Fashion

Duct tape sandals... quite the fashion rage these days!

Ruckus

Felisa: We don't want to be the ruckus in the parking lot. Because there always is a ruckus - crying babies, honking horns... we don't want to be the ruckus.

(Because I almost forgot to take the keys out of the car and apparently if you forget, the car will start beeping)

Darby's Vocational Future

Felisa said today, "If Darby worked at a movie theater, he would be the vacuum."

So funny!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Things are going downhill around here. I'm thinking of posting a sign on the door, "Beware of Germs".

But not to be too negative... let's play Good News, Bad News.

The Bad News- Ryan and Felisa are both sick now as well.
The Good News- well, I'm not sure if there is good news to this one. Family bonding perhaps? Oh wait, there is some good news. Bella is less sick than she was yesterday.

The Bad News- Ryan threw up all over the bedroom floor.
The Good News- Ron's side of the room has now been steam-cleaned. Now there are even fewer dog allergens hiding to attack him upon his return.

The Bad News- Bella has had multiple bloody noses today.
The Good News- I put clean sheets on the bed. Of course, I'll need to do it again before Ron comes back what will all the germs hanging around here. So maybe this one doesn't have such good news either.

The Bad News- I can't find my humidifier. Wanted to set it up, thinking it might help Bella's nose.
The Good News- The carpet is damp from the steam-cleaning. As it dries, it will act as a humidifier for the room.

The Bad News- There is ice on the front porch.
The Good News- most of the 1/2 inch of snow that fell today already melted and I didn't have to shovel a thing.

The Bad News- I'm exhausted.
The Good News- I still have one more day to lie about and rest. I hope. Can someone please tell the kids to behave so I can rest? Thanks!

So there you have it... the good, the bad, and the ugly. Oh wait, I forgot the ugly. Or did I? Haven't you been paying attention? This whole situation is ugly and stinky! Well, not so much stinky. I'm still so congested I can't smell a thing!

Until next time...

Rollercoasters!

Ryan on roller coasters...

Ryan - "Whenever there is an ascent, there is also a descent."
Me - "So you mean what goes up, must come down?"
Ryan - "Yeah. And..."
(and he continues to stick with the ascent/descent theme for a while, completely disregarding my perfectly good cliche.)

Bella rode the Wildcat with Ryan while I sat out with Felisa (she's not tall enough). That Aerosmith ride at Disney with Ron must have made her tough enough to ride more rollercoasters.

Felisa went on a rollercoaster that went upside down! The Super Dooper Looper. The name implies and upside-down loop. But I didn't think she was big enough to ride a rollercoaster that goes upside down. Apparently, I was wrong! The line was super short so we rode twice in a row. Whee!

My Vacuum Threw Up!

So last night while I was at Brownies and Cub Scouts, Felisa threw up on the bed. Just a coughing fit gone bad... Ron changed the sheets and washed the dirty one.

Fast forward to today... Darby just got home from his walk with Grandma D. He promptly threw up on the rug in the entryway. So I had to pick up the rug to be washed, revealing all the dirt underneath. Which means I had to vacuum it all up. No big deal - the vacuum is already out and plugged in from earlier when I was cleaning up after the Christmas tree. Then I decided that I should probably empty the canister, as it was getting quite full.

I should mention that this is a new vacuum that Grandma R bought for us in November. Ron had emptied the canister the first few times so this was my first opportunity to do so.

First... I pushed the button that said "Push". So far, so good. Then I lifted the lever that said "Lift to empty".

Then... the vacuum threw up all over my clean living room floor.

I was expecting to pull the lever, and lift something up and out that I could then dump into the trash can.

Instead, the bottom dropped out and so did a giant pile of dust, dirt, and dog hair! Ack!

Note to self... next time, hold the cannister over a trash can BEFORE pulling the lever!!!


(also, I hope this is the end of the throw up for awhile...)

A small act of kindness

After school today Felisa noticed her friend had forgotten to take her backpack and lunchbox home. She very much wanted to go back to the classroom to get them for her friend. I didn't think it was that big a deal but decided to let her do it anyway. We waited a few minutes for Bella to come down from her class, then walked together back to the Kindergarten rooms. While there Felisa also found another child's forgotten lunchbox. Back through the halls to the lobby then outside to the Kiss-n-Ride shack. Felisa's friend was thrilled to see her backpack and had in fact been crying because she had forgotten it. So a small, thoughtful, helpful gesture turns out to be a ray of sunshine for another girl, an act much larger than I imagined. It warmed my heart. Unfortunately the second child was not in the shack so we had to return his lunchbox to the classroom but that is a small sacrifice compared to the joy of Felisa's friend. I'm not sure Felisa even realized what a terrific thing she had done.

*****

In other news...

After dinner, Felisa and Bella enjoyed a nice game of dreidel. I'm pretty sure I never played dreidel as a kid.

Ryan is doing a report on Powhatan Indians and Jamestown. While helping him research the Indian children's clothing, I learned that Powhatan children under the age of 12 generally did not wear any clothes at all, except in very cold weather.

Reportedly, Ryan and his classmates are not allowed to bring their math notebooks home. So all the notes about how to do the homework problems are at school, not at home. Makes no sense to me. So instead, I must google whatever the question of the day is so that I can figure out how to do the problem then explain it to him. Today we learned about vertical, opposite, and adjacent angles.

Ron... Ron... Ron...
(he thinks I'm blogging about him so I couldn't very well leave him out now could I?)

Opposites

So here I sit, in bed, drinking coffee, surfing the net, and dreading the endless list of tasks to complete in the next two days before Christmas. Beside me sits Felisa. Except she's not actually sitting, per se. It's more of a bounce, kind of like Tigger. She's so happy, so excited about Christmas coming, so full of energy. She's counting the days until Christmas. She said that she wishes she was born on a holiday. She has even started planning her birthday party, telling me who to invite and what to write on the invitation. "Come to my party and bring your favorite webkinz. Webkinz, yea!"

The complete opposite of me! yawn... Guess I'd better get up and get the show on the road!

A Decade

I have been a Mother now for a decade. 10 years! I still have no idea what I'm doing - I just make it up as I go along. It has been a wild ride at times but enjoyable all the same.

Happy 10th Birthday, Ryan!

*******

In other news...

The poor tooth fairy just can't catch a break in this house. She forgets to stop here sometimes. She has been set up (Ryan decided to test her once). And most recently, her generous tooth offering was blown away and given to the wrong child. She left $2 (I'm sure it was to help Bella overcome the suffering of having to go to the dentist and have the tooth pulled). But it was paper money and it must have blown off the tooth dish when the door was opened. Ryan found it on the radio. Asked Bella about it. Bella said it must be Felisa's because Felisa usually forgets to put her money in the piggy bank. So Ryan gave it to Felisa. Then Bella complained to Grandma Duffield that the tooth fairy didn't come. Seriously! What does a tooth fairy have to do?!?

More Crabs

So Felisa and Philip just reported that their pet crab escaped. Grandpa asked them where it was before and they said, "In the timeout box." Really? The crab was bad and had to get a timeout?

I'm pretty sure the crabs will be happy when we leave the beach house and leave them alone!

Crabs

Felisa: We gave the crab a bath!
Ryan: You gave the crab a bath?!?
Felisa: Yeah. We found a sponge.

I haven't checked to see if they still have all their fingers but I didn't hear any screaming (not even from the crab!).


***

The final day of the mini-trip will be posted eventually (and back-dated to Jun 30).

Felisa's Mom

1. What is something mom always says to you?
I love you

2. What makes mom happy?
(gives me a hug) when I love her

3. What makes mom sad?
when I stay away from her

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
when she tickles me

5. What was your mom like as a child?
I don't know

6. How old is your mom?
95

7. How tall is your mom?
(stretches her arms to measure me) I can't reach the bottom.

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
work on scrapbooks and her computer

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
she works and works and works

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
if she was a superstar

11. What is your mom really good at?
typing

12. What is your mom not very good at?
opening things when they are hard to open

13. What does your mom do for her job?
to sell things

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
luna bars

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
when she stays at home

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a mom - tom and jerry's mom - she's really mad mad mad

17. What do you and your mom do together?
I help her on the computer

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We have the same hair

19. How are you and your mom different?
you're older than me

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
I stay next to her.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
going shopping

Hindsight

Hindsight is a funny thing, no? I just re-read my last post written on Christmas Eve. And I laughed. Because about 10 minutes later, Felisa was sick. Vomited ALL OVER MY BED. So I spent the rest of the night, not sleeping, but rather taking care of the sickie and cleaning up a few messes. She was better by the day after Christmas and I'm still enjoying the break from school as I anticipated. 99% of my Christmas cards have been mailed - just a couple need to have addresses fixed. And I found the calendar I bought for Mom. You'll never guess where it was... wrapped and under the tree waiting for her!

It's 5 days and a wake-up left until Ron returns. Not sure how much will get done, but I'm giving it my best shot.

And I'm starting the year off right, laughing. More of a chuckle really but if I lose my sense of humor, all is lost.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Making progress, one breath at a time

Well, as Ryan pointed out this morning (almost as soon as he woke up), only 8 days until Christmas. I think the kids see this countdown in a different way than I do. They are so excited and can't wait and the time just creeps by so slowly. I, on the other hand, am trying not to worry because oh my gosh there's only 8 days left to get everything done!!!

I still haven't found the notebook but I've made new lists and hopefully not left anyone off! I was at the post office with everyone else in the world this morning and all packages containing gifts for kids have been mailed. All you adults on the list - your packages might be late. I hope you understand. I also ended up ordering my stamps online after all. Too bad I didn't just do that to start with on Sunday when I ran out of stamps. They might have been here already. Instead, it will take 5-7 business days. So Christmas cards... are going to be late. Oh well. Too bad, so sad. Better luck next year!

Over all, I feel pretty in control of the situation. Which means on Tuesday afternoon I'll suddenly remember something huge that I forgot. And then I'll panic! But until then, we're all good.

Felisa is not sleepy tonight. Private Practice is on and someone on the show couldn't breathe. Which prompted Felisa to tell me that:
Breathing you really need to do.

Then she started talking about the fire and air experiment that they did in school. She talked and talked while I tried to type fast enough to get it all down. Here's my best effort:
The fire uses the air. put container on a candle. and a cup or a dish it traps the air and that's how much air the fire is getting. it goes off when all the air is gone. it borrows it and when we put the dish earlier again he lighted again and then put the dish fast and then it gives it back a little tiny dish and you can't see anything and you put a little dot. just put one. don't put dish there very long or it will get more air than us and it will get so much air. so small dish goes out faster and big dish goes slower.

So... don't forget to breathe everyone!

some tigers they live in teh jungle. there is air. they get some leaves. some tigers do this.

Monkey Bar Madness

So never a dull moment is a saying that applies way too often to my life.

This afternoon/evening's plan was to take Bella to soccer practice then help Mom out with her car. Dinner might be the McD's drive-thru since I didn't have anything planned and then we would be home free and relaxing until about 2:00 tomorrow when we head out for soccer games.

Practice started at 6. At 6:10 Felisa comes back from the playground, crying because she had fallen from the monkey bars and her arm hurt. As I was holding her on my lap, trying to calm her down, Mom called. We told the coach's wife that we were heading out to pick up my mom and we would be back before the end of practice. Felisa calmed down on the walk down the hill to the car but when I lifted her up to put her in she started crying again. And then she just didn't stop. Which led me to believe that this injury might in fact warrant a trip to the doctor.

So we picked up Mom then came back to the house to find the doctor's phone number. We're in that in-between stage between Kaiser benefits which are ending any day now as far as I know and Tricare. We are tricare standard already by virtue of Ron being on active duty so we are entitled to health care but only at Ft Belvoir which is probably 40 minutes away, without any major traffic incidents blocking the way between here and there. The Prime paperwork that I filled out on Monday won't take effect until Oct. 1. I called the close (prime) clinic first because I was told they might help me before oct. 1 if they have open spaces. No dice. So I called the other number (ft. belvoir). Decided I really didn't want to drive all the way over there in Friday traffic. So I called Kaiser. They said that my benefits were still active and made me an appointment at the much-closer-than-the-Army urgent care facility. While I was on the phone with the healthcare merry-go-round, Ryan and Grandma were practicing their first aid on Felisa. Ice packs and a sling.

Ryan and Mom went back to the soccer field to get the chairs and blanket I left (because we were coming right back! ha!) and bring Bella home. Once they came back, Felisa and I took off for our appointment. Fortunately I remembered the way to the clinic since I hadn't been there in months.

Two and a half hours later (a decent amount of time for all that we had to do though it seemed like an eternity while we were stuck in the waiting rooms!), we have bone pictures, a soft cast, and an appointment to see the orthopedic doctor on Monday. Looks broken on the x-ray which the other doctor will confirm or deny and then set with a permanent cast if necessary.

And now - off the sleep. As long as Barky McBarkBark doesn't keep me up all night...

My House is Dirty

Felisa's having a playdate with her best friend from school, Adam. I'm sitting on the couch, being "available" while working on my way-behind-schedule digital scrapbook. I overheard Adam say, "Your house is dirty." Felisa stuck up for us though. Her prompt reply, "My house is Not dirty!"

Funny. Embarrassing. And true (my house IS messy). But funny.

Double Trouble Strikes Again

Just a quick interjection here...

Felisa and Philip (also known as Double Trouble) have been thick as thieves all day today. Just a few minutes ago I was surfing the net, checking my email when I heard two little voices in the bathroom across the hall. Before I came in to check my mail, Felisa had been loitering suspiciously in front of the closed bathroom door but denied everything.

Mom: What are you doing?

Felisa: Nothing.

Mom: Do you need to go to the bathroom?

Felisa: No.

Mom: Why are you standing there? Is someone
inside?

-no answer so I shrug and move on-

Fast Forward about 5 minutes to the little voices in the bathroom.

Felisa: Maybe you should wash your underwear.

Mom: What are you guys doing in there?

Felisa: Nothing! (door slams shut just after I get a glance of a
half-naked boy)

I sent Philip's dad in to check out the situation. There had been a small accident. Jared took the offending undies outside to power wash with the hose and when he came back in he said they must've tried to wash them because when he got them wet, they were soapy!

Movie Madness

I went to the movies yesterday. Twice.

I still can hardly believe it - twice in one day. Me. At the movie theater.

First I went with Grandpa R and Melissa and the kids to see Wall-E. Good Disney-Pixar flick. I noticed the Disney Castle logo scene before the movie has been redone with fancy computer graphics. And the Magician short before the movie - Hilarious! We were all cracking up. Feels good to laugh like that.

I enjoyed the earth conservation and anti-consumerism messages of Wall-E. And by the end of the movie I could totally relate to the Gene Shallit review of "for a movie with only two words spoken throughout, it was surprisingly good." After about the first 20 minutes of the movie (in which there are only two robots and only two words!) Felisa asked, "Is this it? Just a movie with two robots?!?" The lady sitting in front of us was laughing at that one.

Next on the list - a "date" with Shani. She ended up with free movie tickets from the grocery store about a month ago. It was my last night with in-house babysitting so we decided to go for it. Off to the 8 p.m. showing of Sex and the City. As we were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start, I remarked that this is the second rated R movie I have been to in the last month. Whoa! I'm really getting crazy now! The movie was good. Then we hit the bar for drinks and dessert at 11. P.M.! On a Monday night! And the really crazy thing was that there were other people there too and children as well (well the kids weren't at the bar but were outside in the mall area). Crazy, crazy world!

And now I am off to take Darby to the vet for a checkup and shots. We'll see if he still likes car rides after this!

*Edited to add... Ron went to the movies last night too, down in Tampa. He saw Wanted. His review: Decent action flick.

Our Bird Sanctuary

I knew we had one nest with babies... turns out we have two more!

Uncle Mike was out exploring with Felisa today and found a turtle dove nest (conveniently located right next to my gardening tools!) with two eggs and a robin's nest in the pine tree out front. I'm so excited!

********

In other news...

Bella ate beef tonight! (Shhhhh... don't tell her!) Uncle Mike took us out for dinner at the chinese place. Miss Picky was still hungry after eating only rice and broccoli and reluctantly agreed to try Ron's chicken. He assured her that it was "inside chicken" and she ended up liking it. When he ran out of chicken, he slipped her a piece of brown chicken (a.k.a. beef!) and quickly looked away. She snarfed it right down and asked for more brown chicken!

She did eat some of Grandma D's roast beef a few weeks ago which was completely shocking to all of us. She tried some of mine this past Sunday and deemed that delicious as well.

Baby steps...

Brain Dump

I've got so many random things running through my mind and so little space to store it all so I'm just going to spill it all out right here, lighten the load a little, and get back on the road.

SNOW
If only... I was working on the 2007 family scrapbook this weekend because I finally finished the Big Trip 2 albums and Bailey's album and because I had nothing better to do. No, that's not right. Because I was feeling really lazy and it was pretty much the only semi-productive thing I could do while staying in bed all day (I love my laptop!!!). So, you're wondering now where the snow part comes in, right? Well, in February of last year we got snow. Lots of snow! I know this because those are some of the pictures I was working with this weekend. While I was working, I could hear the sound of yet more rain falling outside. Buckets and buckets of rain. If it had been colder, we would've gotten an awesome blizzard. But no. All we got was more mud. I shouldn't complain because we need the precipitation regardless of the delivery format but mud is one of my least favorite parts of spring. Or in this case, a snowless winter. We were cheated out of our one good snowstorm that we are supposed to get every February. Just not fair.

FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT
We had to schedule it in but we finally had one. Ryan had been asking for at least a week. And we even managed to pick a movie that Felisa was willing to watch. Family Movie Night isn't much fun for me when I have a four-year old sitting on my lap complaining THE ENTIRE TIME that she doesn't like the movie and she wants to go to sleep but she can't sleep without me. I don't want to go upstairs to put the "baby" to sleep. I want to watch the movie! So, this weekend it was Toy Story 2. And she liked it. Didn't complain a single time. I fell asleep in the middle though. It's not like I haven't seen it before... Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were the only movies Ryan would watch and that's the only way I could get him to sleep without nursing him or having to walk him to sleep. So we watched those two movies over and over and over and over and over again. I could quote them line for line in my sleep. He did gradually branch out a bit. First we added Bugs Life (he likes Pixar!) and soon we moved into the "foo foo" stage (translation... Dogs) and it was any and all shows with a dog... Scooby Doo, Balto, Blue's Clues, etc, etc, etc. But I am digressing here aren't I? Okay. Family Movie Night. Good. Everyone enjoyed it.

HOMEWORK NIGHTMARES
I have been having completely crazy dreams every single night. I'm exhausted! And the line between dream and reality is starting to blur a bit. On of the dreams that I remember was the one where I got into trouble from Bella's teacher because we weren't doing our homework. Which is true. She hasn't been doing it and I haven't been asking her to do it. A combination of forgetfulness and laziness. Apparently I was feeling guilty for not doing my homework because I am now having nightmares about it. Bella did her homework yesterday. And she'll do it again today. I promise.

YEASTIE BEASTIES
The crazy dreams are related to the yeastie beasties I think. I have been drinking coffee but not in a way that would correlate to exhausting sleep with ridiculous dreams night after night after night. Of course I haven't done anything to combat them really so I have no one to blame but myself. I am a sugar addict. This revelation came to me one day as I was walking down the street. Probably dreaming about what sugary treat I was going to have next. Then I was reflecting on my inability to quit the sugar and stay away from it. I always come back. I say to myself that I could quit if I want to but I'm not so sure that's true. After all, I've quit at least 5 times in the last 4 years and I just keep going back. Maybe I need to find my self a Sugars Anonymous group and start going to meetings!


(Editor's note... What you are about to read is crazy and disjointed and not very well written. But if I don't get it out of my head, I will continue to obsess. Which means nothing else on my long list of daily and lifetime to-do's will get done. And I just might explode. So, read at your own risk or just skip it and come back another day for some lighter reading.)

THE SKY IS FALLING
or
STUPID HUMANS
or
I GIVE UP
How's that for positive thinking? A lot of things have been rolling around amongst the rocks in my head lately. I vascillate between believing and staying strong and leading by example and then the opposite as stated above.
People are greedy.
People don't think or don't care.
How hard is it to think about what you're doing, see the excess in it, and try to change it? Make one small tiny change at a time. It takes time. It doesn't happen overnight but if we don't even try, then we're hurting ourselves and everyone around us.
News stories about the traces of prescription drugs and other yucky things in the water. Which will make people drink bottled water. Which is a big time waste of plastic. And really the problem is our water source and how we treat it. The over use and abuse of things that can hurt us and the wildlife too. I can't even imagine the level of pesticides they would find. Google it and you can find studies that show pesticides and other awful things in the human bloodstream. We're poisoning ourselves. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. I don't feel like plastic is bad in and of itself. Medicine is not bad. But the excessive use (esp. of plastic and pesticides) is awful. Oh and the marketing and the mass media of this capitalist society. Makes me want to go hide under a rock and cry.
Food that isn't even food anymore. I'm guilty of eating crap like McD's just like everyone else. I'm not claiming to be a saint. I struggle too and feel tremendous guilt. I go through phases of better and worse. But I'm aware. And I care. Does anyone else care?
I feel like I'm journeying alone. Because it is a journey. And one person can't do it alone. So where is everyone else? Peer pressure motivates me. It would be much easier for me to continue down the path of responsible plastic use, resource conservation, real and healthy food, etc. if everyone else was doing it too.
So what should I do? Keep going or give up? Ultimately I know I will keep going because I really believe it's true and important. But sometimes I just get so frustrated and discouraged.

I think we have lost touch with the real world, the natural world and we are slowly but surely killing ourselves off.