Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...OR ELSE!

Last night, in a boneheaded move, the commissioner called the ballgames. It had rained all afternoon and they called the game at almost 5, just as the sun came out. It was 40 degrees...but we totally could have played.

And my 7 yo KNEW IT.

and he was righteously pissed off.

So first it was a meltdown with tears and then once that storm passed we had an evening of "there is nothing to do."

I'll be doing some sort of good weather dance every game day for the rest of the season. Because when "the good one" is bad everyone suffers.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Organizing Women to do Things

I just do not know how.

I tried to start a book club. I invited some people I like. I started by inviting 9 people I like to read a book and discuss it the next month. Unfortunately March was The Month From Hell and it didnt work out. April began with spring break for te schoolers but we scheduled a date late in April and I was pretty excited!

I sent out reminders last week.

and again yesterday.

And yesterday night the "oh, I cants" rolled in.

Very disappointed. I think we may manage to scrape together 4 (including me) which is less than half. And those 4 are all my friend's friends, not mine. Tho I like them and we certainly may become friends in the future.

bleh

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeK!

A MOUSE!

I bet Suburban Correspondant sent it over to pay her respects.

But the Cat has had the last laugh.

Maybe I could rent him out for pocket money.

I met the neighbor behind me

The one with 2 little girls who I have seen twice?

The one with girls, ages 4 and 6?

Yeah, she homeschools.

So why do they never go outside?

She asked me about church within the first ten seconds of conversation,.

and so I am assuming based on that that we wont be best buddies.

The word CATHOLIC has two possible affects- either it encourages them to try to convert me or it encourages them to stay away. Guess which approach I prefer?!

Monday, April 21, 2008

WRONG!

I didnt miss anyone. There simply was not time to do so. We arrived at the hotel on Friday evening after a long and tedious several hours on the Beltway. It was ghastly out there.

In other news, the husband bought the kids something for baseball practice at home. It guarrantees no broken windows because the ball is zooming along a piece of string. Its called a Zip and Hit and its quite clever. They are enjoying it!

I'm enjoying Sam Adams Summer Ale again after a loong winter.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Off to DC!

Just a quick weekend trip. Im going to see my brother in prison and spend a few hours with my friend who is just out of the psych hospital.


Does that sound like vacation?

It occured to me last night that I will actually miss the kids and the husband.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Frustration!

A month ago, I submitted about 600 dollars worth of claims to my health insurance provider. I had to self submit because my doctor was out of network. Having carefully filled out all the stupid forms and sent them off I was anxiously awaiting my payments. I called several times and each time was told NOTHING could happen before 30 days was up. At that point the claims would be reviewed.

Lies.

Those forms are not where they were supposed to be. I was concerned about that, since submitting important information like this to a PO box seems...well...futile.

So 30 days later, 600 dollars poorer, I get to re submit and wait again.


&*%^#@!!!!!!!

Monday, April 14, 2008

I have joined the cult

I bought a damned dyson.

Luckily I am too cheap to pay retail. I got one (shipped) for 250. This is about the average price of a decent vacuum so the cult followers will think I got some sort of bargain.

I still resent spending that much on something which doesnt entertain me, feed me or unburden me of a chore.

But Bush is sending me that check so i stimulate the economy... and I want to be a good citizen... and I have had my 90$ walmart special for 2 full years now.

mmmm, nothing goes better with that morning coffee than a lovely bit of rationalization!

Because I am only paying two fitty for the cult membership I'll give a real true review of this sucker when it gets here. In anticipation of its arrival I'll not vacuum this week. That should give the poor machine a real run for its money.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Oft Forgotten 11th Anniversary!

To celebrate, we decided to engage in marital recreation before church.



In 11 years we have never ever been discovered in flagrante delicto by the kids.



But in the 12th year all that changed!



Thanks Brenna! And thanks also to Pat, the former owner who installed those non locking doorknobs!

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Year Round School

Looks like we will have to do it whether we want to or not.

Normally I love our Read Aloud time. Sonlight picks the best books and all 3 of us enjoy the heck out of them.

Right now we should be totally into Little Britches, which is such a fabulous book that I have read all the sequels. But for some reason its not happening here! Its like the vibe is wrong for us right now.

Here's my one complaint about our curriculum this year:

we spent all last year on the period leading up to the colonialization and the Revolutionary War. We got slightly past the Rev War. And now this year we have to cover the entire period from 1800 (roughly) to 1946!

A lot of really fascinating stuff happened and we are just touching on it. Its good, but FAST!

Today we read about two significant american innovations: standard time (aka railroad time) and standard gauge railroad tracks!

We also touched on sky scraper construction and bridge building.

You couldnt pay me enough to have been one of the men working 65 feet under water to set the bridge supports on firm ground. Its truly amazing to me what people accomplished in the 1880s.

Maybe if we were so innovative today we'd defeat the things which plague us.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

A Moment of Clarity

On Saturday Al cleaned the bathroom.

On Monday night he was doing his nasal douche (pause for giggling) over the sink he had scrubbed so well just two days before. He looked down at the tooth paste blobs and dirty streaks on the vanity and said loudly, "Didn't I just clean this thing?"

Monday, April 07, 2008

My deadly sin du jour

I cant stop thinking about my friend's garbage disposal. Everytime I ram something down into mine and listen to it grind away patiently I think about how hers whirs the water down like a freaking whirpool of disposally death.

Hers said PRO on it. Mine is lacking those three letters.

Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shallt not covet.


I'll be writing that 97 more times in my mind.


Until I finally SNAP OUT OF IT. its a GARBAGE DISPOSAL!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

The Most Exciting News in Several Years!

I have a myspace! WHY? well, I accidentally went there and found a friend from my childhood. And when you find a friend from your childhood you MUST contact that friend! Especially if she has just announced an engagement! And in order to contact that friend you have to have a myspace. And since you are on myspace you should check and see who else you know is on there! And then you must invite them to be your friend! And then once you have invited them you wait with baited breath to see if they ACCEPT!

Oh, its so exciting!

In my head it all sounds like If You Give Mouse a Cookie. Or is it a Moose that gets the cookie? I know its the pig who gets the pancake. I'm pretty sure its the mom who needs the margarita.

in my head everything that happens is translated into 3 year old. because anymore, that is the only level on which I can communicate.

Still Alive!

But the brain aneurysm was exciting to contemplate! It had occurred to me earlier in the day too. Does that mean I'm also a hypochondriac? LOL

I had the head ache before the nasal passage cleansing and after. But when I went to go to bed, shortly after posting, I developed a stuffy nose. I was excited because to me that meant whatever was plugging me up up there had moved down to the lower regions and was plugging my nose instead.

And when I awoke this morning I felt pretty good!

So I flushed the sinus cavity again, which less sputtering and hullaballoo than last night.

And several hours later the headache is still gone.

So, in closing, all hail the sinus douche!

Friday, April 04, 2008

Sinus or migraine

sweet Jesus, it hurts whatever it is. all the pain is gathered into a knot slightly above and to the right of my right eye. I had been assuming sinus and I bought a sinus douche kit

(I'll pause so we can all giggle)

and stuck it up my nose and swirled my head out. That felt bizarre. Dizzying and scary but good!

but the pain is intense and unrelenting.

I'd love to take pseudofed but I enjoy sleep too much to sacifice it.

What say the internets? sinus or migraine?

Does He Really Exist?

No, this isnt existential pondering about God.

My husband can't find his birth certificate. Nor can he locate his social security card! For an exciting few moments he was unable to put hands on the driver's license!

This same individual keeps muttering about needing a passport.


Better him than me.

UPDATE! Proof of his birth has been established!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

How to handle sibling disputes

Im never sure how to deal with them. Both my boys claim the other never gets in trouble and that I dont care about them and my middle martyr claims the oldest could kill him and it would be all right with me.

Would there be quiet then?

I blame my mom for her lack of example in this department and probably she blames hers. If dead people blame one another for things.

So I was really glad for the useful tips on how to deal with infighting found over at here at the Suburban Correspondant's blog.

Thanks for the reassurance that reading another parenting book will not help!

Anyone who goes over there pay special attention to Jill's comment, which states that kids are perfectly capable of fighting about the potential for future fighting. I think she is probably correct and the only possible response is chocolate. Maybe with wine. And the closet looks better every day!