Post-Christmasing

Ooof! I need to waddle myself over to some taiko-robics. I've been pigging out for days, and can't afford all new jeans. :P

Oink.

My house is staggering under the weight of extra desserts, and the sad truth is that most of them can't be miser-ed away to use at Abbie's party. Darn the luck.

Today is out first day at home and supposedly on our normal schedule. And then our buddies from K.C. and Baltimore will be in the area starting tomorrow, so it very well may be the last for a while, as well. Although, I don't see us joining them Tuesday.

This morning we had a funny thing happen. I got a call from my grandmother, asking where my mother was. That's not the funny part. She asks me all the time. Everyone figures that if someone knows my mother's schedule, it's me, and then maybe my dad. I told her that as far as I knew, Mom was staying in Rolla today. Well, then it came out that she had shown up on my mother's doorstep as a surprise (she has a key, so she was calling from the warm house) and nobody was home. I'm pretty sure Mom was at Sears picking up the last present for my dad that didn't come in on time, but I still don't know. We called her cell phone, but never got a hold of her. I even called my dad, who had no clue what her schedule was this week, and then we laughed that we hoped she hadn't driven off to Versailles to surprise my grandmother!! Probably they missed each other, but I was able to direct Gran to the cookie jar, next to which I had left some things for her. So, not a complete waste, right?

Other than that, the day has been extremely sleepy. And cold. But I'm going to have snack time with the kids and maybe that will perk us up.

I found my other black Christmas sock, now that it's too late.

Well, I have to say, looking back, that the award for best Christmastime employees go to the Bath and Body store at Mid-Rivers Mall and the receptionists at the doctor's office here in Warrenton. At Bath and Body they appeared (even if they weren't) to be having a fun time helping people and sneaking my Santa gifts into bags before the kids turned the corner. Very conspiratorial and cute. And the cheerful efficiency of the doc's staff was fantastic. Not so at the dentist, who all insisted on continuing their private conversations in front of me and Grant, and even forgot to smile. At a dentist's office. Yeah. Also, all the other stores I visited at the mall were full of harassed, cranky and uncaring workers, except when I went into RealiTea to see our friend, Katie. And I have to say that Wal-mart is like that, too, in Warrenton and Rolla, for sure.

Another thing about Bath and Body: if you are near one, go right away and grab up any leftover foaming soaps called Winter Candy Apple or Noel Vanilla Bean (or something close). The kids had them in their stockings (thank you, sneaky, cute B&B girls!) and they smell so good I've been sneaking in their bathroom to wash my hands! It's great stuff, and I'm sure it's on sale!!!

Christmas was good for the kids. They got lots of good stuff, and are happy. Josh got a knife from his parents that he likes, and a leatherman from my parents, and the kids gave him a few goofy things. Josh got me the little sister to my old camera. It's pink. My mommy gave me some new towels and....a snuggie. No, kidding. I own a snuggie. HA! I haven't taken it for a test drive yet. It's very static-y. She also gave me a Robert Louis Stevenson book that used to belong to her father. I think I have 3 girl friends who got Wiis from their husbands.

My kids are on the floor looking at Grant's dinosaur book: "Look! Dinosaur poops! That's a black dinosaur poop. Yuck." "I'm that species. I'm a herbivore." "Bracciosaurus!!!" "Yep. That's a bracciosaurus. I looooove bracciosaurusses." "You love leaves!" "Let me go over here and poop a lot." "It's dinosaur poop. You're poopy!" WHY are my kids obsessed with dinosaur poop????

On that extremely charming note, I am off to get some snacks for snack time. Nothing that resembles poop, with any luck. Yeesh.

Have a wonderful December Monday!

Almost Creeeeeestmas!

Ho, ho, ho!!

Well, I felt like the world's worst mommy when I found out that Grant's crankiness was probably due to the fact that he was getting an ear infection. My plans for yesterday were altered to include a trip to the doctor. That actually went well. The nurse at the doc here in Warrenton is excellent. She's super quick (especially for a pregnant girl) and cheerful and friendly. Love her. And the doctor we saw was not the one we originally saw when Josh and the kids switched over, but I loved her, too. She has a 5-year old boy and a 3-year old girl, too. (But she has 2 dogs, not one.) Grant had one very infected ear, and one that was red. Abbie insisted on doing everything that Grant did. You'll be glad to know that she weighs 10 pounds less than Grant, is 10 inches shorter, and has no infected ears. Then, we went to Wal-mart to get the prescription and get a few last minute things, such as milk for Santa's cookies. I hear he likes to dunk. When all that was done, it was after 1:00.

As originally planned, I made some gingerbread cookies next. I was all excited, and have been for months, because the part about making real gingerbread stuff from scratch that I really don't like is working with molasses. Yuck. The smell bothers me, deeply. Plus it gets sticky if you don't keep it chilled, and it always seems to lose the chill when you are right in the middle of making the cutest shape ever. Grr. So, I found this mix that could be made into a cake or cookies, depending on which set of directions you follow. That's what I made. The kids had heaps of fun rolling dough into balls and then rolling the balls in sugar. But when the cookies came out and we tried them, I was disappointed. They just didn't taste great. Not too bad, but not good. Forgettable, at best, and at worst, not worth finishing. But never fear! I have more tricks up my sleeve!

Today I am making a yellow cake (changed my mind from white cake) and am going to add festive sprinkles in red and green to the icing. Well, actually, it came that way. I'm also going to cook up some of those already sliced sugar cookies with Christmas trees on them, to make up for the icky ginger ones. All these delicious (with one exception) goodies shall be carted over to Josh's mom's house, where we will be spending the night. Probably we will do lots of helping to get ready for their Christmas Eve party tomorrow. After the party tomorrow, we will come home and wait for Santa. I have a secret stash of the best cookies ever, just for Santa. You know...Le Petit Ecolier, and also some fancy Peperidge Farm ones I found with strawberry. They are my reward for getting through the next 30-ish hours.

I was so so SO sore last night from taiko. We played Hanabi for about an hour and a half straight, and it was not great for my back. Last night included two rounds of Motrin. I think I got really good sleep, though, until 3. Technically, I've been awake since then, but I feel a lot better than I have lately. Although Abbie did trick me a while ago by saying, "Mommy, I'm very tired. I want to have a nap." We snuggled on my bed, and I was all cozy and warm and well on my way into a doze when she informed me, "Mommy, I'm not tired anymore. I'm just all better now."

*sigh*


The oven beeped! I'm losing valuable time, here!! Excuse me, please, I have a pressing engagement with a yummy cake, some laundry and packing, cookies, and two little children who are currently pretending to be a puppy and a blue whale that has a really big tail.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Ow, My Head!

Hi. I'm still hovering between sick and whatever is slightly better than sick but still sub-healthy. There are chunks of the day when I am not feeling too bad at all. But with this headache, I can't really remember the specifics. I suspect that I have an infected sinus, ear, or throat. Maybe all. They go away by themselves, right? Don't they? I think I'm going to have to ask my dad.

The weekend was actually pretty good. Saturday was a scramble to get ready for the party that night. It was given by Josh's aunt for his mother's side of the family. I helped Grandma Kersting get out her cheeses, fruit, crackers and nuts. And then I ate a bunch of them, so that when dinner was done, I wasn't very hungry. Woops! The kids were pretty good. Grant walked Dana (who is 2, I think) around by the hand and introduced her to everyone and tried to secure her cupcakes, etc. Abbie played very quietly, and watched Pixar movies. It was very crowded, but no major drama that I noticed. Santa came very briefly, and have presents to the kids. (This year it was Missy's boyfriend, Todd. So funny!) We forgot to take a plate of food home.

Sunday, I went to taiko and helped Eddie teach Hanabi to the new guys. It was pretty fun, and they're pretty darn good. I had to leave early, though, because I had a date. I met my family at Mid Rivers Mall and took Abbie to see her first ever movie in the movie theater: The Princess and the Frog. It was cute. Set in New Orleans, you know. The music was very fun. We had a great time, and Abbie even almost sat in her seat the whole time. She was especially impressed by the lights on the stairs.

Grant, however, was a complete beast all day long. Lots of angry fits and rudeness. Josh made some separate and bake cookies, and Grant didn't get any. That's pretty serious. If you know Josh, he usually will give in with just a promise to try to be good. And this morning he has been just as bad, if not worse. But Mommy doesn't hold with such nonsense. He pitched a fit about the movie, so off went the movie. He pitched a fit playing downstairs, so no more downstairs. He pitched a fit at lunch so he had to eat his after Abbie was done and I let him out of his room. He was in the corner, and in his room 2 more times, and finally, FINALLY it sank in that I wasn't gonna let him spend the day crying crankily and screaming. He's playing nicely with Abbie now.

Oh, wait. Now Abbie is checking to see if she gets to be bad, now that Grant has stopped. She's in the corner, and not enjoying it.

So....one of those days. But if I can get the kids straightened out sufficiently, I'm going to clean the kitchen, start laundry (okay, I might not really do the laundry), and bake some cookies and cakes and stuff.

In other news, my poor brother had a terrible week last week. He had to pull double shifts for some guy who had a death in the family (poor Airman!) and then he got food poisoning. Because of the weather forecast, my mother has changed plans and left today to visit him for Christmas.

On Wednesday we will spend the night at Josh's parents' house, then spend Thursday there, and come home in the evening. Christmas Day we spend at home. Then, on Boxing Day we go to my Mom's to meet her as she comes back from Colorado.

My worst night for the insomnia was when I got about 1 hour of sleep. Now I'm averaging around 3 1/2. I don't mind it so much, meaning it doesn't make me frantic like the first few nights, but I can tell I'm still edgy. I'm hoping it works itself out soon. The dark circles are starting to come back, too.

So, did I tell you about my doctor? I still drive all the way to Rolla because I love my doctor. Not that I can afford to be seen by her. Well, it's a moot point now. She has quit, and is going to move away. I'm happy for her. I think she's been unhappy there for a year, at least. However, for myself I am sad. Firstly, I will miss her. She's hilarious. Secondly, I have no doctor, and that means getting used to someone all over again. I guess I'll find someone in the area, since I have to find someone, anyway. All well and good, except that I have no health insurance, and this can't happen immediately anyway. Well, now you know why I'm upset that I might have an ENT infection. What will I do if I need medicine?

Kids are playing nicely now.

I still need to do some Christmas shopping for Josh. No idea when I can do that....

Well, I'm going to try to see if Motrin will help with this headache, and then get some lunch. I fed the kids, but forgot about me! Hope you are all having a reasonably good Monday! Christmas is this week! Hard to believe, isn't it? Stay warm.

Gonna make goodies today! Heh, heh, heh....

Decembering

Hello! Are you thinking positive? Good! Just say no to suicide! I know it's December and all, but life goes on!

All cheerful yet? Then I'll tell you how I've been. Oh, wait. That would just ruin the mood. except it is a little funny, if you look at it the right way.

Tuesday I shot myself in the foot, figuratively. I found a rare work from home opportunity, and blew it on the test. Well, I haven't actually finished the test. I had to log out and cry hysterically because I still have no idea how to fix whatever is wrong. I am avoiding jumping back in there to complete my failed examination until I'm pretty sure I can take it. At the time, I had absolutely no sense of humor about it, but I'm starting to see the anecdotal possibilities, at the very least.

Yesterday was a blur. I needed to get lots done, and didn't. That was my day. I went grocery shopping, and it took 2 hours! I didn't even go to the pharmacy. What's up with that? And I did lots of cleaning, just not as much as I had intended. We had Asian helper for dinner. Ever try it? The noodle one is Abbie's favorite.

Today, I woke up and the kids were sick with colds. WHAT? Naturally, on the day when my mother is driving 2 hours to watch Abbie while Grant goes to the dentist to sit with his mouth open, breathing through his nose, they have colds. Ah, well. What can you do?

Mom brought an entire car load of goodies. Wrapped Christmas presents for all of us, toys for Grant and Abbie, a new dress for Abbie and a very orange winter coat for Grant, gingerbread men from St. Louis Bread Co. (6 of them), cordial cherries, tea and pirouettes (the cookie "sticks") for me, hot chocolate for Josh, tons of snacks for the kids, canned ravioli, a turkey breast and a roast, and some Uncle Ben's microwavable jasmine rice, which I am unexpectedly excited about.

I had cordial cherries for lunch.

Grant's appointment was at 12:15, and we had a longer wait than usual at the dentist office. Grant did wonderfully with keeping still. I was more than impressed. But the dentist could tell it hurt Grant, especially toward the end, so he only did the pulpotomy. I was glad I didn't back out and reschedule. Dentist said we couldn't have waited much longer. (Did I mention Grant has another abscess by that tooth? That's why.) There are still a few herds of cavities, but they now must wait until the end of January.

After Mom left the kids were both horribly mean and cranky. Abbie easily was put down for a nap, but not Grant. He's playing by himself in the basement now. I had to email and ask Josh's parents if they would still take the kids tonight, even with colds. Fortunately, his mom read it first and agreed, so I quickly thanked her and said they'd be there tonight.

I don't have any brilliant ideas for dinner tonight, so we might end up with a frozen pizza.

I still need to get stocking stuffers for Josh. What I am looking for is an opportunity. Driving home from taiko seems my only choice, and I will be pretty tired, and don't want to take even longer getting home. One hour seems enough, don't you think? We'll have to see what comes up this weekend. We have another Christmas on Saturday, and Sunday I plan to go to taiko and then spend the rest of the day making cookies and stuff.

Actually, besides the hysterical part, my week wasn't all that bad. But there is one thing I haven't mentioned. I am not sleeping, again. I don't know what it is. It's not a full moon or anything, not that I ever could definitively call that a contributor to my insomnia. I am so, so SO tired! I think I was unnecessarily short with Josh last night at least once. I'm trying to keep it together, so let's see how I do.

Oh! Here's a belated rundown on the Christmases: First was the one at Josh's paternal grandparents' house in the city. Josh spent the whole time setting up phones and other electronics for them. I brought sliced cucumber and Ruffles and put ranch dip between them (I like this plan. It embraces both varieties of holiday diets!) and spent a lot of time slicing more cucumber, as it went fast. Josh's sister, Becky, mentioned babies more than twice. I am not indecorous enough to ask directly in front of a large group, but I would speculate that she and Paul are preparing to start their family in the near future. Grandma (the one who occasionally makes hateful statements about me or my children) stayed in her room until the food was served, and the only thing I heard her say was "That's ENOUGH!" when the girls were taking pictures of her. We were given wine, Josh beer (Schafly's this year, since Budweiser sold out!) and chocolates for me. The kids picked a plastic train and a game of magnetic dinosaur bingo out of the box. And that's all that we had to take home, besides our own stuff. For those of you who may be unaware, these grandparents collect junk (it has been said that they take it from the Goodwill box at church) and give and give and give it to us when we come. LOTS. All third or fourth hand. So, I thought this year was much nicer. A great success.

Second was given by our friend, Lisa. Her brother (our dear friend) lives in Guam, and Josh claims that her family has adopted us as surrogates. This year, she also invited Heather, one of my all time best girl buddies, and her family, too. A good time was had by all, I think. The kids were restless, but charming, on the whole, and Josh took a picture of me and Heather before the wine made my face too red.

That might be a lie. My face turns red somewhere around the third sip. Don't know why. Perhaps it's endearing in some way, and excusable? Hope so, because there's not much I can do about it.

Bringing the ranch, chips and cucumber to the next Christmas party, too, and maybe a cake with holiday sprinkles, but I'm not sure yet. I had this great plan that I could bring holiday nuts because my grandmother sends them every year after Thanksgiving, but this year they haven't shown up.

Taiko! Lots of new people! We had kind of a party atmosphere on Tuesday, but that's not such a great thing. I anticipate a more organized practice tonight. I forgot to ask Josh if I can go out after. I think it will depend on how I feel, really. Unless there is something extra going on Friday that I need to be prepared for. Friday is Josh's work party. Last year it was at Brunzwick Zone XL, and included bowling, two free drinks, and a dinner for each employee and one guest (that'd be me). This year, they're closing early and having it in the break room. No spouses. [Insert foreboding music here.] *sigh* And no new job to look forward to.

Yet.

The roses Josh brought me died, as was expected, and I took the Baby's Breath and put little sprigs of it in the little Christmas tree in the kitchen. It makes for a nice effect. I recommend it as a sweet ornament. I might go so far as to buy some next year.

Are you singing Christmas carols? You should. I'm sending you all great, big, warm hugs. Remember - December can't last forever! (Then we just have to get through January and February!) Just get me to crocus season!!!

Two Chirstmases Later...

If I had sent a little update this morning, as I had originally intended, you would have found me a little exasperated that Abbie kept me up all night, the usual non-emergency amount worried because the reason for the wakefulness seems to be Abbie catching a cold, excited that we have lots of new taiko members who will be at practice tomorrow, and on the whole optimistic about the Christmas parties I attended over the weekend. I would have written a happy, gossipy little post and complained of tiredness.

This afternoon I found out that Josh's didn't get the job he was so, so, SO excited about. In fact, I didn't realize how much we were all secretly counting on it. Plus, I had to call him and tell him about it. So, now I am nothing except crushed. It hurts to be back where we started, complete with desperate worry. Back we go to the starting board. I guess I can't wait until after January to look into those work from home jobs I was reading about.

I'm waiting and waiting for something good to happen to our situation. Reality has an awfully bitter taste.

I only have a few hours to force myself into a position where I can cheer up poor Josh. I had better start working on that.

Happy Introspection Day!

Julie is studying enneagrams. And since I had WAY to much to say in a cute little reply to her post, I guess I will continue the discussion here. You know I have a serious weakness for personality tests. It's still part of my childhood ambition to find a little flock of people just like me to bond with for life. The other day, in fact, I was talking on the phone to my mother, and said, "I love my grandmother. She's like me. Well, I guess I'm like her." Mother's reply was, "Well, not as much as you'd like to think. Mostly, you've always just been like you." I laughed, but that was troubling. More so than, I think, one would expect. I'm so lonely all by myself. So when I find a personality test, I take it in the hopes that I'll find out that even though I might not know any, there are little virtual twins of my mind dispersed throughout the globe. Enter the enneagram.

As with many other of these, each personality "type" is represented by one descriptive word. They are also designated a number. I sort of forgot which number was which type as I read on, but found the following paragraph unflatteringly familiar:

"In the Feeling Center, Twos attempt to control their shame by getting other people to like them and to think of them as good people. They also want to convince themselves that they are good, loving people by focusing on their positive feelings for others while repressing their negative feelings (such as anger and resentment at not being appreciated enough). As long as Twos can get positive emotional responses from others, they feel wanted and are able to control feelings of shame."

At least the name is nice. This is The Helper. Something to aspire to, although, sadly, I am not terribly helpful. Which is embarrassing. But I think it is fair to categorize people based on their semi-conscious goals.

As a strange coincidence, I had only noticed this last week how it makes my day when my family members tell me they like the pictures I sent, etc. The way I put it on Facebook was, "I live for positive feedback." A handful of friends thought I needed some encouragement, and sent very funny messages. It was cute, but then I felt bad, like maybe they thought I was trying to manipulate them into saying nice things.

I am very sensitive to the topic of manipulation these days. It actually stems from not having any TV for so long, and then being exposed to commercials and the like. It's ridiculous how the advertisement industry tries to tell us what to think, and how. And it's so obvious! I feel like the studio audience with the big APPLAUSE sign blinking over me. Even in film, I must say I am mildly insulted at the attempts to control my emotions. It's very formulaic. You can tell when something is about to jump out at you, just by the sound.

Speaking of movies and sound, wanna know what I see as the major difference between foreign film and American? They are not afraid of quiet.

Back to my gripe. You might be surprised to hear it, but because of its effectiveness, I am actually in favor of some types of propaganda. If you could get the after school TV shows to cooperate, you probably could convince kids to actually try hard at school. To be the best person possible. To value the hard-worker with the good attitude instead of the lazy, smart-mouthed prankster. Did you ever hear of such a shocking non-conformist as me?

But. I don't believe in attempting to sway the adult mind by sensationalism.

Don't get me wrong, I sometimes take great enjoyment in these same creations. I love watching The 13th Warrior, despite it's obvious trite Hollywood sensory cues, and some particularly cheesy speeches. I would just like to see that become the exception and not the rule.

I wonder what Josh is, personality wise. I always kind of thought his dominant personality trait was complacence, but haven't seen it on the list.

Yesterday Abbie was mean and cranky, so I put her down for a nap. It actually worked, for once, so I was happy. Today it's Grant. Well, right now anyway. He knows I hate it when he makes a scene. Consequently, he screams as loud as he can when he's mad. We never upset our parents on purpose like that. Sure, we cried and stuff, but we never did what we knew they hated. What does it mean? It worries me.

If he ever calms down enough, we are going to write letters to Santa today. It's the only thing on the schedule today, aside from taiko. Josh asked me to stay home on Tuesday. The rain really did turn into ice later in the evening, but I probably would have been okay.

He did a great job on his interview, but we are not as close to finished with the process as I thought. My fingers are going to get stuck from being crossed for so long! He stopped and got milk and bread on his way home, Tuesday evening, and brought me roses. He's a sweet boy. (Actually, when he's excited he just likes to get something extra, and he very carefully picked something he figured I wouldn't fuss at him for.)

I made good progress yesterday on the Christmas photo DVD. Yay, me! Josh fusses because I won't add music (see American fear of silence, above) but I insist that there is no one song that suits all of the pictures, plus all of the DVD recipients simultaneously. I have all of the slide shows completed, with the exception of the Winter 2009 one. I want to take pictures of the kids' letters to Santa, and one of all of us in front of the tree. And maybe one of the snow, if I am feeling extremely tough. We will put all the slide shows in order, add some video selections at the end, and then it will be ready to print. Want a copy? Let me know.

It's cold today. Wear a hat.

Broke Christmas

HA! Gotcha! You thought I was referencing my lack of Christmas financing, when, in fact, I was about to tell you the story of decoration casualties.

Yes, it's true. The garage attic was a particularly rough place to be this summer, it would appear. I was anxious to get the decorations out on Saturday, because I really wanted to light my cranberry scented candles that I got last year for a dollar each. But I restrained myself and dutifully cleaned the house first. All alone, I might add. Josh and the kids went off to help his dad do something. I was just finishing vacuuming the ceiling when they came home. (Oh, yes. The house was cleaned top to bottom!!!!) Well, it turns out that a dollar was pretty much all the candles were worth. They were in jars, but the lids, even closed, leaked wax all over the box when they melted this summer. It killed a string of Christmas lights. Actually, 2 strands of white (and this was after an hour of bulb substitution) and one of blue were all that made it out of 6. I put the two white on the tree, and started on the decoration part, while Josh got out the train tracks and Grant's Budweiser train. The more I went through the box, though, the more broken items I found. It was a little upsetting, but most of my extra-special ones were packed well and survived. I was a little bit sad about the kitchen snowman. He's tacky, but I like him, anyway. Both of his spoon arms are broken. Then, I broke a glass ball getting it out of the box. It was one of the ones from Yuma, but not my cheesy chile pepper ones. It was the tasteful Santa Clause one. Oh, drat.

We have the big tree up by the window, the little one in the kitchen, a small table with snowmen on it by the back door, and a red vinyl Christmas tablecloth on the kids' table, and we had a couple of decorated felt goody bags that I let Grant and Abbie hang on their doorknobs. Also, I strung the blue lights rather unattractively over the kids' table in the kitchen. Grant's train goes in a figure 8 around the tree and then behind the entertainment center (where it hides from the children until Josh is home to monitor them). We are so festive with our halls decked!

We had the last beginner class on Sunday. They are so good! I am very impressed. They all had questions for me about expectations of the group, but not in the way I expected. If you are more nervous about how much time you will have to spend practicing then what the test will cover, that is a hint that you should not audition. Well, in most cases. At the beginning of class, Andrew was making sure they knew all the names of the different drums and stands. My name was on the equipment test. Hmm. How should I feel about that? And they all got it right! I laughed. Don't think that will be on the audition. :P

Josh got his haircut for his interview tomorrow, and I was a little upset with the result. The girl did a better job on the front than the last girl, but she FORGOT to go around one of his ears. So, one is longer than the other and has a jagged corner behind. He obviously can't see behind his own ear and didn't notice, but I'm shocked that the girl didn't. Tsk, tsk. Shoddy craftsmanship.

And my haircut is on Friday. Plus, me and Heather are going to do some Christmas shopping. I wonder what I will do with that opportunity. Maybe Heather can distract the kids while I do some Santa-ing. And I could get a little something for Josh, perhaps. Grant will be writing Santa for a toy Tyrannosaurus, and Abbie says she wants a "girl baby" doll to "hold hands with". I guess that means she wants one with 5 fingers?

* * *

It is much later now. I just spent a nice long time on the phone with my mommy. I love my mommy. And I love my grand-mommy.

Have I told you that my dad is having prostate surgery in January? I am going to copy some of my movies for him for Christmas, so he can watch them while he's recovering. I have also coached Brother to get some books for him. My dad is basically the recipe for the world's worst patient. He questions the doctor, does his own research, is not very trusting, gets nervous, calls everyone he's ever met to find out if they think the doctor/procedure/facility/whatever are in any way questionable and on top of all that is physically incapable of being still for ANY length of time, no matter how short. My mother is brushing up her martyr hat, as we speak.

On that cheerful note, I am going to abandon you in favor of my cute children, who didn't even make each other bleed while Mommy was on the phone! Aren't they fabulous?

Happy Monday! Go get your blizzard supplies now! It's gonna be an exciting night!

Chilly Friday Undaunted

It was snowing this morning, but it has stopped. I'm happy, because I can sing Christmas carols again. I'm happy, too, because I have decided to make cupcakes and cookies as Christmas presents for Josh's families. Well, at least for Sarah, Eric, Becky, Paul, Missy and Mariah. I might have to do something different for Rick and Peggy and for Austin and Sydney. Or additional. We're also going to make our usual DVD of family pictures for Rick and Peggy, and maybe I won't have to add more than that to the baskets I am supposed to contribute to for Peggy's sisters, brother and mother. We need to get to work on those DVDs, actually.

Yesterday, I read Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of NIHM, because Amy was talking about it at taiko. It's kind of a sweet book, but with a very unsatisfactory end. Someone dies, but you don't know who, and while the possibility of a continued relationship is presented, Mrs. Frisbee doesn't commit, and you don't know if the other mouse moves away or not.... In my opinion, the author is trying to make it more like reality, when sometimes you don't know the answers to such questions. But why go there in a story about talking mice?

Yesterday, I was the epitome of Bah Humbug. But I was just tired and cranky. It doesn't seem so bad now. I was so wrapped up in angry meditation that I missed seeing the moon when I was walking from the parking lot to practice. But then, it was pointed out to me. Debbie said, "It's as big as a pumpkin!" It was orange, too, which is probably why she thought of pumpkins. See, you miss things when you are wrapped up in your own discontent. On the other hand, it was in the 20's with a not-so-pleasant breeze, so maybe even if I'd been perfectly happy I still would have walked with my head down!

When I was driving home from practice, I was pretty much out of gas. The dummy light had been on since O'fallon, and I was doing mental calculations (not my strong suit) of how long I could make it, when I just gave up and stopped at the next place. The next place was Wright City, and it was really only about 10 miles from Warrenton, but I didn't want to risk it on my pathetic math skills. It was a good thing though, because just on the other side of Wright City, there was a terrible, TERRIBLE accident. I was at a complete dead stop for nearly 10 minutes, and then we crawled until we were well clear of it. Yep. I would have run out of gas. I don't even know what I could have done. Beg some trucker to help me push my car onto the shoulder and then walk to the nearest gas station in below freezing wind? Then how would I get back to my car to add gas, with all the traffic? Realistically, it would have to have waited all night, and I would have had to walk somewhere to be picked up by Josh, who would have had to wake up the kids and bring them. So, am I glad I got gas? YES! I just wished I'd gone home from there by the outer road. ;)

I'm not so excited about housework today. But the plan is that tomorrow I will get up and magically clean the entire house until it is spotless and beautiful, and then decorate for Christmas! Abbie in particular is very anxious for that to occur.

Yikes. I keep starting sentences with But. But that's okay!!!

I have some other news, but it's not the happy kind. I have a dear and close friend who is having animal trouble. Her dog is being put down today in reaction to his having attacked another dog, who then had to be put down. She is a mess, as can be expected. She went around finding a witness to say that the Yorkie got into her yard, because the story that the Yorkie's owner gave wasn't very realistic. It was that the Yorkie was walking by, minding his own business and was dragged through a hole in the fence by Heather's dog. She also contacted a lawyer to see if something could be done. But the witness doesn't matter, according to the lawyer. The circumstances don't matter much. Dogs who are responsible for the death of another pet get put down. And....Heather's dog is a pit bull. Now, my opinion of pit bulls is totally and completely irrelevant, so I'm not going to give it. But here is what is worth considering: the majority of the world is in agreement that pit bulls, having been bred for fighting relentlessly, are dangerous. They have terrible reputations. They frequently cause unease and suspicion. And whether it is warranted or not, most people are prejudiced against them. So. Here's my question: WHAT IS WRONG WITH GETTING A LABRADOR, FOR PETE'S SAKE? Why put yourself deliberately in the position of constantly defending your pet against the world? You don't have to chose that. The post script of the story is that she found out just today from a different neighbor that her dog had behaved aggressively toward him. Now she doesn't feel like her efforts were for any reason, except (I intend to remind her) as a labor of love.

At this point I would like to recommend the Beagle-Basset as a fantastic dog breed. My vet praised them as being "Healthy and happy dogs," and they love company, food, and napping.

Wanna know what we're making for dinner tonight? Scrambled eggs with cheese. (I kinda need to go grocery shopping.)

My mother goes to Versailles again this weekend. She's going to take her brother to the train station on Tuesday. Tuesday is also Josh's job interview before work. Naturally, the forecast calls for a wintry mix.

Never a dull moment.

Well, wish me luck with the decorating tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Dinner, with a side of Christmas Jitters.

Well, I didn't get better before Thanksgiving. In fact, I'm still not. But I'm ignoring that as best I can.

Thanksgiving was fun. I drove to my grandmother's house in Versailles. We were the first to get there, besides those who had come earlier in the week. My Aunt Nancy had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. Do you watch that? I kind of forgot it existed. I don't know if I've ever watched it before. Abbie was very impressed, and sat watching the whole time Gran and I were getting things ready. Both my aunts were asleep in the den, and Mackenzie wasn't up yet. Josh went to get beer with my uncles. Oh, and my mom's youngest sister was out for a walk in the woods with her husband. My cousin Hannah and her mom both got lost on the way, poor kids, but the driving was free of any real disasters. When my mom arrived, I got bumped out of the kitchen. I spent the whole day talking, even though I had some serious laryngitis. The food was not balanced at all, but was tasty. We somehow ended up with 3 turkeys, plus ours which we had brought so Mom and Dad could taste the Alton Brown version. And we had brisket and corn and my squash, and green bean casserole, gravy and mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and 3 stuffings (though 2 were the same), and Waldorf salad that I didn't get any leftovers of. We also had sodas and beer and LOTS of wine, and cran-apple juice for me, and French silk pie and pumpkin pie and some fruit (peach? apple?) pie that I wanted some of, but was too full and then too late, and mom made chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and 3 different loaves of St. Louis Bread Company bread.

The guests were: Uncle Bobby and his wife, Betty, and Mackenzie, Uncle Pete, Uncle Tim and his wife, Laurel and Sky and Kelsey, plus his daughter Hannah and her mother, Rosy and sister Hillary, my parents, husband and children, my Aunt Nancy, my Aunt Kathy and her husband, Bob, and an old family friend, Ms. Laura, and my grandmother's sister-in-law, Aunt Betty. Oh, and we brought Jake, Hannah brought her dog, Carmen, and Hillary brought her beagle, Isabel. A full house, no?

Hannah was the most excited about the pictures, and is going to make enlargements for her house of some the old black and whites of my grandparents, and of her dad in his football uniform. He actually had my favorite quote of the day while looking at that picture. He was TINY!!! He laughed and said, "When I was 16 and got my drivers' license I put down that I was 5'1" and weighed 105 pounds.....and I lied on both!"

Well, Thanksgiving was great fun, but it was too much for a sicky like me. Josh drove home, but I couldn't sleep or anything. I felt dreadful, and couldn't even sing Christmas carols all the way home. You never notice how much singing you do until your voice is gone. Friday, I was much, much worse. That is particularly not fun, because I wanted to go out Friday night with my old friends who were in town, but it was obvious I was much too sick. I sent Josh and stayed home with the kids. He came home Saturday morning and slept on the couch half the day.

Josh took Grant to his first Rams game on Sunday. It was Josh's Christmas present from his dad. They had a great time, and I stayed home with Abbie. We watched Winnie the Pooh. I started to get some blessed sleep, but Abbie noticed, and woke me up violently. Then we danced until I started coughing, and listened to Christmas music on Youtube. Josh brought soft tacos for dinner, which was just what I wanted. Still wish I had some apple pie, though.

Last night I actually got a few hours of sleep. I was hoping to wake up recovered, but not so. Maybe tomorrow.

All my friends are asking me if I did any shopping on Black Friday, or what I am getting for my family for Christmas, or what Santa is bringing the kids. It's hard to know what to think. The truth is, I've made no lists of presents to buy. I don't know what to do. I mean, October and November I got multiple notes from the bank, complete with insufficient funds penalties. Christmas is a scary, insulting thing to me this year. I still need to pay my personal property taxes, and now I feel like a bad person for not loading up my Santa Clause bag with presents for everyone I know. Yes, I WANT to do that, but it doesn't seem like anyone understands that I can't. I don't even know what to do about my own children, but I'm already getting lists of things I'm required to bring to all the family Christmas parties Josh insists we are still attending. Josh is the worst of all. We decided that we could only afford a present each to Grant and Abbie from us, and one each from Santa, and stockings. He's already dancing around because he got me something. I know he's trying to make me happy...but....

Anyway, I had planned to decorate the house this weekend, but I might do it next weekend. I should be better by then. Josh needs a haircut then, too. He has his job interview a week from tomorrow. Then, I have my hair appointment that Friday. Then, the Christmases begin. How am I going to make it?

But you want to know what I am looking forward to? Visits from friends. Ms. Darci is coming the week after Christmas, and that is going to be great. And then Rob is coming in mid-January, and we are already making plans with his sister to go out.

On a completely different note, Abbie's 4th birthday is the first week in January. I'm having a party for her on the 9th. It is finally decided. It will be between lunch and dinner (haven't picked a time yet) and all are welcome to show up in a costume. Yes, it's the Birthday Costume Tea Party. All are welcome. Oh, and Abbie doesn't want anything for her birthday. What she wants is to see her friends. If you feel weird coming empty handed, just bring your favorite tea, and I'll boil some water for you.

Sorry I'm not especially eloquent today. You can tell I need something to read, can't you? Well, I'm going to spend today recovering from illness, and then we'll see what I can come up with, later.

I'm so cold! I'm getting tired of apple cider, but it has 100% vitamin C, and makes my throat better. Maybe I'll go make some now. This message sounds pretty cranky, but I promise you that I'm actually doing much better, and even have intentions to enjoy my day, if possible. Hmm. That sounds cranky, too. Well, if Grant weren't being so mean today, it would be a perfectly nice day. My kitchen is sunny. (There. That's much better.)

Happy last day of November!

Feed a cold.....

Hello! I am ill. Seems like the flu. I have until Wednesday, preferably in the morning, to get better! That is my goal.

And now...some GOOD NEWS! Josh got a letter saying that he has been selected to interview for that dispatcher job he wants. We are all very happy about that. I'm not sure what the odds are at this point, and Josh will still be looking for other work, as well. But we should all hope he gets this one, since it is what he wants. Josh is on the good list. He brought me chicken soup and toast in bed.

Friday night, I was pretty out of it. Josh loaned our car to his mom, but I don't think I even noticed, really.

Saturday, Josh and I combined our efforts and cooked up a 13 pound turkey (gift from Mom) Alton Brown-style, complete with brine. After warning them of my illness, Josh invited a ton of people over. Our neighbors ended up being the only ones who wanted to come, which was fine for me. Too many people would have done me in. I made stuffing on the stove and green beans, and Becky brought a pumpkin pie. It all tasted great. The buttered green beans were the best for my sore throat. There was a little blood when Grant and Bree bumped heads twice in 2 minutes. The second time, Grant's lip split. That's what happens when you don't listen to Mommy when she says, "Don't play rough on the rocking chair." We played Monopoly, and somehow I ended letting Kirk borrow my books again, and they left around 9:30. I went directly to bed. Well, after I carved up the rest of the turkey and got it baged and refrigerated.

I really wanted to get to taiko on Sunday, but was just too sick. So I stayed home all day, even when Josh and the kids took Jake to get his toenails clipped and return another computer to Josh's parents (they frequently ask him to fix their computers).

Abbie had another nosebleed. The first time I tried to help she jerked away, so there was blood everywhere. Finally, though, I got her to let me pinch her nose, and she even helped me count to ten. I'm hoping she learned something from the experience and will suddenly cooperate, but that might be a little far fetched.

Today...I'm going to veg. Really. Okay, well, I'm going to make lunch first, but then....total vegetation!!! Hopefully.

I'm reading Daddy Long Legs still. Well, I started it before I went to Versailles and put it down, and this weekend I picked it up again. I am once again struck with several things - the same things that always strike me when I read that book. Thing no. 1: What the heck is it that we call education these days??? This girl is required to know so much, and these days there is so much more to know about....why have we gone backwards in our expectations???? Um...I'll stop there and save you from hearing me rant again. Thing no. 2: People (as a population, not individuals, although you have to start somewhere...) just aren't nearly as nice these days. It's so hard for me to make my kids into good, nice people with no good examples. I think it's so hard that most people give up. Or they want something else for their kids. I knew a woman who didn't want her son to be a victim, so she made fun of him a lot so he would be "thick skinned". No one will be surprised to hear this, but he made fun of the other kids at school, and then blamed them when they didn't like him. She chose that? I would be more proud of a victim than a bully. I would prefer to not contribute to the unpleasantness around here. But not everyone is like me. Obviously. Look at what they encourage in their children. And then, children are born with their own agendas and don't often listen as well as that kid. Thing no. 3: I would so hang out with Jerusha Abbot! Maybe she's like me in a way that no real people are. Or maybe it's something else. Hard to say. But she's just so lovable. I get her.

It's Thanksgiving week! Are you warming up your gratitude? Shall I recite my Thanks to you?
"I am thankful for the good health of my family, and the time we are able to spend in one another's company. I am thankful for the wealth of the past, the lessons of the present and the hope of the future. I am thankful for the liberty of my country and the American standard of living. I am thankful for my abilities, and the opportunities to improve my self and my life. I am thankful for my dog, my hard-working husband, and my charming, intelligent children. Especially when they are all behaving themselves." I am also thankful for you guys. MUAH!

Mom says my horoscope says my life is about to improve drastically. Do you think so?

Have a good week, my friends.

News, news, news.

Either not much is happening in the news this week, or I need to look into better ways to get news. But I am definitely glad that I know Mariah Carrey wants white kittens and doves wherever she goes. Seems to be a conflict of interests, if you ask me.

Well, do you want the bad news first, or the good? Let's go in chronological order. Yesterday my mother came over and watched Abbie while I took Grant to visit his buddy the dentist. We know our dentist very well. Grant had his first serious cavity when he was 2. You may remember that Grant had a swollen cheek from a tooth infection earlier this fall. The back molar on that side was the problem, and still is. It needs a procedure called a pulpotomy. It's the baby tooth equivalent of a root canal. They drill all the way down to the pulp, insert an antibiotic tablet, then fill it back up. He also needs 7 fillings. Dr. Dooley says that if Grant is good and still and quiet, they might be able to get all of that done on his next visit, which is scheduled for Dec. 17th. If he's wiggly or uncooperative, it will just be the pulpotomy.

More about baby teeth: They usually don't require much work. If a child Grant's age gets his first cavity, the dentist (at least ours is like this) will sometimes leave it, unless it is causing the child pain, because they fall out. He says preventing pain and retaining tooth function are the only two reasons to work on baby teeth. With Grant, who has been having bad, fast growing cavities since age 2, we have to worry about him still having enough tooth left to chew. He explained that until Grant's 6 year molars are in, he can't really consider pulling any of the teeth. For his bottom molars, there is already less tooth than filling. On the good side, all of Grant's front teeth are fine, which is unusual for kids who tend to develop the fast growing cavities. Sadly, those will be the first ones to fall out.

Abbie did not see the dentist. Her teeth are perfect.

All afternoon, I had a terrible headache. Some people have suggested that maybe I gave it to myself by worrying how much money I'm going to need to fix Grant's teeth. And pay bills. And renew the car registration. And pay for Josh's class. And pay homeowners' association fees. And make it through Christmas. Motrin and lots, lots and lots of water did not help. I stayed home from taiko practice.

But! It turned out to be the best idea. It turns out I was getting sick. I am dizzy today, and my head feels too heavy, and my headache is now a sinus one, etc., but at least I didn't share my germs at practice. My current job is to get better before Thanksgiving. Wish me luck.

Speaking of jobs, I am still looking through a bunch of work from home stuff. My savior, Missy, sent me lots to look at, and I did a lot of that until yesterday afternoon. I've only applied for one job so far, but I have my eye on several. Might take a break today and just veg.

Now, for the latest news! Our mortgage refinancing came through today! Did you know that notary republics make house calls? I drank hot cider (has vitamin C) in my own kitchen while signing the new papers. And the best best news of all is that I don't owe any house payments until January 1!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I talked to my brother yesterday. So that is all fine again. I think he is even going to call my mommy today. Speaking of Mommy, I did some Christmas spying and sent a secret email to my dad at work telling him something to get Mom for Christmas. I love it when I can do stuff like that. I hope she likes it!

We're switching to the Wal-mart cell phone plan. (I pretty much hate Wal-mart, at least in the abstract.) Josh has a new cell phone. How is it that when we are dead broke, Josh still gets new toys? We still don't know what's going to happen with my phone.

I didn't sleep well last night. Geh.

My mommy gave us a turkey. I am not really a turkey person. I am a chicken person. Josh dug out an Alton Brown DVD and tomorrow we're gonna make some turkey.

For lunch we had chicken soup and toast. It was a huge hit.

Hope you are all about to have a fantastic weekend! Sick people like me hardly notice that it's Friday, but we sure know the first sunny day in a month when we see it! Go take vitamins. Don't get sick!!!

More drizzle on a Wednesday in November.

Since Josh's contract job in Rolla ended abruptly (only a few weeks after Abbie was born), we've been walking down, down, down into the canyon of This Is Not Cool. And if what we were doing before was hiking, this season, starting with late summer, has been an absolute landslide. The only trouble is, I am not convinced this canyon has a bottom. Several times I was sure we were nearly there, but not so.

Yes, Josh is looking for night work. Yes, I am looking for work from home. Yes, we are considering dropping the phones and even the Internet (this is even while Josh's other class is an online one), and Netflix, our one and only luxury, is practically gone already (waiting for the end of the billing cycle, is all). HOWEVER, I do not choose to sit around pondering our decline. I have more important things to think about. Like where the orange crayon went, and whether tyrannosaurus rex eggs were as big a Uluru. We have determined that they were not. But we still wonder if dragons like to swim.

We had some rough spots this morning. Abbie fights me alot, and says no. She is touchy, and does the whiny, angry thing. And while I am trying to change that, Grant encourages it. What is it about boys? He finds something that upsets her, and then does it (as quietly as he can) until she is shrieking or crying. Who does he think he's fooling? But, later, we recovered. We were pretending to be peacocks, and the blankets were our colorful feathers. We drew some pictures, too, but then there was some disturbance over the refrigerator magnets. Wanna hear about the highest possible form of entertainment at our house? Standing on the vents when the heat comes on. My kids would stop just about anything to go stand on the vents.

I really should be cleaning the entire house. My mom is coming to watch Abbie tomorrow while Grant has his dentist appointment. I also need to do some kid laundry. I've only been doing grown-up laundry. Ooops. And Josh is running out of socks, too.

Just in case you are reading this and hapened to miss taiko, due to some anniversary of sorts, I'll let you know how that went. First of all, I picked up Brandon. I still have no idea why, but after I picked him up, the "auto" function for my lights stopped working, so I just turned them on regularly. We were the first ones there, and we picked up the room and got out all the taiko stuff. When Jenn got there, she told me my lights were still on. DOH! I have been spoiled by the auto-ness! So, I ran all the way to the commuter lot, just in time to see my lights turn themselves off. Growling, I opened the door and put the lights back on auto, just so I would remember to do it manually. Trust me. I know what I mean. Then, I ran back to practice. Andrew said, "Good. You're just in time."

"Just in time for what, warm ups?"

Practice consisted of the 6 minute drill....twice. (Wouldn't want to be uneven.) Then Yatai Bayashi. Then movement drill. The reason for taiko-robics came out later, when Andrew confessed to having eaten too much dessert Monday night. We worked on Tsurugi for most of the rest of practice. Oh, yeah, and St. Louis Bayashi, just in case we had any energy left. It would be the day I sprint to the commuter lot. I'm surprised that I'm not sore. I should be.

In a minute, I'm going to shower. We're going to go to Planet Fun with Eddie ( HI, EDDIE!!!) and Jenn, and Baby Eddie and Carter. We are all very excited.

Sloppy Joes for dinner - woot! Happy Wednesday. It's definitely soup and toast weather.

I'll have the Politics A La Carte, please.

The constitution of the United States does not give you the right to a car, a job, a house of any kind, a cellular phone, a computer, or even food. You are not owed these things by your government in any way. It does, however, allow you the opportunity to get one or all of these things for yourself. That is your right. So sayeth the constitution. However, somewhere along the way, the government did start providing homes and food and even jobs, even though it is not, by the constitution, required to. I think that may have been the beginning of lots and lots of confusion. And it was the beginning of the end of self sufficiency, too.

A point that was brought up by my uncle, who refers to his political alignment as "Constitutionalist",is that the constitution includes a passage that says the United States government as outlined in that same document will only work for a "educated and virtuous" population. Well, looks like we're screwed, Folks. As far as I can see we are neither, as a group, and I can't think of many individuals who fall under either category, much less both at the same time. But you already know what I think of the educational standards this country has.

I tried to find out my own political alignment, you know. I took probably 20 little quizzy things. None of them came up with the same answer. Wanna know why? Because it all depends on what question you ask, and how you ask it. And what gives with the current parties, anyway? My uncle, the Constitutionalist, says that any time a new party tries to emerge, the party who is most similar to it has a panic attack, afraid of losing representation in Congress, and drives them away. Are we neighborly, or what? I can see it, though. But I've got news for you folks:

Take a look around. We're plummeting. Things are not getting better. Not going to point a single finger, because this downward spiral has been long in the making. However, I know Americans. This will not go over. Something is going to happen, and you'd better hope it's something as simple as the emerging of new political parties, because I foresee something a lot more destructive. And as much as I would like to avoid it, it is necessary. Change must and will occur.

Did you know that right now entire downs are collapsing? Do you actually know what I mean by that? Take, for example, my grandmother's town of Versailles, MO. My aunt works at Gates there. They are one of the few remaining US factories, especially now that all the car companies have failed. She is a particularly hard worker, but even if she weren't, she would be now. There are no other jobs in town, should she lose hers. None. ZERO JOBS. Not Wal-mart, not Taco Bell. ZERO JOBS. Gates keeps firing people, and then my aunt has to add the jobs of the former employees to her work, and still get it all done in the same amount of time. But you can't complain. Why not? That's ridiculous! Because the response is, "You don't like it? Quit. The line for your job is 10 people long." And it's true. So take care of your crappy job, because there are none left in town. Or the next town over. No kidding. Eldon, MO was hanging from a thread named Car Dealership. All gone. What is going to happen to the people who live there? They won't be able to sell their homes if no one is moving into the community. And this has already happened. How many small American towns are about to become ghost towns? How does one survive without income? Hope you know how to garden, Kids.

I'm sure that many of you are about to list all the government programs that would/could/should swoop down and save these poor communities. And you may. It might even happen. But the government doesn't have money. Sadly, there is no spring-fed treasury in Washington D.C. The people have money. Then we all pool it together and it has to last the whole country and take care of all the separate and combined needs. That's even before you count the promises of the politicians that they have to make good on or lose the next election. Personally, I have no proposal for helping the shriveling towns. I'd like to, though. All I can think of is industry, and I don't see anyone else embracing that concept this week.

Well, that's enough of this week's installment. Feel free to comment...all 2 of you who read this.

The Cemetary and the Flag

Hello, there. I am having a pretty good Friday the 13th, are you? Well, I've been misspelling words even worse than usual, and Josh forgot to put the trash out, but otherwise, the day has not been in the least bit horrifying.

Yesterday I came home from Versailles, with Jake and the kids riding with me. That was the end of my trip, of course, and it was exhausting. But I think I'll start at the beginning instead.

On Sunday, we came home from Osage Beach, played with the neighbors, and packed. Monday I baked the cake and finished getting all the things ready. My mother came for the kids around noon. When she walked in, she looked at the dog and said, "Hey, Jake! Are you ready to go?" I was so shocked. I hadn't even thought about Jake going. I had been telling Josh that he and Jake were going to be bachelors together. After they left (with alacrity), I got ready and left, myself. The first evening, we went to Nanny's house to watch the gravel guy pour more gravel on her driveway. His name was Ernie Hibdon. Apparently, he grew up with my Aunts and Uncles, and my mom even watched his son for a while when we were all living in Sunrise Beach. I must have been 2ish. The pouring of the gravel lasted maybe 5 minutes (and very fancy and tidy, too, I must add). We were at Nanny's house for an hour and a half. Ernie is a talker. It was cute....and long. Nanny came home while we were there, and we all went back to Gran's to have some of my cake. We were all too tired to go to the fun event that Gran had planned. It seems that one of the little Mennonite guys was doing an (no kidding) opera workshop. Later, Gran was horrified that she didn't take me to it, but we really were too tired. All of us were. Instead, me and Gran had a "slumber party". We took snacks into her room and watched My Favorite Year.

Tuesday, we did lots of work going through old family photos. There were 7 suitcases full. I was sorting them into envelopes for each of the children (my mom and her siblings), an envelope of my grandmother, of my grandfather, of the two together, of her mother, her mother's family (Geiger or Gyger, depending on who was doing the spelling), his family, pets, family group pictures, houses, landscapes and flowers, friends, military reunions, other trips. We did this most of the day, with breaks to fuss about politics with my Uncle Pete or gossip or eat.

Wednesday, we did more pictures and got them all sorted. Then, we spent a lot of the day in Versailles. First, it was Taco Day at B&B's, so we had tacos. We made some copies of pictures of my grandfather, and one of my grandmother's only baby pictures. We shopped at Wal-mart, and then.....we walked the Versailles cemetery. We were visiting family. We visited my great grandmother and her husband. We visited Gran's favorite grandmother, "Mimi". Her name was originally Edna, I think. Or was it Edith? Her middle name was Merle, and when she was little, was called Merley so much, that she officially changed it to Merle E. Webster. She married a Silvey. Gran refers to him as Dad Silvey (short for Granddad, of course) and she was Mom Silvey until one of Gran's cousins called her Mimi, and then she was Mimi forever. Gran and her parents lived with them for a while during the depression. The men farmed. They canned food, and Gran helped, even when she was tiny. Mimi would go to the less fortunate neighbors and say, "Oh, can you help me out? I canned too many beans this year! They'll go bad if they don't get used. You take these. I'll need my jars back, though." And that is how the neighbors helped each other even though they were proud. Mom Cleo, Gran's mother, married Ferdinand Geiger. He was a farmer, and Cleo wasn't happy. (She had wanted someone else, but the family hadn't approved.) So, later, she left her job as a schoolteacher for some guy named Quincey or Quentin or something, and lived in Kansas City. But immoral women lose their teaching licenses, so she worked in a factory. Ferd Geiger loved her to the end, and left her his house in Fortuna, Missouri. She shouldn't have taken it after leaving him so thoroughly, but she did. She was a perpetually dissatisfied woman, even in my memory. According to my grandmother and Uncle, her husband was a hard working, pleasant fellow. I've seen his picture, too. He was extremely handsome. She had a neck and legs that resembled tree trunks.


Anyway, I am related to Websters, Silveys, Cables, Caines, Geigers (or Gygers), Robinsons...and plenty more than that. Gran knows them all. Who will visit when she is gone? I should have taken notes. Gran always puts red flowers for her dad. They were his favorites. And Mimi likes all sorts of colorful ones. Lilac, she said, for sure. Having a suitable death and a suitable grave were never treated for them the way they are for us. Cemeteries are not scary or even macabre. You don't go there to dwell on someone's death, rather to remember his or her life. Nowadays you're not allowed to contemplate how you are remembered. We're supposed to assume we are immortal or something. I don't know.

After the cemetery, we met Nanny at her work, and all went to the VFW Veterans' Day dinner in Gravois. They had it in the school house that Gran went to in second grade! She told me, "See that stage? I performed on that stage! I was a snowflake. But Patty so-and-so was the snow princess." I don't remember which Patty, but she ended up marrying a Webster. Family, you see. After dinner, Gran was trying to see if anyone could remember which parts of the building were original, and the lady asked. "Did you know a Cleo Geiger?" Well, that, as you now know, is my great-grandmother. We were as bad as Ernie Hibdon, at that point, and when we finally left to head for the car, we ran into the daughter of the scandalous Quincey or whatever his name was. She's a little old lady now, of course.

I called my own Veteran when we got home, but he was still at work. Poor thing.

We did more work with pictures. I cut apart all the copies we'd made and finished off the envelopes with them, then we separated them into suitcases. One for military reunions, one for other trips, one for the envelopes for mom and her siblings, to be given to them at Thanksgiving to take home. Group family pictures, pets, and the ones of my grandparents were put in a separate suitcase for the kids to look at, but not keep. Requests for copies are expected, of course. I heard lots more stories about the families then, too. Maybe what I really needed was a tape recorder.

The one thing I pushed for but didn't get, as yet, was for Mama Gran to write on the backs of the black and white pictures of the Geigers and the Robinsons. They have no names, dates, locations..... They are blank, and she's probably the only one who knows the details.

As we were finishing up for the day, Uncle Pete jumped up, horrified, and rushed out the door. He was retrieving the American flag, which had been flying for Veterans' Day. It was after dark when he remembered. But he came back in laughing, because my grandparents have a street light in their front yard, and so there had not been any disrespect for the flag, after all.

Thursday I helped Gran clean. We met my mom and kids at B&B. This time we had cheeseburgers. Then we all played at Gran's house in the leaves until I had to pack up and go. By then some things were all starting to catch up with me. They all smoke, and my throat was starting to be sore. Gran keeps her house very warm, and I was unable to sleep nights. So, I was worn out before I even started to go home, but there was lots to load into the car, and lots to load out of it. Everyone provided junk food for the kids, and I have my folder of pictures, and Gran gave me a squash. I wasn't really planning to make butternut squash two weeks in a row.... You know, I saw a bald eagle on my way back home. I really had no idea they ever came through Missouri. And in Versailles on Wednesday night I saw a huge owl.

Well! Now for the news since I've been back home. Josh had the test for the dispatcher position in St. Peters. The good news is that if all the groups of applicants are like his, he has a decent chance of being selected. The other good news is that they offer full benefits and 17 something starting wage. The bad news is that the selection won't even take place for several more months. After the testing, there will be formal interviews, and then background checks. There are only 2 open positions, but over 100 applicants. He really wants the job. I want him to have what he wants, even though I don't know which variety of shift work it will be.

Even if I have more to say, this is long enough. SO! I hope you are having a wonderful Friday, even if it is Friday the 13th!!! Next stop - Thanksgiving!!!! Smile. It will all be okay.

Next time, the politics of a "Constitutionalist". Heh, heh, heh....

Fiddle Dee Dee! Tomorrow is another day.

Well, Josh dropped the class, and we're very likely to have to pay for it at some point. He also got a letter saying that he passed the first round of elimination for the dispatch job. He has a practical test that they scheduled for this coming Friday. I'm not sure what is after that. Probably formal interviews. I also don't know when he'll find out if he got the job. Still no word on the home re-financing, except that our paperwork is "being processed". Not so much in the relief department, but who's counting?

We've been talking about just exactly how bleak a Christmas we're going to have, but Josh really doesn't want to talk about it, yet. His side of the family always has three Christmases. One at his mother's (food and gifts required), one at his maternal grandmother's (food, "game money", and gifts required) and one at his paternal grandparents' (food and gifts required). My mother usually has something, too, but nothing is required except an R.S.V.P. My take on it is that people who are planning these events need to know as soon as possible what to expect from us. But he doesn't want to think about it, yet.

We had our taiko performance last night in Osage Beach. We got there super early. We even went and visited with Jenn, Bill and Carter at her mom and dad's place at the lake. It's a lovely house with a beautiful view. And I'm always glad to see Jenn's family! I hear her brother had a date this week. So cute! And while we were having these adventures, everyone else was having disasters. Andrew and Junsei missed the exit, and Jaci's car broke down. The performance part went well, for the most part. There were a few hiccups, and I'm still not convinced that I wasn't at the root of the biggest one, but on the whole, a success. One shock to me was that it was listed as a free show, but my mother says they charged at the door! I was very embarrassed, since I invited my grandmother and aunt to come. She paid their way. I wonder if I should try to pay her back. After the performance and after receiving lots of praise from my too generous relatives, Josh, the kids and I went to his mother's condo to spend the night. The kids were absolutely delighted with the bunk bed. I let them play around on the top bunk this morning. I didn't sleep wonderfully, but better than I thought I would. Must've been tired. We left this morning and got home before 11am. Josh was cheerful. Said it was like a mini-vacation. (A sad commentary on our "vacations" of late, but still happy. I'll take it.)

I forgot to mention that Josh and I watched Serenity the other night. We really liked it. It's Sci-Fi action/adventure for those of you who are unaware.

I've been packed since Friday morning, but I'm not quite set to leave for Gran's tomorrow. I haven't made the cake yet. But the mix is on the counter and I chopped (okay, smashed) the walnuts up. I also need to put everything in one place so I don't forget anything important. I'm bringing my book (Still Daddy Long Legs. Been busy.) and my binder of DVD's in case we want to watch something after we've gone through pictures, and some of my favorite black tea to go nicely with the spice cake...and my clothes and stuff. And the cake, when it's made.

Josh fried fish tonight, no kidding! I told him my Aunt Joyce's formula: coat the fish in plain ole yellow mustard first, then the fish fry. Don't worry, it really doesn't come out tasting mustardy. He was very pleased with himself when it turned out, and told me my aunt is a genius. He's kinda cute, that boy.

But now my little Abbie is falling asleep on my arm. Bedtime! I was sad to hear that seeing me perform still wasn't very easy for her. According to my mother, after every song, she said, "Mommy's all done now? I want to be by Mommy." I wonder how she'll do at my mom's house this week while I'm at Gran's....

Hope you have all had a pleasant week. Trish, hoping for news of your little baby any time now. Master Awesome, do you still read this? Just checking. Love to all of you!

More bad news.

Josh had another low test score in Calculus. Realistically, it's unlikely he will get a C in the class. When the GI bill pays for school, you have to pass the class, or you suddenly have to come up with the money to pay them back. Also, I got $800.00 out of my super secret emergency fund to help with the house payments until the refinancing paperwork goes through. It was gone in a week. Not just gone, we somehow have negative bank money. Josh is going to find out if he has to pay for a D, and what will happen if he drops the class instead. We don't know what to do about the rest.

If you know of a way for me to work at home, now would be the time to speak up. Writing didn't pay worth the time and effort. Besides I felt very unappreciated with all those rejections. No one wanted me to proofread, so that was a bust, too. And the lady down the street never showed up, so that's not going to happen, either. Is there something out there that doesn't involve phone work (my kids are noisy) or an initial investment? Data entry? Maybe at your work? I promise to work for less than the going rate. I'm desperate.

I didn't get any sleep last night. Watched DVDs with Josh to cheer him up, and then later I wasn't feeling well. I have a small sore throat and more headache-ness.

This Saturday is our performance, and it's also the birthday party for Josh's 3rd sister, Missy. They're planning to recite a bunch of jokes about Missy, as a toast. You know, blond jokes and the like. Personally, if a room full of people started laughing about how dumb I was, I would leave and never come back. And she gets mad faster than anyone I've ever seen. I'm gonna go ahead and say that was poor planning. And I will be off performing in Osage Beach, so if there is blood, I will miss out. It's gonna be a mess. She never considers their wants/needs/intentions and they never consider hers. And I hate the, "Oh, I'm just giving you trouble," thing that they do, when they never get to know a person well enough to be aware of what might offend them. If they're "giving you trouble" then, somehow, it's YOUR fault if you are offended, not theirs.

Um. I didn't mean to talk about that.

Grant is in his room, screaming his lungs out. Abbie is on the couch watching Mama Mirabelle on DVD. Josh is at work, and I am counting the hours until taiko. I need to get out of here. I couldn't be more pleased that I'm going to my grandmother's next week.

So depressed.

Or...maybe not. I always knew it would get worse, not better. I guess I'll just keep going.

In the meantime, let me know if you think of something for me to do here. Or if you see a great job listing for Josh, that would be wonderful, too. He has "some college" and Veteran's status and management experience and technical experience and A+ computer repair certification....

Well, anyway.

I almost wrote an email to everyone I've ever met begging for that sort of help, but couldn't do it.

I started reading Daddy Long Legs again. And sometimes I think I have a short story waiting to come out, but no writing yet. Grant has cavities on his fillings (okay, around his fillings is more accurate), and still has a bulge by his gum. His appointment this month isn't going to be cheap. And did I tell you that our land line/internet bill went up, and quality went down when they changed ownership this month? Grr!

Hope your November is shaping up to be more secure than mine. The good news is that we don't live on a dirt floor. That we have running water and climate control. That we are healthy, and we have each other. We have fun events in our future, like Thanksgiving.

"That's all I have to say about that."

All Saints Day

Hello!

Did you have a happy Halloween?? I hope you did. Ours was nice. My cousin Mackenzie and my mother joined us. I had made spice cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing and a pot of tea. Mackenzie likes my favorite jasmine tea, so I made that, but I have some other teas that might have gone better with the cupcakes. Mom brought tons of goodies. Abbie is currently wearing her new Halloween pajamas, and Grant got a shirt with a bat. Plus, she brought canned corn, a giant frozen roast, hot chocolate, cereal, goldfish crackers, and tons of "extra" Halloween candy.

We watched Young Frankenstein. Fun. And mom and the kids played with the window clings she brought for them. We ordered Chinese for dinner, and I had an apple pie for dessert with some yummy ice cream. Josh had just ice cream, in fact. Then, we played Scrabble until it was time to put on costumes. Josh was Torry Holt at work, and was going to go out as him, but changed his mind at the last second and didn't wear a costume.

Abbie had a white turtleneck and white knit tights under her ballerina costume, and Grant wore his new bat shirt under his giraffe head costume. Mom stayed to pass out candy while the rest of us went out. We only went to a few houses. Mr. Danny, our friends, the Keiths, Mr. Bob, Mr. Major.... The Cole's house, his mom surprised me by asking me if I would like to watch Cole's baby sister Joey for $50 a week. I told her to come by Monday (tomorrow) and we'd talk about it. At first, I couldn't believe my luck, but now I have lots to consider before our discussion.

At this point, we ran into Bree and walked together with her. After 3 more houses we went back inside, and Bree and her daddy came in for cupcakes. Then they went on to more houses, and we settled in. Mackenzie beat me at Guitar Hero, and then we put on The Curse of the Ware-rabbit. We took turns passing out candy. The kids were all nice and polite this year. One girl, who must have been 9-ish, told me some perfectly horrible Halloween jokes. Loved it. And everyone commented on Brother's wonderful pumpkin. The thing is....we have several pounds of leftover candy. The last movie was the other Wallace and Gromit one, A Matter of Loaf and Death. Mackenzie was enjoying it so much that she asked for a copy.

I hope they had a good time. We did.

This morning Junsei and I were the only two "instructors" at beginner taiko practice. He played shime, and I played all the parts of Isami Goma over and over and over and over. They all thought I was funny, hopping from one side to the other so that side of the room would know it was their turn to play. And I have to say, playing Isami is much more fun than playing Renshu Taiko. After class, there was a man who wanted a better explanation, and Junsei was trying to lock up, so when I came home, I wrote a detailed "songsheet" with diagrams and everything, and it took me almost 2 hours. I'm going to try to email it to him, but if that doesn't work, he'll have to wait until next Sunday to get it.

Did I tell you that Josh and I stayed up one night and watched The Proposal? Cute writing. I liked it pretty well. I'd watch it again. We want to watch the copy of Serenity that Brother gave me pretty soon, too. The kids have been watching Kiki's Delivery Service in Japanese this week. It's cute. Very harmless, and slightly less numbing than Totoro.

This week: performance practice for taiko, Parents As Teachers visit, meet with Stephanie the neighbor about watching her daughter. I think if all of the scheduling part of it works out, I might propose a month's probationary period, in case the personalities aren't a good mix. (And in case I don't find her reliable in payment/pick-up times, etc.)

Ah! I must go. Have a wonderful evening!!!!!

Yawn! Hello, Wednesday.

Well, I need more sleep.

How are you? I feel pretty good. I paid bills yesterday. I actually had to use some of my emergency money. Not much of that left, actually. I will feel some serious panic when it is gone. But I do like it when I can just pay the bills when they come.

"Dut, dut, dut, dut...." That's what I played at taiko last night. I know. Enough to give you chills. Okay, so it wasn't super exciting, but I was happy to be there. We have a performance the week from Saturday in Osage Beach. (Then, two days later, I go right back on my way to help Gran with her pictures.) Anyway, should be fun. The performance and the visit.

I have a ton of movies to watch, all of a sudden. We have Trainspotting, which we've never seen, and Netflix sent us The Proposal, and Brother gave me a copy of Serenity. Josh and I did watch a movie this weekend, though! We watched City Slickers. Haven't seen it in 8 years, probably, but it's a classic. Cute writing, great acting. Good stuff. ...And why do I get the feeling that there is another movie that I was supposed to watch....?

Actually a bit miffed with Brother. He was mean to my mommy, and she's got enough on her plate. You know, for a guy who reads Judith Martin he's still got a lot to learn politeness-wise.

Still hoping that Josh will find a fantastic new job and things will greatly improve. Don't really know what it would take, but I am hoping.

So, reading DRACULA for Halloween is fun. It really shows the difference a century makes. Personally, I think that the characters in this book are enormously more civilized than we are in all our technology. Depressing. And I feel at a disadvantage because of my advantages. Meaning the various characters spent a great deal of effort to beautifully describe their surroundings, but because I've seen pictures/movies of what they are describing already, my patience suffers. It shouldn't.

I may or may not go to the mall today. If I do, I should call Lisa K. and see if she wants to meet us. Josh thinks I should, but I mostly want to go back to sleep and hibernate.

And if Jay hadn't said something funny about the time change this weekend, I would have totally forgotten and been an hour late to taiko on Sunday. Um...that's right, right?

My mommy is coming on Halloween, and maybe my cousin Mackenzie, too. We'll have to see. I was given a bunch of spice cake mixes lately, so maybe I'll make cupcakes. Dunno. We'll have to see.

Hope you all have a great day and week and weekend!

Parts of Speech

First of all, I didn't win the lottery.

Second of all, I'm still sick, and it's making me feel very tired. I took some decongestants. With any luck, it will keep me from getting infections in my ears and sinuses. Cross your fingers! I might make some green tea in a minute.

Third of all (That sounds weird. Is that common usage?), Brother has changed his plans, and I will only be seeing him on Saturday. As of yesterday evening, I was expecting him for Friday and Saturday, but he's staying in Rolla in order to see some other friends of ours who couldn't make it on Wednesday, like we had thought. The upside is that I can offload half of my today list onto tomorrow. Possibly, I will still need to go to Wal-Mart. We shall see.

And now, the gripe of the day. You know you were waiting for it! PBS Kids says, "The more you learn and know, the smarter you'll grow!" They are a self proclaimed educational program. Well, group of programs. Between the children's shows, there is an announcer/hostess who introduces the show and does some educational interludes. HOWEVER. Today the lady was showing how you can make your voice sound different, by, "TALKING LOUD! ...Or quiet. I can speak reallyreallyreallyfast!! Or....REAL.....SLOW."

Did you catch it? Did you? Did you, did you?

Educational. You would think that they would blush to expose the children of the nation to yet more incorrect English. Josh says that they are doing fine. They aren't speaking Ebonics, and nobody knows correct English anyway. Well, THIS is why!

For those of you who go under Josh's blanket generalization of "nobody knows", I will now tell you that verbs such as "talking" are to be modified by adverbs, such as "slowly" or "quickly" or "loudly" or "quietly". Adverbs are to be modified by other adverbs, such as"really". I won't even go into the fact that this would be a poor usage of "really".

According to my mother, the English language (she uses fancy words like descriptive and proscriptive) is changed to whatever the "educated" people do. Every few years, the Oxford dictionary dumbs down our language a little more, based on the ignorance of the country. Did you know that it is now considered CORRECT to split an infinitive? Sure, I do it, but it's not like I thought I was being correct. I would never consider it for a formal setting.

YIKES!

Why is it that our scholars are required to know less and less. If English is so important (they all say it is, you know), than why is no one required to KNOW IT?

Well, you get the idea. I'm sick of people being taught, but not being expected to know.

It's a rainy Thursday. I'm off to bathe my son. Hope your day is treating you well. We're not so bad here. We even know how to use an adverb. So there.

Looking Up

Maybe there is a hint of more relaxed, stress-free times ahead. Or maybe I just don't feel like being miserable.

We've been sick. Abbie was not alone. Last night was the first time this week that everyone slept in his own bed. It was a relief not to be sleeping with Abbie. I get no rest like that. So, we are all varying degrees of ill today, some a little congested, some a little horse, all better than yesterday and ready to feel better.

Guess what Josh did this morning. He applied for a new job. Even if work doesn't come through as promised, we aren't going to sit in this holding pattern forever.

I was sad that I couldn't go to taiko last night. I was more excited than usual to be going. Don't know why, I guess I was just in the mood. There's always tomorrow!

Do you think my lottery ticket is going to win tonight? Well, neither do I, to be honest. But I'm still enjoying the idea of paying the house off and buying us all some new winter socks.

You know what I'm in the mood for? Going to see a movie! And smuggling candy in my coat pockets. Or...going to the U.K. for a few weeks. (You might think that one of these is slightly unrealistic. But what you don't realize is.....they are both equally unlikely.)

Things are pretty not bad. None of us are in the hospital. Jake doesn't have cancer. The good car and the crappy car both still go forward when you turn them on. The house keeps out the cold and the wet. And I have a chocolate bar hidden in my dresser. Emergencies, you know.

On to current events: The balloon kid. Eh. Don't want to talk about it. Lousy people. What else is there... Extortion, Politics...Hmm.... My favorite story in the recent news is the African king who was working as a nurse's assistant in the northeastern U.S.A. until the socio-political climate in his own country was such that he could return home and assume his crown. Yay! I think all leaders should have to have done some work in hospital-type settings prior to beginning their work as leaders. Whether he is an altruistic humanitarian or not, he certainly seems that way. I wish him luck!

In a movie mood. See any good movies lately?

In case you are curious, the job Josh is particularly interested in is shift work, and pays 17 dollars/hr. He told me today that that was like winning the lottery for him.

Off I go to make frozen totinos pizza again! Pretty yummy!

No Room for Stress. That Seat is Taken.

I'm super tired, so I don't feel bad that I just copied this from my other blog:

Abbie has a cold. Her colds, it seems, are like mine - miserable. Last night she slept in my room and Josh escaped to Grant's, I think. I'm not sure who this was designed to benefit. Abbie never slept more than 20 minutes at a time. So neither did I. She's very congested today, but doing fine. She's singing little congested songs. I, on the other hand, would like to fall over right now. (I'm just not so sure about the landing.)

The weather is beautiful. Wish we were all healthy and well rested, we might appreciate it even more.

Today, we took Jake to the vet at the Petsmart where he usually gets his nails clipped. The sore on his face is some sort of infection. For $200.00, we could find out what kind, or for 70 we could try Neosporin and an oral antibiotic and see if that works. We opted for that, although that's still a ton of money for us. We are broke to an unprecedented degree this week. Josh moved all our savings into our checking account, so now we have about 100 dollars. For the first time, Josh told me that he's afraid he's not going to get his raise at work. That was this morning. But I am too tired to wrap my brain around our depressing state of affairs right now. All I've got, brain-power-wise, is, "Frozennn Pizzaaaa...! Dishes are cllllllllllean.... Where is other shoe....?"

I think I hear a goose flying over my house.

Brother's plane arrived on time without any hiccups, and we had red stew and cake at our house. The stew was really good. The cake tastes fine, but is hideous! The nuts I added gave it a chicken pox appearance, and I didn't ice it, so it was very obvious. To make up for it, I served it on very pretty plates. It would be a fantastic tea cake. I was going to make some tea to go with it this morning, but the weather changed. Brother is in Columbia today with his friends. I still don't know which day he is coming back to Warrenton, or if he's coming to taiko with me, or where we're going Saturday, or whether or not we're doing pumpkins on Friday.

I have one baking apple left. If it lasts in the fridge, I'm going to make the cake again when I go to my grandmother's house next month. I'll do a spice cake with apple and walnut. Very seasonal, don't you think? And I'll make it in the bundt cake pan. I bet she'll love it.

Wish I had a few spare dollars. It's picnic weather. Oh! It's St. Louis Bread Co. picnic weather. I am now craving some baked potato soup. Yum. Hope your day is good to you. And I hope my lottery ticket is a winner!

Cold Rain

I hope the weather on Halloween is slightly more temperate, for Abbie's sake. What would be the point of being dressed as a ballerina if you are then required to be in a heavy coat and mittens? Well, maybe she will keep it on to help pass out candy. And I hope Grant's giraffe costume will still fit over a thick sweatshirt. I think it will....

Brother comes this weekend. I've decided, due to this very inspirational weather, to make a stew and another apple cake. Doesn't that sound about right? Hope it goes over well. Currently, we are living off the jambalaya I made Sunday evening. Still great. I love that recipe.

Abbie can count to 29, using her fingers as a visual aid. (You know, first putting them all up, then putting them all down, then all up again.) As usual, she just did it one day, and didn't let on if she'd been practicing. At lunch today, she looked up at me and said, "H is for hotdog." Correct. Grant, lately, has been involved with memorizing the names of places and animals. Cahen, you will be amused that he is particularly interested in Oregon. And I hear things like, "Mommy, is Jake a mammal?" "Mommy, is a stingray a mammal?" "Mommy, a snake is a reptile."

Something is wrong with Jake. He has a sore on his cheek. It's close enough to his nose that it could even be an infected whisker or something. I was worried enough to consider taking him to Rolla Monday. But it looked better, so I didn't do anything. I'm not trying to, but I keep getting flashes to the cat of my childhood and the open sore on his head when he started to show signs of feline leukemia. (About 8 months later, they developed a vaccine for it, of course.) I don't want to worry. God knows I have enough to worry about this month. I can't help it. He may not be Dexter, but he's definitely the sweetest dog I've ever met. I don't want anything to be wrong.

I need to schedule a few days to visit my grandmother. We said November. Already I have to work around Grant's dentist appointment and a visit from Miss Penny and some taiko. I think. Have to update all that.

I took the kids to the mall yesterday. I had a gift card to Borders, and just needed to go. I bought a cute book, which I've already finished. I found another old Borders gift card while changing purses and it magically had ten dollars still, so I really only used 3 on the other card. I have another spree in my future! I also bought a canister for my favorite jasmine tea. I have three favorite teas, and now two have canisters. More on that in a sec. I also took the kid's ice cream money that my grandmother gave them over the summer. They each had four dollars. They bought a giant pretzel from Auntie Annie's, and Japanese gummy snacks from the tea shop, and shared both.

When I came home, I found out that my other favorite tea is discontinued. This is the one I can drink at any time, because it doesn't have caffine. I'm rediculously sad about this. Plus, if I had known 12 hours sooner, I could have bought some more. One last batch. And with my canister, who knows but it could have lasted me a year. But I've already squandered my free day and extra gas. So tragic.

Oh, and while I was performing last weekend, Josh bought a DVD. "Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death." Cute. Not cute enough to watch 4 times a day, but that's kids for you.

Hope your day is a good one.

Birthday Introspection

So I had my birthday this week. And no, I'm not going to tell you which one. You'll just have to do the math yourself if you are that eager to find out.

You learn a lot of things in your later 20's, you know. Suddenly, your contemporaries are living through different kinds of things, and you are exposed to a different flavor of ambition, successful and unsuccessful marriages and ventures... Another milestone is the one your brain makes when you have children. Suddenly you have to orient you interpretations of right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate, healthy and unhealthy, wise and unwise in terms of the innocence of the untarnished. Fresh youth, in all its inexperience and vulnerability. I realize that many people are parents before they are in their late 20's, but it still seems that there is plenty of emotional growth there, and then when you add the children in...

Well, I suppose you call it growing up. Do you ever wonder if the childless ever achieve the same level of adulthood? I think they don't. (Please don't infer that I think low of them for it. A different perspective is good.)

So, now that I am..ahem..older, it is time to look at myself. I'm due for inspection. What I have come up with is this: I don't often enough follow through with my better impulses. It doesn't matter at all if you wish you could help if you don't try. Knowing you need to finish something isn't any better than not acknowledging that you need to. Only finishing it is in any way useful. And keeping your eyes on your goals and working hard is a hell of a lot healthier than sitting around making lists of things you would do if you had different circumstances. So, with any luck, you will hear considerably less complaining from me. (But don't be too hard on me if I still vent a tad, periodically.)

My parents came to see me last weekend to celebrate my birthday. We went to Olive Garden. Josh was in heaven with his pumpkin cheesecake. For my birthday, my parents replaced my dead DVD player. (Enter Wave Of Guilt) Then, if that weren't bad enough, they also gave us our joint Christmas present early: a 42 inch TV. (At least it was on sale.) Josh was beside himself with joy. He loves declaring Christmas early. This might actually be the earliest ever - a personal record. Plus he was very interested in the TV. Me...not so much. Mostly I think the sound is better, but it makes all our movies look grainy and inadequate. Nobody would have thought I would be more than marginally excited about that sort of thing. My mother is usually more subtle in applying the pity and charity. BUT! Enough dwelling on my personal shame.

I also got a re-gift of a gift card to LLBean. Ah! Better. And Josh's mom and dad gave me a Borders gift card. (Really wish Josh would stop telling them what to get me when I'm sitting next to him. Yeesh.) AND....a giant chocolate bar. I haven't opened it yet, but that has more to do with the fact that mom brought me a pecan pie than its being less than appetizing. Mmm.

Oh, I changed from my summer purse back to the black one. Autumn, you may proceed.

The swelling in Grant's cheek went down far enough that I can finally see the problem. It's a bubble - type bump on the gum of his molar. Well, 2 molars, actually. It's big. Called the dentist again, and they are not terribly worried. It's what he guessed was causing the swelling all along. They say it should pop on its own. Ewwwwwww. I warned Grant.

Abbie is about the same. Still no potty training in sight, but I remain hopeful! And she still loves dresses, so I ordered her one from LLBean. $25 bucks for a toddler dress? Well, that's what gift cards are for, right? The shirt I ordered for Grant is not nearly as impressive. Oh, well.

We all had a great time at Carter's zoo birthday on Sunday. It was a great day to see tigers, elephants, and random guys I used to sit with at lunch in college. ???? Yep. Ran into one of the lunch crew. Now I'm starting to wonder whatever happened to Andrea....

We decorated the driveway with chalk today. Hope you took advantage of the weather, too. Tonight starts the cold rains.

Happy rest of the week!