I forgot to write about a hilarious moment at Dex's party yesterday. It was time to open the gifts and Dex ripped the card off one gift and then Gav and Jax start fighting over the card because they both wanted to read it. Cameron (age 4) reached over and grabbed it from them. He opened it up and then yelled "WAIT! I CAN'T READ!". I keep cracking up thinking about it.

Stephen took Dex to see "Shrek 2" today. Jax refuses to go to the movies (was scared by the LOUD sounds when he was 3 and he will not go back) so I took him shopping with me today. We drove way south, down near the airport so I could hit Toys'R'Us and Babies'R'Us. I bought Dex a guitar(the middle one).

After that we went into Babies'R'Us and I bought a new stroller. Cars is a wiggly-worm and can contort his body and squeeze out of the 3-point harness on our stroller. He is a regular Harry Houdini. I bought an umbrella-type stroller with a 5-point harness. It folds up much more compactly (is that a word? looks weird) than our old one so it fits better in the back of the van too. Boy, if we could afford it I would love to buy a bigger van (how sick is that??).

Gladys Kravitz Watch
The old next-door neighbour came by to "teach" the new next-door neighbours about their new house. He was there for two hours, showing him how the hot tub worked and about each and every plant that was in the garden and how to care for them. The new next-door neighbour looked quite bored by the end. Incidentally, I did not observe this from the Gladys Kravitz Perch but from the street as I watched my kids ride back and forth a zillion times.

Birthday Boy!



He doesn't look happy, does he? Must be the shitty cake his mom made for him. Seriously, he was not happy to have his picture taken. He just didn't want any pictures taken of him. But I *had* to anyway.

The party went pretty well. The kids loved digging up the dinosaur skeleton in the makeshift sandbox which we were able to keep outside on the deck because the rain held off. The yard was pretty muddy though but all the parents said it was ok for their kids to play out there after the festivities and for the dinosaur egg hunt. They all went home with muddy shoes.

I made the lamest cake for Dex's party. It is just a sheet cake, frosted with white out-of-the-can icing. Then an outline in purple icing of a dinosaur and a #4 candle stuck in it. I am pathetic and he always gets the short end of the stick. Poor boy. We'll see what he says about it in the morning.

We are having record rainfall this week. Figures. So no playing outside tomorrow for Dex's party and I guess I am setting up a pool full of sand IN the house somewhere...ugh.

The new next-door neighbours moved in today...in the pissing rain. I felt bad for them. I went over and introduced myself to them. They have two girls - almost 4 and 2. Too bad no 6 and 4 year old boys. Anyway, they seem nice enough.

Mom told me that when Fiona was born, Chuck Chuck the big dumb F*ck (who is married to my dad's sister) asked her when she was going to have a grandson. Mom said "What are you talking about? I have four grandsons" and he said she had no "real" grandsons because none of my brothers have boys. Then he asked Mom what was wrong with her sons. What an asshole. At least my brothers were able to propagate, you childless cretin.

Geez, I wish I hadn't thought about Chuck TBDF because he always pisses me off. I don't know how my mom has continued to be civil to him after all the years of insensitive, lewd and vulgar things he has said. My dad loathed him and he was not allowed in the house once my dad got sick.

This month will be five years since my dad passed away. I still miss him. Not that I think I ever will not but it is still so painful at times. All the things I wish I could talk to him about. Have him meet my kids. I cannot even talk to my mom about him without getting choked up. I think I have some guilt issues too - because I could not be there when he was sick. Ok, tears...

Ok, back now...

I was not able to talk to mom today about Mickey. I hope he is ok. And I hope that Sean's prognosis is better than they expect. Man, life sucks sometimes.

Jen called today, I sent two little cute sleepers for the twins and she recieved them today. She told me that she will be having a c-section for sure because she has Placenta Previa and also Vasa Previa so there is no way that she can go into labour. One of the babies also has policystic kidney disease and kidney reflux (amazing that they can detect this on the ultrasounds). The doctor says that mostlikely the one kidney with the cysts is not functioning but the baby's overall health should be fine. Jen and Greg have also hired a doula to help them out for the first month. I am sure my MIL will have a lot to say about it once she finds out.

Allergist said it is probably just Jax's grass allergy acting up because we are having a bad grass season and he is highly allergic. So now we get to give him Zyrtec everyday for the next two months and see what happens after that. Today there were no hives thanks to Zyrtec.

Getting ready for Dex's dino party. I hope that it does not rain. Anyway, we are going to fill the pool with sand and rocks and the dino skeleton and let the kids dig up the bones and then reconstruct the skeleton. I also painted a dino on a box and cut out the mouth so we'll have feed the dino game. The kids will also decorate their goodie bag. Then they will go and find the papier-mache dino eggs. Then cake. I hope that fills 2 hours.

A friend called me today. She decided she had enough of working in an industry that she hated (IT) and she quit her job. She is now working with a "life coach" to try to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Good thing she had such a well-paying job for so many years to be able to afford to quit. Her dh finally got hired on fulltime with that shoe company so they have good benefits. She has also not been able to get pregnant so I think that probably had a lot to do with her decision to quit.

Mom told me today that Mickey and his best friend went camping this weekend and his friend, Sean, dove into the lake and broke his neck. He is completely paralyzed and Mickey is blaming himself because at the time it happened, he had gone back to the campsite. Judi swears that she "knew" something bad was going to happen and she tried to talk him out of going. Poor Sean and his family. I cannot imagine the pain his mother must be going through. And poor Mickey. He doesn't want to go back to school. Sean was his champion. Sean looked after him at school. Was really his only friend there and I think Mickey will be so lonely when he returns to school (he didn't go back this week). I hope he goes home each weekend for the rest of the school year to stay with Judi.

My eyes! My eyes! I found the blog of a whack and I just cannot seem to tear myself away from it. It is stunning to read. Amazing what people can make themselves believe.

Ok want a great laugh? Seems Jax breaks out in HIVES everytime he plays on the climber. Can you imagine if he were allergic to the wood it is made of? I have a call into the allergists office to see if we can test him for it. Sonuvabitch.

Ok, yet another entry today.

Cute Roof Guy came over today so we could sign the contract for the new roof. We start to chit-chat as he hands me back the signed contact so I mention that XYZ Roofing had a much higher quote. Cute Roof Guy stated that after you add all of the extras to XYZ Roofing's quote that his company includes in their quote, then XYZ Roofing often is pricier. I told him that XYZ Roofing's base price was even higher. An "OH SHIT" look comes across Cute Roof Guy's face. He had based my quote not on actual measurements of my house but on the measurements of our neighbour's house - a house that is the same as ours. Cute Roof Guy never measured my roof.

Cute Roof Guy laughed a nervous laugh and said that he hoped he hadn't made a mistake. I told him I had a signed contract so too bad if they had. We chuckled a bit and then he left. Five minutes later there is a knock at the door. Cute Roof Guy is back with his buddy. "Oh, I am just going to measure the roof because my boss is checking our work", Cute Roof Guy says. Right. Cute Roof Guy is clearly worried that he made a huge mistake. They went up on the roof and measured and left. I guess I will find out later if there was indeed a mistake or not.

Ok, rant time. Y'know what chaps my ass? End of year gifts for teachers. Preschool teachers in particular.

From a mom of a kid in Dex's preschool:

Hi Everyone.

A few of you have asked about end of the year teacher gifts. Here is what I would suggest:

$25/family- This comes out to less $10 per teacher which I think seems like a pretty reasonable amount.

That would give us $120/teacher for a gift from all of the kids. We could do a wonderful gift certificate for each of them. (ie. Nearby Mall)

The other option would be to pick a theme like "You Are My Sunshine" and fill 3 large baskets full of summer stuff from the kids to present to them

Please give me your feedback asap... I would be happy to go and get the certificates.

Then came an UPDATE:

OK-- I have already heard from many of you and so here is where we are:

1. SPA CERTIFICATES- So far, everyone that has responded has voted for the spa option. I have surveyed some "spa-expert" friends and the Redmond Pro Club appears to have an AMAZING SPA. N, K and T could schedule their services a the same time and then meet at the Spa Cafe for lunch. Services also entitle them to use the sauna, steam room,etc... Those I spoke to that have been there describe it as "heavenly"/
(OK LOVE THIS NEXT PART)
2. MONEY- A couple of you have asked if you can contribute more than $25 to make these gifts extra nice. Of course you can. Let's just say this- The suggested donation is $25/child. You can give more or less. It is completely up to you. Just place your check in an envelop and either give it to me in the hallway or leave it for me in the office. I will not be sharing how much anyone gave. I will simply take the total, divide it into thirds and purchse the certificates. Fair enough?

Some want to contribute MORE?? These Stepford wives have more money than brains. Or perhaps the gas fumes they are inhaling as they gas up their SUV's every other day have affected their thinking.

Ok...I am tired and I am going to bed early tonight. Really, I will.

The kids on the Gladys Kravitz Perch

Mom left this morning. Her train for Vancouver leaves at 7:45am so Stephen drove her into Seattle to catch it. She then will stay with JP and fly home tomorrow. We had a good visit overall. She still drives me nuts and always will I suppose. At least we really didn't have any big arguments.

At the psychologist yesterday I asked her to check to see how many visits I have left. Thirteen. I think I will start going every other week so I can stretch them out through the end of the year. I don't know what I will do if we run out and I am still crazy. She charges $120/session after my insurance benefits run out. Eeep!

The climber/swingset is finally complete. Stephen came home from work early yesterday to finish leveling the ground under the monkey bars/swingset support and then staked the whole thing into the ground. Jax promptly fell off the trapeze and bloodied his lip.

I spent a small fortune at
Michael's yesterday. They had two huge bins of ribbon on clearance for $1/spool. I love pretty ribbon. I guess you could say I collect it because I have spools and spools that I always say I will use it for a certain project or to embellish a pretty package/present but I just squirrel them away and look at them from time to time, thinking "This is too pretty to use on a package" or "I could glue this onto the edge of the lamp shade". But I never do either of those things. So now I have dozens of spools of pretty ribbon.

Well all of the kids are now up so I should get on with my day. Time to open the blinds and let the sunshine in!

Gladys Kravitz Watch
The Gladys Perch is great! Once winter arrives I will be able to see further up the street behind us.

Ok, I swore to myself I would go to bed before 10:30 so I need to keep this short.

Gladys Kravitz Watch:
The tower of the new climber is so high that we can see over the fences of three neighbours down. And way across the street. It is a perfect perch for a Gladys Kravitz.

Cold miserable day. Two t-ball games to attend in the rain. These kids are so young, I don't know why they didn't call the games. Anyway, I have been cold and wet all day and I want nothing better than to crawl into bed. So why I haven't I? Because I am refuse to go to bed within an hour of my children. Makes my day seem that it was all about them. Just need a little ME time.

After the second t-ball game, I went to Jax's school for my hour of volunteering at the Jamboree. Luckily they were able to move most of the booths indoors due to the bad weather. The weird thing about the school though is that indoors is still outside. You go through the main doors into a "garden area". All of the corridors are open to the sky but have overhangs along the edges so kids do not get wet walking around the school. Anyway, so although I stayed dry attaching prizes in the fishing booth, I was freezing! Stephen then dropped Jax and Dex off at the end of my shift and I let them try all the games. They had a blast!

The climber is about 1/4 built...well maybe more. The hard part is done. Stephen had to dig up the yard a bit to make it level. We are planning to switch the slide to the back so we have a couple of make-shift changes to make but it will still work out. (Do I sound confident??).

My mom is homesick I think. She's been away since the 7th and I think she is ready to go home. It has been a nice visit and I will miss her when she goes. Two more days. The biggest problems we have had is that she wants to do things for me and here I look at her limping around (she pulled a muscle or something at Curves at before she came on her trip and she is having problems walking a lot) and think no way is my mom going to scrub my floors or push the stroller, etc. Anyway, maybe I should just let her do everything since not letting her do these things is a reminder to her that she is getting older.

Jax has a birthday party to go to tomorrow. First bowling, then lunch at a restaurant then cake at the birthday boys' house. I have to try to find the birthday present I bought months ago on clearance.

Cars spit out another dose of antibiotics. One last night and one tonight. I think I need to try giving it to him a little sooner than bedtime.

And speaking of bedtime...now it is mine.

Thursday night Stephen and I went out on a DATE! Well, it wasn't an exciting date but we did get to go to dinner without kids. Then we went birthday present shopping for Dex. We hit several toys stores as well as Target and Fred Meyer.

I finished papier-mache-ing the dino eggs. I hope to have them painted by the end of the weekend. The dino moulds are completed although I did break the skull mould so I had to buy a whole new set to replace it. Bummer and ca-ching. This birthday party is getting more expensive by the minute! The stuff from Oriental Trading Co. arrived today. I think I need to hit the lame dollar store with the stinky man owner to get some bigger dinos.

Jax went to the Zoo today on a field trip. It was cold and wet! Blech! I am so glad that we didn't go along. Fortunately, it didn't rain much, only misted. Anyway, he was so excited to see all the "new animals that I had never seen before". The moose and grizzly bears! I feel bad because we always skip that part of the zoo because I think those animals are not as exciting as the exotic animals from Africa and Asia. lol

Stephen started on the climber today. I helped a little but he was flipping out about the instructions that I just let him rant and stayed away. Dr. Human Factors thinks that all instructions should be perfectly clear. I told him it was, just look at the diagrams. I will brag here a little but I have amazing spatial abilities and easily visualize things in three dimensions (I am a Tetris GodDess). He does not have the same impressive skill (brag brag brag) so he could not "see" one part of it and honestly he spent 40 minutes trying to figure it out. Oh well, we'll just take a little longer than others to put it together. I am surprised that we did not fight about it though - we do not play together well.

Ok, so Cars has a "raging ear infection" according to the doctor. "Full of pus" she also said. Poor thing! So now he is on amoxicillan and should be feeling better by his second dose tomorrow morning.

Jax has a huge project for school. My mom is floored that a kindergartener has homework, let alone a project. Anyway, he has to study an animal and the project has to include the animal's name, info about its habitat and what it eats and needs to live. He has decided to study crocodiles and wants to create a diorama in a box since some keener kid has already done his and that is what he did. So far Jax has borrowed a book from the library and made a paper croc, rock, grass and some black/white crane-type bird that crocs seem to like (pictured in the book). We are using a big Costco-sized pampers box cut in 1/2...I guess he needs to paint the outside too.

My mom is driving me a little crazy already. She keeps wanting to do things for me like clean or tidy, etc but she tends to start things and then leaves them creating more work for me! She insisted on washing my kitchen cupboards because I mentioned I needed to scrub them but she only wiped them, didn't scrub them so I had to go back and do it again anyway.

She did stay up all night with Cars though and I actually got more than 4 hours of consecutive sleep!

Pressure is on Stephen to get the climber built by the time Dex's b-day party rolls around. Of course it is going to rain this weekend so I figure he will take a day off next week to work on it.

Stephen is also going to Minneapolis a conference in June. I am jealous. I'd love to go. I want to see DeniSe and meet Adrienne and see Katie's baby, Zane and see Beth. Maybe even see if I can meet Joe and Gary for lunch. I'd even call my very right-wing friend, Tace. Oh, plus meet Olu's wife, Ifiok and meet baby Babatunde! I miss Minneapolis. It is lovely in June. I'd love to see the locks on the Mississippi again and see the changes around our old condo. I do miss it there. *sigh*

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Our lawn is back to being the worst on the street again.

Mom's birthday was yesterday. I took her to DC's Grill (sans Stephen and children lol) for the free steak & lobster dinner. It is a huge, yummy, $50 dinner for free! I had the garlic prawns. Yummy.

Cars was up most of the night and mom stayed up with him which was wonderful! He has a fever and was screaming from about 8pm until midnight last night when he passed out from sheer exhaustion. He seems much better this morning, still warm but no screaming. I think I will call the doctor's office again and take both him and Dex in today. Dex has another sinus infection, I believe. Actually, I do not think the last one cleared up completely then he got another cold and lo and behold, more green snot.

I have been using this mould to create a Plaster of Paris dinosaur skeleton for Dex's birthday party. Ash lent me the mould. It is so cool! Anyway, our plan is to bury the skeleton in sand in the baby pool and let the kids excavate it and find one piece each. I am also making papier mache dinosaur eggs. I have seven almost done. I'll stuff them with a couple of plastic dinos and a pkg of dinosaur fruit snacks. This will be the "loot bag". I am having fun planning this party!

The little girl two doors down comes over everyday and rings the door bell about twelve times. She loves Jax and always wants to play with him. It would be cute if 1) Cars were not sleeping during the times when she rings the bell and he is usually woken up by it and 2) if should would leave when I say "Jax is at school" and not ask "Why?" over and over again. Last week Nosey Neighbour and her daughter were over and M came calling and I told her that Jax already had a friend over so sorry he could not play with her. She would not leave and when she finally did she apparently went home and told her mom that she hated Nosey Neighbour's daughter! Oh my!

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Sheila across the street is spending too damn much time on her lawn and making us look bad!

Stayed up too late again last night and now look at me. It is six thirty-eight in the morning and I am up with Cars. I shouldn't complain though because Stephen usually does get up with him in the mornings on the weekend but I figured I could let him sleep in today for once.

The line-up for gas at Costco yesterday stretched out onto the road so I did not get gas. I checked out the prices of gas at the gas stations on the way home and the gas ranged from $2.25 to $2.36 so I am guessing that Costco's price would have been $2.15 or perhaps even a little less. I'll head to the $2.31 place later this morning (not sure if it is worth the drive to save $0.06/gallon).

Jean-Paul IM'd me yesterday and said that they should be arriving this afternoon about 1pm. I figure that really means 2 or 3, since they are stopping at an outlet mall and the casino on the way down. My mom will be freaking out that they are late so maybe she will nag them enough to even get here by then.

I am glad that it worked out that Jean-Paul and Marilyn can drive mom down because that way they can bring down groceries for us. We are out of Smarties, Hickory Sticks, and he is also bring down Canadian Cheez Whiz too. I read on the net somewhere that Canadians eat more Cheez Whiz per capita than any other nation. I don't know if that is something to be proud of or horrified about!

Oh my - I got distracted (not hard to do these days).

It is impossible for me to go to bed before 11:30pm. Even if I am so tired that my body aches and my eyes are scratchy and lids are heavy, I cannot force myself up the stairs to go to bed. I decided earlier in the week that I would go to bed early on Friday night because we have a long day today. Stephen was smart enough to go to bed at 10pm. I said "Be right up" and proceeded to stay up another 90 minutes longer. And of course I was awakened at 6:04 by Cars. *yawn*

Dex has t-ball this morning and it is "Picture Day" which means we spend a ludicrous amount of money for a team photo. Oh well, the joys of team activities.

After "Picture Day" and t-ball, we head to the credit union to sign for our loan, then back up the Plateau for Jax's t-ball game and a birthday party for Dex to attend. Jax is invited too but he will have to arrive late. It is at the Y Pool (right where Dex is playing ball this morning). I am doing a quick calculation and it seems we are going to drive about 40 miles today. And ten of those miles will be doubled because we will have to split up and take two cars. Ah, the things you think about when regular unleaded gas is $2.29/gallon.

Everyone was complaining about gas the other day. Ash got all defensive when I said that Dodge Durangos were about the worse SUV's for fuel efficiency for their class (guess what she drives?). It is funny because she is so frugal yet has no qualms about driving around and that big old Dodge truck which sucks fuels like it is air.

Of course, I'm not much better with my minivan.

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Mr. Ford Mustang told me last night that he loves his car and had waited twenty years to get it. He has washed it everyday since he got it. I wonder what he will do when the water restrictions kick in.

Perfect day today! Sunny and 72. Ah, if only everyday could be like this.

Cars is so funny. His personality it really starting to develop. He loves to laugh and smile and his belly laughs make my heart sing. He was pushing himself along the floor today with his face on the carpet, laughing the whole time. I was so worried that he might get a carpet burn!

Dex is back into destructo mode. He was like that as a toddler, breaking everything apart, wrecking Jax's train tracks, etc. He is doing it because he likes to knock things down, not to be naughty. So very unlike Jax who is Mr. Neat-and-Orderly. Anyway, today I let Dex use my scrapbooking hammer and punch to punch holes in paper. He loved doing it. I think I am going to try to find the toy hammers and maybe some toy screws and let him hammer them into stryofoam. Less noisy than the wooden toys.

Jax is going through a growth spurt right now. Most of his pants are getting too tight in the belly and none are too long like they were just weeks ago. He can read now - mostly just sight words but he is really good at sounding words out.

Ok, just got back from dinner break and play outside. Jax tackled the girl down the street while they were playing football and she fell off the grass onto the sidewalk and skinned her elbow. OUCH. I feel so bad for her! She really, really loves Jax and wants to play with him all the time.

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Why do people who are trying to sell crap door-to-door think it is ok to come after 8pm? Then they ring the bell and wake up or at the very least disturb the kids! Grrr!

Throat is feeling better but still scratchy. I hate feeling like this. Not sick enough to stay in bed but enough to feel miserable.

Cars is back to his normal happy, smily self although he does have what appears to be a sinus infection. I will give it until middle of next week to clear up before I take him to the doctor. He is such a happy boy and he is vocalizing like crazy. Dex never did that and I don't recall Jax doing it either. Dex had a speech delay and did not speak really (except for a few words here and there) until he was 35 months old so it is so cool to hear Cars blabbling away. He can say Ma-ma and usually does it when crying. He can say ba-ba too and I have noticed he does it when he is hungry. Not that he even knows what a ba-ba is so it is weird that he says it then.

Jax went back to Ash's house today for lunch. I trust that everything will be ok.

I need to go to Costco tomorrow for a bunch of stuff but it does not open until 11 am and Nanny is only here tomorrow until noon. I wonder how Cars and Dex will fair if I take them in the afternoon... I need Tide, Cascade, Pampers, chicken breasts, red peppers, salad, mac & cheese, soap, go-gurt and a whole lot of other things that are just way cheaper there. Let's not forget the gas (as long as dolt me does not put in premium gas again). Anyway, perhaps if I give Dex a pretzel and Cars some cheerios then we can get all the things I need.

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Nothing really to report other than that my lawn is not the worst one on the street anymore.

Very sore throat today. I guess this is what Cars has/had. No wonder he has been crying and grumbling so much.

Blah. Nothing new. Another sleepless night last night. Cars' fever finally broke today so hopefully he will sleep tonight. Last night he awoke every 30 minutes then was wide awake crying and fussing from 1:45 until 3am. Well, he was up later but I finally woke Stephen up and said he needed to take over. Cars is also teething so we have that going on too. :(

I started working on stuff for Dex's birthday party. We have decided on a dinosaur theme. He wanted a "spookyhauntedmansion" (yelled quickly with a whine) theme but Stephen convinced him that was not the way to go. Anyway, my plan is to make papier mache dino eggs. Let's see if they work out.

Dex was invited to a playdate at Ramsay's house yesterday. Everyone in their family has a name that starts with an R - Ro, Ra, Re, Ra, Ru. It makes me laugh. Rachel is very nice and one of the few non-Stepford wives at the preschool. Their house is large and beautiful but the backyard is tiny. There are a couple of small playgrounds in their subdivision but a backyard to let the kids run while you make dinner is key!

Stephen golfed this afternoon, did not do well and is in such a pissy mood. I have to laugh because I used to get like that too when I used to play. Nosey Neighbour keeps asking me to go golfing with her but I am not in any rush to get the clubs back out because that pissy feeling will be back after the first hit, I'm sure! lol

My mom arrives in 4 days. The house is a wreck! Oh well, she can help me get it whipped back into shape.

Gladys Kravitz Watch
The guy two doors down bought a new car - a Ford Mustang. His wife says it is something he wanted since he was 14 years old so she agreed to finally let him get it. He so totally does not look like the Mustang type.

I am so tired but I do not want to go to bed. Wanna know why? Because Cars is up there with Stephen and I am all Cars'ed out today. He has a rotten cold and has been crying almost non-stop since 5am. He was up much of last night too and I did not sleep much after 3:30am. He needed to be held all day long and I held him but I have had enough for now. His snot is all over my body. I can smell his slobber on me still. Poor boy that his mommy wants nothing to do with him. :( What a mean mom.

Oh cripes, he is screaming now. I guess I should go and calm him since Stephen cannot.

I don't think I like this new format of blogger...

Dex got to swim again at the same time as Jax today. Three times in a row now and that has been a big help to me so I haven't had to make 2 trips there on swim days. Jax is doing so well at swimming. I will sign them up for one more session then that is it until next year.

Cars wants to stand all of the time these days. He has tried "walking" towards us but really what he is doing is facing us and throwing his body forward. Not much leg movement going on except with the push wagon.

Got approved for a home equity loan for the roof. We decided not to deplete our entire savings for it. We'll pay it off sooner than the length of the loan but it is nice to know the payments will be low on the months that we need them to be. Now if I could only get some damn roofers out to give me bids. I have one and it is good. I would go with it but I cannot just go on one bid alone.

Well, I should STEP.AWAY.FROM.THE.COMPUTER because I have lots to do.

A few more minutes until I find out who wins Survivor 8. I hope it isn't Rob.

Mother's day today. It was nice. I got a CD - Carly Simon "Reflections" - a book "Naked Prey" as well as a kit to make cement garden stone of the boys' handprints. Stephen also took the boys out for a couple of hours and I was able to paint two pictures for Cars' room and finish a painting I started back in January.

Stephen also made me a souvlaki dinner which was yummy but missing tzatziki sauce which I didn't want because I am off dairy. I did sneak a little bit of feta in the greek salad though because it just wouldn't be greek salad without it. :)

I also spent some time today going through my clutter. That show last night has been freaking me out. I think I need to talk to my psych about it tomorrow.

Ok, Amba won and Rawb asked her to marry him. Oh jeez!

Stephen picked up the Costco swingset (better Katie? ;) and now we are trying to figure out how we can slightly change the plans so the slide will come down on the other side (or the back if you will). Hopefully Stephen can get it up next weekend (with help).

Things I learned today:

1. If they call for rain and it looks like rain, best to take a rain coat
2. Never go to Costco at 3 PM unless you like crowds
3. Do not park in the outer lot of Costco if you are without a rain coat on a day they call for rain

We spent the afternoon looking at "play systems" and decided that even though it will take up our whole backyard, we are going to buy the one from Costco. We stopped in to take another look at it before we buy it. It comes in 4 10' boxes plus the slide. Stephen is going to ask the kid across the street to drive him to Costco tomorrow morning and he will fill his truck with gas as payment. Then the cursing and swearing will start as Stephen tries to figure out how to build it.

I haven't been on the computer as much as usual. The forums are starting to bug me. Same whiners over and over again. The two I have gone to the longest are the two that bore me the most right now.

OMG, MSNBC has a show on about Hoarders and it scares me because I have hoarding tendencies. I am sweating while I watch this show. It frightens me. Here are general manifestations of hoarding:


Compulsive acquisition - hoarders acquire extras of things, just in case, more than they'll ever use.

Disorganization - hoarders find organization difficult, so things end up in haphazard piles.

Difficulty discarding** - they really can't throw anything away without severe anxiety.

** Luckily I can discard things like pop cans, food wrappers, etc but I hoard boxes, paper, shopping bags

I guess I come by it honestly. My dad was a hoarder, as much as my mom would let him be.

Ok, I need to go watch the rest of this show. I am scared. Stephen says I am nuts (how right he is).

Ok, I think we are back to the normal ho-hum days...

Took Cars to the doctor on Wednesday for his 9 month appt. He is 18 pounds and 29" which puts him in the 10th percentile for weight and 75th for height. Funny, he doesn't look long and lean.

Jax had school in the morning today which always throws a wrench into the day's schedule. At least Nanny was back so I didn't have to tote a car-load of children to the school for drop off and pick up.

Bought Ramona's b-day present. She is really into rubberstamping/card making so I bought her some rubberstamps that are sayings like best friend, you are wonderful, gag-gag-gag. Actually, they are really nice and remind me of her. I also bought her some stamp pads. I think she will like it.

Leah Ann's b-day is coming up too and I need to make her a bracelet. She sent me these earrings for my birthday that are HUGE. A friend of hers makes her own glass beads and the beads on the earrings are about 1/2 inch in diameter. HUGE. Anyway, I cannot wear them. I will make her a nice bracelet with tiny little beads. lol

Dex chewed his lip bloody and raw on Tuesday night after the window display incident. It is all infected. I had the doctor take a look and she said we needed to make sure we stopped him when we see him chewing it. It looks gross and disgusting. He just asked me for some medicine for it (I put some Carmex on it) then he asked for a bandaid for his lip so he cannot chew it. Poor thing.

Stephen is finally coming home at a normal time tonight. He has been in Seattle most of the week at a conference and hasn't gotten home until after 10 each night and off to work about 6am. The kids haven't seen him and I am so damn tired. I am not sure how
Heidi and Katie do it. I am in awe of them.

Ok, time to get off my duff and do some housework.

Not so ho-hum today.

This is my day to bitch. Besides the post at HER TIME about Jax and the peanut butter incident, I had another lovely thing happen today. It is funny now but I was horrified and embarrassed when it happened...

After I picked Jax up from school, I went looking for a new stroller and after striking out at Toys'R'Us (they only had two umbrella strollers), I decided to stop at a hoity-toity baby store because I knew they would have a good supply of strollers to look at. I have my eye on one stroller that I found on sale online but I wanted to look at it in person first.

So my three boys and I go trotting into this highfalutin store (do you see where this is going?). I ask them to walk directly to the stroller section. I see the stroller I am interested in (I need to know how small if folds up) so I am trying to figure it out. Next thing I know Jax and Dex are sitting in car seats (Britax no less) pretending they are babies. Ugh. So I tell them to get out and to be still and that I would just be a moment.

I turned my back and was still trying struggling with this stroller when I hear a man shout "GET OUT OF THE WINDOW!". I whip around to see that Dex has climbed into the toy display in the window. I was soooo embarrassed so I apologized to the man (store owner I assume) and hissed to Dex "Get down now!" He was clearly upset at me hissing at him and at the man yelling at him so he just stood there and started to cry.

The window display was made of brightly painted wooden step stools and other primary-coloured toys so I can see why he was attracted to it. So there he stood, crying and crying. At this point the man (who is a large man) starts pushing all the strollers out of the way to get over towards Dex and that scared Dex so he yells MOMMY and JUMPS out of the display, knocking down all of the step stools and toys into the plate glass window. Thankfully nothing broke. I said sorry again and then said to the boys "We are leaving now". The man is mad as hell and is huffing and puffing and trying to get into this window display to pick the stuff up. Then the woman who works there (I guess his wife) comes over and says "WHAT HAPPENED? IS ANYBODY HURT?" I turned to her and said "My children are ok. Thank you so very much for asking". (dripping sarcasm and pointedly looking at fat yelling man). I then herded my kids out, all the while Dex is wailing. Good God! He cried all the way home "I never want to go back to that store!" Poor thing.

What a long drive home only to arrive and hear that ominous message about Jax and pb at school. Oh me oh my what a day.

Again a ho-hum day. The bonus of the day was when we showed up for swim lessons at 9am and someone had called in sick so Dex was able to swim at the same time as Jax and I did not have to go back again at 1pm. Whoo-hoo!

This week is TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK. Not like it could be just a day, right? Well at Dex's school, tomorrow the kids (read PARENTS) are to bring in a flower for each teacher (he has three). The kids were also supposed to make these sheets up about what they like best aobut each teacher. I asked Dex and he just answered "I dunno" so I made some shit up. Then he scribbled on the sheets.

At Jax's school they were to take in flowers today (I didn't have any so I didn't send any), Wednesday it is "Give your teacher a pencil day" and Friday is "Pick a gift" day and you are to send in a gift from the teacher's list of what they like. Jax's teacher likes candles and lattes. *sigh* Can this get any more commercial? I resent this whole thing.

Sunday Sunday

Not much going on today. It is much cooler than it was yesterday but still no rain. Stephen went around knocking all the wasp and hornet nests down with his hockey stick today. The man is very lucky he did not get stung. Dex has recovered from his sting on Friday from a yellow jacket.

I got together three bags of clothes and a couple of blankets to donate to Goodwill. I also went through Jax and Dex drawers and put away the winter clothes. Jax is in desperate need of some t-shirts and Dex needs some shorts. I have no idea why I don't have any size 4T shorts from when Jax was his age. Cars needs jammies his size. I found two pair but that won't do for the summer. All of the other 12 months ones I have are winter jammies.

Gladys Kravitz Watch:
The neighbors on the other side of the FOR SALE house said they met the people who are buying the house. A man and woman from Portland with two girls - almost 4 and 18 months. Guess those couples from India could not get financing.

Busy day today. 10am t-ball game at the Y for Dex. Gulp down a quick lunch at McD's before Jax's t-ball game at noon at a nearby school. Then home to get the house back into shape. We did a major weeding of the toy bins. And we put one of the toy bin holders in the boys' room. They are so excited to have toys in their room. I just hope they keep the room clean! The family room looks so much bigger too. And out into the garbage went most of the McD toys and other toys went into a donation and/or garage sale bag. I feel like going through the whole house now and pitching all the sh*t that we have accumulated.

I did not hear from Shelly at all while she was here so I guess we will not get a chance to meet. I think she is going home tomorrow but maybe it is Monday. Hmmm...maybe she will call tomorrow.

Nosey Neighbour's new roof was started this morning. The guys working on it worked 11 hours on it. They have tomorrow off but will be back on Monday.

I took the little red walking wagon that looks something like this(but not nearly as fancy) for Cars today and he laughed hysterically while "walking" back and forth in front of the house for almost 20 minutes. He loved it soooo much! Both Jax and Dex learned to walk with it too.

Jax loves to ride his bike really, really fast then slam on his brakes. He wore the tire out and ran over a small spiky thing then got a flat. I sent Stephen to the bike shop at 6:20pm on the off chance that they were open. Apparently they were not but they had forgotten to lock the door and when he walked in the employees were all startled. They did let him get what he needed (a new tire and tube) and even gave him the 20% off for their 10th Anniversary sale that ended today. lol

Gladys Kravitz Watch:
House next door had three offers within the first couple of hours. Two of the offers are from families here on H1B Visas so they are trying to get financing. I think both families are from India. I wonder if they work at the Evil Empire too. Looks like we will have new neighbours within a month or so. Hope they are nice. Hope they don't mind three really loud boys next door.