend and are excited because you slept so late

... you are so thankful because no one has thrown up that day

... you have to start picking up the house 3 days before the maid comes so she can clean

... the house is trashed again 15 minutes after you arrive home the day the maid cleans

... you have to involve extended family members in your weekend plans just because the two of you have more than 2 places to be at the same time

... you fall asleep on the couch 15 minutes after the kids finally give up the bedtime fight and you wake up an hour later and realize you still have several hours worth of chores to do

But the saddest part of all is realizing that in such a short time from now, your kids will be grown and not need you anymore.

What the...

My kids say the funniest things. Saturday we're driving to my folks to pick up the boy who'd spent the night Friday night. My daughter in the back starts saying- "Hey! You want a piece of me?"

Some of her other favorite sayings:

"Don't say stupid"
"What the"
"That is so not cool"
"Awesome"

Hello?

Am I all alone in the this big, dark blogosphere? Is there anyone out there?

Oh, it is just me. I may have to turn the spam filter off.

Thank you, Darkle, for being my one, lone commenter.

Everyone has a price

Last night we had the in-laws over for dinner. My father-in-law asks my son if he'll sell him his prized, worn, must have in order to sleep lovey bear blanket. The boy looks at him as if he's nuts when he asks. I'll buy it for 50 cents. No? Two dollars? No? Then he takes out a $100 bill and lets my son hold it. Then he asks, $100? The boy answers do you want the brown one or the white one (he has two)?

Not available

I spent yesterday morning in a client presentation to win more work. We presented our plan and the clients interviewed myself and my boss for the position. This morning the proposed project manager comes over to tell us that neither of us are available to work on it. We're both promised on at least 4 other jobs, all starting in January. Next year should be fun. Has anyone perfected that cloning thing?

Shapes in the clouds

Growing up, my best friend and I would ride bikes around the neighborhood to exhaustion and then lay on the ground across the street from our houses and stare at the sky. We'd pick out different shapes in the clouds and go back at night to stare at the stars. I'd forgotten about this particular past time until my son starting pointing out dragons and birds and lions in the sky.

I've always been eager to get to the next stage in my life. In 8th grade, it killed me that I wasn't in high school. I graduated from high school in 3 years just to get to college sooner. I went to summer school every summer so that I could graduate from college in 4 years, when most took 5. My whole life I've been like that. Until having kids. Now I want time to stand still. To take in every day fully and live life every extent I can. Maybe it's because I'm older and realize every day is a step closer to the end. More likely it's because of the way I now see the world, through the eyes of my kids. I see the flowers, I see the butterflies, and once again, I see the shapes in the clouds.

This time, it is all about me!!

Talk to me about me!! (Stolen from Spin the Moon)

If you are reading this, leave one memory of you and me together! It doesn't matter if I know you a little or a lot, anything you remember! Next, post this in your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

The inside scoop

The project I am currently working on is funded by a large petro company in Venezuela. I see articles about Chavez insisting the US is going to invade, the coup in 2002 was the US, etc. Knowing that we do everything possible to funnel money back to the home country by work sharing with engineering companies in Venezuela as well as purchasing equipment from vendor shops there, I was intrigued to dig deeper than the headlines.

I found a blog entitled Caracas Chronicles and dug in. The post located here is particularly interesting, describing the coup in 2002.

Astros Fever

National League Champions!!!!

First game in the World Series against the White Sox is Saturday. My son's t-ball team is the Chicago White Sox. And we're from Houston. Are you beginning to see the problem? He's been saying "Go White Sox" for several weeks and we've had to nip this quickly. I hope we have convinced him that wearing his White Sox uniform to school is a very, very bad idea.

Superstition

The extended family spent a fabulous weekend on an exotic game ranch in Leakey, located in west Texas. We spent a weekend there every October. The weather was beautiful and the scenery couldn't be any better. So, of course all 17 of us were huddled around a small tv Saturday afternoon to watch the Astros.

My uncle's a former college baseball player and his kids all played and my cousin's boyfriend still plays in an adult league. We are a baseball loving family.

The Astros were up 4-3 in the ninth and it looks like the we're on our way to a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. My grandmother gets up and heads upstairs and the momentum starts to shift. It looks as if the Cardinals might score and everyone starts yelling "Maw-Maw- get back down here!!! You need to get back into your seat!" We finally get her back into her seat, Astros get the third out and everyone starts giving Maw-Maw high fives for winning the game.

Hmph. Baseball players and their superstitions.

Night stalker

Last night I dropped by a friend's mom house to pick up baby stuff I'd lent when my friend and her new adorable, little son and hubby were in town. I always get confused which street, which house and I'd already taken one wrong turn and was driving slowly to not miss it again. An older couple was out walking and they were walking in the street. Which always baffles me since it was dark and the neighborhood just installed sidewalks. But I guess it's just me that would rather not have a run in with a car when I'm on foot.

I digress. I am about three houses away when I come up behind the walking couple and I decide not to whip around and park right in front of them. So I slowly creep behind. And they start moving over to the side so that I can go around. But by this time it's too late. After about a minute of this, the guy starts getting agitated and turns around and throws his hands up in the air as if to say- WHY ARE YOU STALKING US???? At that very moment, I was in front of the correct house and put the car in park and turned off the headlights. They finally figure out I am not intentionally following behind and they continue on their merry way walking in the dark on the incorrect side of the street.

The sick part was how hard I was laughing about it all. Everyone seems to have a short fuse these days.

Let's go Astros!

We went to the Texans game yesterday. That was painful. Not sure how many times Carr was sacked because I lost count. Hubby brought a little tv to watch the Astros while we were at the Texans game. I found that a little strange and rude, but realized half the other men at the game had headphones on and were listening to the Astros while watching the Texans.

It's the 3rd quarter, we're down by umpteen thousand and the Titans are getting ready to score again. The Astros are down 6-1 and Berkman's at bat and the bases are loaded. He hits a grand slam and half the crowd at the Texans game goes wild!!! They post the score and the other half goes wild. The guys on the field break their huddle and look a little confused. The crowd starts chanting "Let's Go Astros!" and some are yelling to put the game on!

I felt bad for the Texans, but the Astros pulled it out against Atlanta in game 4 in 18 innings. Now it's on to the National League Championship Series.

Blood wagon

Our office hosted the semi-regular blood drive earlier this week. I haven't donated since before I was pregnant with my 2nd child and since I don't have anything disqualifying me at the moment since I'm not pregnant, recovering from child birth, or nursing, I decided it was time. My blood type is O-, so I feel a large responsibility to donate.

My last visit, the technician was obviously inept and my blood stopped flowing after a few ounces, so this time I asked for the most experienced person. The one with the supervisor tag on her white coat spent 5 minutes squeezing my arms, checking my veins before finally finding one. And since my skin is transparent white, you would think this would be an easy task. She finally found one and I'm happy to say no problems this time.

I did have a strange side effect that evening. Two servings of meat!! Ok, it was a side effect that is strange for me.

Why are fundamentalists so frightened by liberal family values?

Who's afraid of freedom and tolerance? is a very interesting article about the differences between the religious liberals and conservatives.

If there is one basic thing conservatives do not understand about religious liberals, it is this sense of commitment. They see us champion choice over obligation, but misunderstand our reasons. They understand us to be advocating a superficial and nihilistic way of life. They think we want to choose our own moral codes so that we can pick easy ones that rationalize our every whim. They believe that we want the freedom to define our relationships so that we can walk away from anything that looks difficult.

In fact, religious conservatives and liberals share more concerns and beliefs than either commonly admits. Both have loyalties that go beyond self and the convenience of the moment. Both reject the materialism of popular culture. Both seek something more substantial than the momentary satisfaction of desire or the endless striving after status. The committed life is a different way to pursue these goals, not a denial of them.
But the committed life requires freedom, because only voluntary commitment has meaning. We give our members the freedom to doubt and encourage them to question their beliefs not so they will see all beliefs as whimsical and contingent, but quite the opposite: We find that hard-tested and hard-won beliefs are more likely to withstand the challenges of modern life. A marriage whose every assumption and duty has been freely negotiated is not a house of straw, but rather a house whose every brick has been carefully laid. The freedom of liberal religion is an invitation to engage with the most significant issues of human life and society, not an excuse to fall into a shiftless and vacant hedonism.

Might have to look into the Unitarian Universalist church. This might be a good way to expose our children to religion without forcing us to believe something we don't.

Props again to Mister Crunchy for the link.

9 years today

It's hard to imagine that someone's put up with me that long. The man deserves a medal. Happy anniversary, hon.

All aboard!

Growing up, I knew my father was an engineer. And the only type of engineer I knew drove trains. I wondered why he didn't wear the striped suit with the funny hat to work. My husband never really believed me when I told him this- he just thought it was a funny story I liked to tell.

Well, with schools closed due to the hurricane, hubby is getting lots of quality time with the kids. The boy started asking lots of questions when they were watching CNBC. What does the green arrow mean? What does the red arrow mean? What are those letters across the bottom of the screen? Hubby proceeds to explain the stock market. Then he asks the boy how mommy and daddy earn their money. He answers with mommy is an engineer. So, what does she do at work? The boy answers she drives trains. Ha.

Misconceptions

Here are some of the more common misconceptions about atheists that I would really like people to understand:

• We are not a unified group. We do not belong to an organization, we do not meet every week to discuss our non-god beliefs and how to overthrow the ones who do.
• We have ethics and morals. They are just not based on punishment and reward after we die. We are not good to get the golden ticket in the afterlife and avoid the incinerator. They are simply based on living in harmony with their fellow neighbor.
• The bible is a book. A very old book written by some people a long, long time ago. It is nothing more than that. It is certainly not a guide book. Arguing with passages from the bible doesn't mean a hill of beans to us.
• Some are afraid to express their beliefs not because of embarrassment, but because of discrimination.
• We do not want to be 'saved', learn why our beliefs are wrong, or really hear anything else about why we're going to hell. Many of us got here through deep introspection, not because we're 'looking for the easy way out'. And the hell references have no impact, see #3.
• Just because we don't believe in a all mighty power, does not mean we are bad people.
• We are able to give from our hearts without strings attached. We don't have an ulterior motive, not looking to change other people, just to pass on good will and live harmoniously with others.

Any, all, or none of this may apply. The reason being, atheists are not a group. They are individuals finding their own way. They are conservatives, liberals and everything in between.

My Rita evacuation story

I'm not sure you can call it an evacuation, since this weekend was our extended family's annual trip to New Braunfels. Early in the week last week, I was calm, cool and collected. Glad that we already had reservations for the weekend and we would be out of town. As Wednesday started, my nerves caught up to me. I left work after lunch to make preparations at home. After the boy's school was cancelled for the remainder of the week, I decided we would leave Thursday morning instead of the afternoon.

Wednesday I spent packing up the few things that are irreplaceable- scrapbooks, wedding album and all important documents. We continued to pack for our trip, put everything from the back yard into the garage. I felt the need to clean, to clean everything. I also understood how ridiculous that seemed. Watching the news just increased my tension, yet I couldn't turn away. We finally went to bed at midnight Wednesday and were awakened at 3:30 am by my father. The eye of the category 5 storm was to pass right over our suburban town with 140 mile an hour winds. My parents hit the road and tell us to do the same. My husband insists on waiting. We're not sure what to do with the animals as the place we're staying does not allow pets. So, we sit and wait and watch the weather non-stop. At 4:30 am we start packing the truck. As the path shifts east, we decide it's safe to leave the animals.

After watching hours of stranded motorists on TV, we head out at 8:30 am Thursday. Years of my husband's fascination with taking the back roads finally paid off. We make it to New Braunfels in 5 hours. Some in our party took 11 and 12 hours to make the journey, so we felt fortunate. But mostly we were happy the family was safe and all together. Our usual vacation spent floating in the river, wasting the days away were instead spent interrupted with MSNBC updates. We arrived home yesterday afternoon to find not a drop of damage. The neighbors informed us we didn't even get any rain. We are all so thankful that the storm took itself elsewhere, but sad and concerned for those in its path.

Man versus juice drink

Hubby volunteered at the boy's school on Tuesday and then went to lunch with him. The boy was so excited to have his dad there and kept offering to share his lunch. Volunteer positions were filled by other parents, assisting the kids with opening condiment packages and juice boxes. The little girl sitting across from them (whom my son has a crush on) was having difficulty opening her juice drink. Hubby offers to help and after repeating attempts my son asks if he wants to ask one of the other adults to come help.

Ugh, doctors

I went to the dermatologist yesterday because of a rash I've had on and off. It's only been on my arms, but when it spread to my neck, I decided to take action. Knowing that it might take months to get in to see my dermatologist, I take a recommendation from my mom. They were able to see me that day. I wait the standard hour in the waiting room and am finally escorted back to my new waiting spot. The nurse comes in, writes down my complaints and steps out. The doctor comes in almost immediately, says "it hasn't been that long since I've seen you" to which I reply "this is my first time here". He looks at me for less than 20 seconds mumbles something about nonspecific dermititis and dry, sensitive skin and then starts listing off the medications he is prescribing. Two minutes later, he walks out and I have four prescriptions in my hand with instructions to come back in 3 weeks. Yeah, right. Of course, they are all name-brand, the tv advertised pills.

I am so fed up with doctors. I am beginning to think they are as crooked as politicians. In bed with the drug companies. Did I forget to mention the pharmaceutical sales rep that came in while I was waiting and I heard him passing out candy bars to the staff? Wonder what goodies the good doctor gets. Trips to the Bahamas?

Having said that, I do believe there are doctors out there that care, I have a few on my team. But as a healthy 30 year old, I have been prescribed more drugs than I care to count. And the fact that I have a team, that's sad in itself. Endocrinologist for thyroid problems, dermatologist since I'm the poster child for skin cancer with blond hair and blue eyes, gynecologist cuz I'm a girl. Don't even get me started on the rest of the family's team.

There has to be a better way. One person who will treat me, not just a specific symptom. One that will take the time to determine the cause rather than immediately reaching for the script pad. Someone who believes that medicine is a last resort.

The sky is falling!

Last evening, as hubby and I were watching Rock Star INXS, a loud crash along with the sound of glass breaking came from below. Thinking the cat or dog knocked something off the kitchen counter or a mirror fell off the wall, we slowly walked down the stairs. Imagine our surprise to discover the ceiling fan had fallen from the ceiling and broken the glass top on the coffee table below.

Almost as bizarre as our shower door shattering in the middle of the night. Maybe our house is haunted.

Torn

My employer is asking people to volunteer for an assignment working with FEMA for the hurricane Katrina victims. It's a 12 hour day, 7 days a week job for a minimum 30 days doing whatever FEMA needs. I feel like I really need to help out. I also worry about how my family would cope in my absence. I know the 30 days is unrealistic and I would most likely be gone for 4 - 6 months. Is it fair to ask my parents to take over my duties? Is it fair to my kids to be without their mother for months on end? I am torn between my sense of duty to my family and my country.

I can appreciate the irony

A week before last Friday, the evening my daughter ended up in the hospital, I received an unexpected and alarming phone call. It was from a law office and one of our rent houses was due to be sold on the courthouse steps in a little over a week. One of the main aspects of our business is helping people out of situations like this. Imagine our surprise at being in the very situation ourselves. Turns out we neglected to change our address with the homeowner's association and the association was foreclosing because of our deliquent dues. The following Monday I took in a cashier's check four times the original amount to save our property. I can certainly appreciate the irony.

Blogging the aftermath

If you're anything like me, you're constantly scanning the news for updates in the New Orleans area. Here are several blogs that I've been following:

Josh Britton
Kaye's Hurricane Katrina Blog
Instapundit

I can only imagine the desperation felt by all of those affected by hurricane Katrina. Natural disasters like this expose not only the dark side of human nature but also the good side as well. I know as a nation we will pull together and do whatever it takes to help those in need.

Emergency Room Part II

Not a good weekend. Little baby girl had to go back to the hospital. She wasn't responding to her inhaler Friday evening and hubby finally took her to the ER Friday around 9:30. He and my dad spent the night in the ER with her and my mom relieved them Saturday morning. The doctors were still concerned with her breathing and they admitted her that afternoon to watch her over night. We finally brought her home yesterday morning. She'll probably get the diagnosis of asthma at her pediatrician's office when I take her in tomorrow.

She is such a brave little girl. And she can manage to have fun no matter where she is. I just worry so much about her. Not being able to breathe must be the most terrifying experience. Fortunately this time was no nearly as bad as in April and she didn't have to get an IV or go to the progressive care unit. The incidence of asthma in children is growing rapidly and especially in the Houston area. Maybe we should move.

Quirks

I'm walking back from a snack break with several coworkers when one of my quirks came to light. They had ice cream bars and had finished and were chewing on the wooden sticks. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me and I couldn't hide my reaction.

Another quirk surfaced at the dentist's office today. I hate going to the dentist. I usually receive nothing but compliments (thanks for the great teeth genes folks, but I'd rather have the fast metabolism gene.) The hygenist is scraping and buffing and polishing and she starts working on the back of my top teeth and I can not stop giggling.

The weekend

The weekend was nice with not too much going on. The kids had swimming lessons Friday evening. It was the girl's first lesson without us being in the pool with her. She has no fear in the water whatsoever, which is terrifying. She'll push off the step out into the pool like she can swim. The Houston Swim Club teaches toddlers how to survive if they fall into a pool. After just 4 lessons, she can already flip over onto her back and float for a few seconds.

Saturday I ran 8 miles with Fort Bend Fit. I'm in training for the half-marathon in January, but our group is running with the full marathon training until next month. Saturday afternoon we headed over to Star Pizza to meet up with our friends who are in a fantasy football league. Half the group was busy with the draft and we visited with everyone else.

Saturday evening, hubby took the boy swimming and I put the girl to bed early since she'd missed her nap that afternoon. Sunday was filled with errands and laundry (fun stuff) and then we took dinner to my folks and after dinner we all went swimming in their neighborhood pool. Too bad every day can't be a weekend day.

First Day

I didn't make it into work yesterday. My baby started kindergarten. He did great- sat right down in his seat and started coloring. Looked up and smiled for the pictures. Didn't even notice when we left. I did have to drag hubby away from his class room. Said he wanted to just stand there and watch when class started. He probably could have stood there all day.

Afterwards, we took the little one to her day care and then went to breakfast. I really didn't feel like going to work after that, so instead we went home and took a nap. Then went to the grocery store and I prepared a special meal- snacky type stuff for dinner and a fruit pizza for dessert. Then dad and the boy headed off to sign up for teeball. It's all happening so fast. They don't stay babies for long, do they?

*giggle*

Is it terrible that the kids are in rare form tonight- bouncing off the walls- and I'm letting hubby deal with it all while I sit downstairs on the computer pretending to be working but just giggling to myself ?

Cafeteria changes

The food services group which runs our cafeteria changed hands this past weekend. Considering the only food I would eat before was salad, soup, or sandwich, I welcomed the changed. And became very excited once I saw the menu. Full of my kind of food- the frufru kind. Today I had the grilled salmon raspberry salad. It looked beautiful. Unfortunately, the salmon had no flavor and the price wasn't any better than I can get off-campus. I'll give it a try a few more times, but it looks like I won't be eating lunch in the new cafeteria, er cafe as we're supposed to call it, any more regularly.

Red swingline stapler!!!!

I would just like to thank S&K for my new red Swingline stapler (collector's edition). I went downstairs to the cafeteria for a bagel and when I got back to my office, my supervisor and engineering manager were standing in my office. Not sure whether to quietly back away without being noticed, I quickly became worried about them swiping my stapler. I rush into my office and I am greeted with- hey, nice stapler. And then, that makes quite a statement. Yeah, like you're going to burn the building down.

I answered- just don't move me to the basement. Or touch my stapler again.

Scenes from Office Space.

Day 2 no voice

Yesterday was fun- three teleconferences and I can't talk. I had to whisper my part to others in the room for them to relay. And the phone rang off the wall last night.

"Courtney? Are you there?"
yes
"Can you talk?"
no
"Ok, I'll talk but you don't have to answer."
"Still there?"
thought I didn't have to answer

It is coming back a little today, so now I sound like a 14 year old boy going through puberty.

Sticker shock

I've put off the eye doc for too long. It's been 7 years since I've had an exam and 5 since I wore my glasses. So I finally bit the bullet and went.

OMG!!!!!! $360 later (after a 40% coupon) and I get to the proud new owner of ONE pair of glasses. Have I forgotten or have they raised prices to cover their loss of business due to laser eye surgery?

I'm sitting here looking pretty damn cool in my office with sunglasses on and sitting back 4 feet from my screen thanks to pupil dilation.

The dangers of slippers

Saturday evening we had quite a scare with the boy. He was running from one side of the house to the other on the tile floor. He also happened to be wearing his spiderman slippers. And he slipped and fell, hard. He laid there for a few seconds in stunned silence and then started crying. We saw the event unfold and didn't think much of it until he stood up and tried to walk over to us. As he weaved from side to side, we saw the huge goose egg forming on his head. And panic took over. Hubby took him to the couch, I grabbed the ice and called the pediatrician. The nurse finally called back and told us to wake him up several times during the night for the next two nights to make sure he was still coherent and call back if his symptoms worsened. So of course I had to surf the internet for more information and totally freak myself out reading about concussions and bleeding in the brain. All is fine now except for a big knot and bruise on his head.

Is Santa real?

I think this question is coming soon. The boy, who turned 5 in June, is asking questions such as are Lilo and Stitch real? Is Buzz Lightyear? Is R2D2? Is 3CPO? And the other day he asked me if Santa was ever a baby. I hope we make it through one more Christmas at least, but it doesn't look promising.

New family tradition

I have started a new family tradition in my household. One that I'm sure the kids will gripe about when they get older. I've always been fascinated in learning how others around the world live and so I made a list of all the countries in the world and printed them out. Then I cut them into little strips of paper. Last night, I had my son draw one out of the bowl. We will learn about that country and make a native dish or two. I felt like this would be something educational as well as fun for all of us.

Country #1: Hungary

Are we finally getting it?

Hubby and I took the kids to the local high school track last night so we could get in some family time while I ran. My 5 year old has been asking to go running and that way we could each run at our own pace. He ended up meeting everyone at the track and racing several different runners. Too bad he's shy :)

What amazed me was just how many people were out exercising- a group doing some sort of boot camp, others walking around the track, some running, playing soccer, dad teaching his sons how to play football. Maybe all the advice is finally sinking in- it is important to exercise. It's hard to get and stay motivated, but so important for physical and mental health.

Biting my tongue

There's a guy who sits across the hall from me. And he sneezes louder than anyone I've ever heard. And he belches all day. Near the end of every day, he exclaims "what am I doing, what am I doing, oh, what am I doing."

I want so badly to retort- that's what we're all wondering.

Ain't cubeville grand?

How long would you last?

Because I like to torture myself, I've been thinking about how long I would continue to come to work even if I was independently wealthy. I would need a major incentive to put up with this crapola. How long would you last? I'm guessing I'd make it um, 2 days.

Buying a new car?

Be sure to check out Fighting Chance. Props again to Mister Crunchy for the link. They will help in negotiating the best deal on your new car. Buying a car must be my least favorite activity. Pulling into the dealership parking lot and seeing the vultures sitting on the steps. Watching as the rock/paper/scissors game quickly takes place and then the winner approaches before you can even open your door.

"Hi! How are you doing today? What are you looking for? How can I help you?"

Hours later, dazed, disoriented, hungry, and thirsty, you're left in a small office. The salesman enters with the huge grin.

"So, what is it going to take to get you in the driver's seat of this car today? What payments are you looking for?

Well, actually I would rather discuss price.

Sure, and how about $350 a month payments? That sound about right?

I don't care about payments, I care about the total price.

Okay, so, let's look at getting you in this fine vehicle for $350 a month."

And my favorite part is the dramatic pause, the passing papers back and forth, the salesmen running off to "get approval from his manager" and if you ever do get out of that loop, the financing and the extended warranty, rust protection, we'll keep adding costs until you say Uncle!

Maybe there is a better way to buy a vehicle.

Disclaimer: no offense intended towards car salesmen