Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Just after I arrived home after picking the kids up from school, Stephen called and said he needed me to come to pick him up from the doctor's office and take him to the hospital. Remeber I mentioned that he hurt his back? Apparently he had been having some back/shoulder pain before this even happened. So, he went to the doctor but because the pain actually radiated from his back around to his chest she sent him to the hospital to be checked out and he was not allowed to drive himself. So, an ekg, monitor, blood draw and x-rays, we were sent home two hours later with instructions for him to call a cardiologist tomorrow for a stress test. :
Then, after we left the hospital, he insisted that he had to go back to work. I am so frigging pissed off at him. He finally arrived home two hours after he was released from the hospital. WTF??? Nice.

Anyway, I need to get over being pissed at him (not that I am not so worried).

Preschool Stuff

After Dex gets on the bus today, Cars and I will be off to check up the back-up preschool. Registration starts there today so no doubt it will be full by the time we find out about the school that I want him to go. I could register him and then withdraw him once/if he gets into the other school but I just cannot bring myself to pay the registration fee ($75 + 1 month tuition) to lose the $75 (will get the tuition back if we withdraw before May) for a just-in-case preschool. This one is cheaper than that one I want but the one I want is
1) closer to home
2) religion-based
3) not a coop like the back-up school which means no monthly parent meetings, monthly parent education meetings or montly working in the classroom.

And if Cars does not get into any preschool it will be ok because he will be one of the youngest in his class since he has an August birthday. Another year at home with mom won't kill him.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Dropped the Bomb

I told Stephen about the camping trip and he was not amused. He said it will be a disaster because I hate bugs and have to call the neighbour to kill spiders. I retorted that I only call the neighbour for BIG spiders! Notice how he turned it around to it being because of me when really he *hates* camping. Anyway, if worst comes to worse we can just pay Nosy Neighbour's dh for the site and maybe they can get someone else to go. However, I think the kids would really love to go so maybe this is the one time we can take them camping in their lifetime.

Stephen hurt his back yesterday while cleaning the kitchen while the rest of us were at church. He spent the rest of the day in bed with a heating pad and a bottle of ibuprofen. Of course he is "too busy" to go to the doctor. Grrrrr...men!

It has now been nearly 13 weeks then I coloured my hair. It looks horrible but I am determined to grow out the colour and see what I look like grey before I colour again. On Friday night when I mentioned it someone gasped and asked me if I had not seen "I" with her roots? Of course I have but her roots are white whereas mine are still grey so I want to grow them out before mine turn white. Anyway, I am feeling the itch to colour and I have even gone so far as to cut coupons from the ads for L'Oreal and Clairol products. But I will not do it. Will.not.do.it.

We are having a mini-Superbowl party at our house on Sunday. We've invited over Ash and her dh and we are sending out kids to their house with Nanny who will babysit all 5 children. That way we can watch the game in peace. Should be fun. And Ash can tell Stephen how fun it is to go camping! ;)

Off to the doctor because I think Dex has another sinus infection (cough, cold, gross nose and 101.5*F fever).

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Glo (aka Nosy Neighbour) quit her job so we went out last night to celebrate her re-joining the ranks of we desperate housewives. We went to the local Ale House. Lots of different conversations were going on at the same time so when Ash and Glo mentioned that I needed to go camping with them (I loathe camping as does Stephen does too) I said "Sure, why not?!" with bravado. I didn't realize but Glo then called her dh and had him book us all camping sites for August. When I arrived home just after midnight, there was a confirmation email from the WA State Parks department confirming my booking. YIKES! How will I tell Stephen? Glo's dh charged it to his credit card so I guess I need to pay him for it regardless if we go or not. We don't even have ANY camping gear except for a cooler and flashlights.

Anyway, I am still trying to figure out how to break the news to Stephen...

Thursday, January 26, 2006

I watched Finding Neverland today and it was such a wonderful movie! No wonder it received an Oscar nomination. I loved it so much.

I watched James Frey on Oprah today. I guess I did not get the point of him being on there. Basically, she challenged and questioned some of the most dramatic parts of his book and called him a liar. I think she had him on to save face since she admittedly was embarrassed about supporting him and a lot of the book is not true. I wish she had just said that she no longer stood by him and left it at that. She looked petty and vindictive today IMO.

Nanny comes tomorrow. I have nothing planned except to return a pair of jeans to Costco. It was wishful thinking that a pair of junior jeans would fit me. :)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Backup Plan

I have my backup preschool picked out (isn't it ridiculous that I even have to consider such things?!). It is a local co-op that my friend currently has her 4 year old dd in. I know a lot of people who have gone through it and the general consensus is that it is great for 3 year olds but not academic enough for 4 year olds. I just want to ensure that Cars in a school next year so I will apply there as well as at our church's preschool. I need to find out when we will be notified about acceptance to the schools.

Today was a glorious spring day (in mid-winter!). It was 58* up here! I even have a crocus blooming in the garden! Anyway, it was so sunny and warm that I took the kids on a long walk (about 2.5 miles) then I walked to pick Dex and Jax up from school (2 miles) and I play to walk with my neighbour tonight (3 miles). Wow - that is a lot of walking for me. Now if only I could stop eating so much.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Throwing Good Money After Bad

Stephen thinks the car is worth repairing so he is giving the dealership the go ahead. I am skeptical that it will be an easy fix that will be long lasting. Time to tighten our belts and start saving for a new car NOW.

And to top off this great day, Cars stepped in cat poop today when he ran across the neighbour's lawn while we were waiting to put Dex on the school bus (our next door neighbour's cat uses their lawn as a litter box). I did not realize of course until after we went back into the house and he ran up the stairs with his shoes on! Aargh! I spent the afternoon steam cleaning the stairs, washing the throw rugs from the front hall and scrubbing the floor. I tried to clean off his shoes but I started gagging. I will wait a day or so and then try again.

Geez, my life is so glamourous...

Sunday, January 22, 2006

The Saab had died. We'll see if we can get it revived tomorrow. Otherwise we might be looking at a new car about oh, two years ahead of schedule. Friggin Lemon!

Friday, January 20, 2006

Sigh

Ok, just in case anyone did not realize, that last post was a tongue-in-cheek. I did not have an affair with my OB and I would not rather have abdominal surgery v laparoscopy.

Today, I printed off a copy of the "rules" for priority acceptance to the preschool at our church because I was hoping to send Cars there in the fall. Anyway, they look at "regular participation in parish life". This should not be a problem. I attend church most Sundays with the kids. I have the older two enrolled in RE and I am the supply/support person for Dex's class (I get the supplies together for the teachers each week and I fill in for them if they are away). I am a member of MOPS at our parish and I help out with the craft.

The part that will be difficult is the "planned giving amount" each year. Stephen is not attending church and said a few years ago that he will never give "another dime" to the church because they were using *his* money to pay for the lawsuits that they were party to by moving priests around from parish to parish, diocese to diocese rather than dealing with the problem priests. I do not work and I do not earn an income. He says his money is my money and I know that yet I feel very torn supporting the church when it goes against his wishes. So, I give some each week and feel guilty for supporting the church against his wishes and feel guilty because I feel I should give more (Catholics are great at guilt!). Anyway, I know the amount I give will not move us up on the preschool priority list. I hope Cars gets in anyway.

If that fails, I do not know what I will do. I will just have to find another preschool around with an opening and most likely it will be an afternoon slot because the morning slots will be full by the time I hear back from our preschool.

And the whole thing will be moot if Cars is not potty trained by September 1 anyway because he will not be allowed to go to school in diapers. Think I will get one of my three completely trained by the time they are three?!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

It's over

The affair is over. It lasted just over six years. From the beginning, I was in awe of him. He was confident, assuring and patient. We met monthly in the beginning. Eventually he insisted that we see each other more often and so I found myself driving to meet with him every other week. Then that was not enough so we met every week! Soon, I had to take a break. For the couple of years we met infrequently. Then we started up again with the monthly meetings, which soon became bi-weekly until yet again we were seeing each other every week. I trusted him wholly and completely. I put my life in his hands and look where it has gotten me! I am disillusioned and disappointed. Numb and sore.

Yes it is true - *sob*. The rose-coloured glasses are off. My ob/gyn's stock has definitely fallen. He told me today, after I complained about some pelvic pain (I suspected a hernia - oh how I wished that were it!), that he believed the pain was a result of endometriosis on the c-section incision site. This is, btw, the incision that he made when he delivered Cars. At least I think it was from that incision and not the one from Dex because I don't recall having this pain back then...

I need to go back to see him in a couple of weeks so he can further determine if he is correct and if so, laparoscopy is the proposed course of action.

Oh, how I wish it were a hernia. Yes, abdominal surgery would be preferred rather than laparoscopy, the thought of which has brought about disillusionment and disappointment. The trust is gone!

The end of the affair.

It is bittersweet.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

I taught Art Start in Dex's class today. We talked about negative space/background and the kids traced their hands then coloured in the background. We cut the hands out and mounted the page on coloured paper. They all turned out so well! Tomorrow I will be meeting the morning kindergarten Art Start mom and we will hang them outside the classroom.

I really enjoy teaching Art and I am planning to do it again next year in both Dex and Jax's classes. It is fun watching the kids create the work and get excited about their art. The kindergarteners especially!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The rain has stopped its constant barrage. It has been raining sporatically for the past day and a half although we did have a wicked rain/wind storm last night. There is a patch of blue sky out there at the moment and my backyard lakes are slowly disappearing.

We received our The Safe Side dvd and the kids and I watched it. It was a little corny at times but the kids were engrossed with it. It was reassuring to hear them give some tips that my kids had already heard from me. Interestingly, coming from someone else too just reinforced the concepts with them. Anyway, if you are interested in it, I would recommend borrowing from the library or video store rather than buying it. I don't imagine we will watch it over and over again.

Tomorrow I am teaching art in Dex's class. I need to leave shortly to get the supplies together so they will be ready when I arrive tomorrow afternoon. The morning class Art Start mom and I picked an easy one this month since the last two were time-consuming (lots of prep work too).

I took the kids swimming at the club yesterday. Surprisingly, it was not nearly as crowded as it was the day before.

I need to call HandyMan to come and install the new sink I bought on Sunday. He told me he is pretty confident that we will not have to replace the countertop when he removes the old sink although he cannot be sure how the old sink was installed because he could not find any "clips" or whatever. Please, please let this installation be a simple, straight-forward, two hour job because I do not want to pay for more than that!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Today is day 27 or something like that of rain. This is getting unbearable. Last night the rain turned to slushy snow for a short while. This morning, the sun has patches of blue but the clouds are quickly moving in.

Dex had a birthday party to attend yesterday at Chuck E. Cheese so I took Jax and Cars too so we could get out of the house. I dropped Dex at the birthday table and then tried to navigate around Chuck E. Cheese with the eleventy billion other parents who needed to get their kids out of the house too. I have never seen it so packed and I am certain they were over the max number of people so if the fire department had shown up they would have been in a pickle. It PISSED rain the whole time we were there else I would have taken Jax and Cars to the grocery store but I just did not want to get drenched going back to the car.

My neighbour and I decided to walk last night in spite of the rain/snow mix. We only managed 35 minutes though because we were soaked through.

Tomorrow is MLK day so no school. I cannot think of one place to take the kids that will not be uber-packed. Maybe it will stop raining long enough for us to run to the park with the scooters. Or maybe swimming at the club...? I will have to plan something.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Book club this evening was a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed the book regardless of the current controversy surrounding it. I watched James Frey on Larry King last night but missed the last couple of minutes and did not realize that Oprah had called in the last couple of minutes to give her support to James Frey. Fortunately, I had also DVR'd it so I was able to go back and watch what I had missed (Stephen turned the channel to Project Runway (geez Santino pisses me off with his arrogance!).

Anyway, I love the women in my book club. They are a fun bunch and we always have such a good time. Maybe we should create a card club too so we can meet more often. Or Bunco (I don't get that game but lots of people love it!).

Tomorrow, Nanny is coming and I am going to get my eyes checked. I want/need new glasses. I hate the ones I bought last year. I hope I can get a nice pair within my benefits limit (gotta go to Costco, I guess). I also have to go to the Y to cancel Jax, Dex and Cars' Y memberships since we now belong to a new club, compliments of the Evil Empire. Well, Stephen's membership is compliments of EE. We pay separately for mine and kids under 9 are free.

Today is day 24 of rain. We are now tied for the second stretch of consecutive rain days ever. Now everyone wants to break the 33 day record so all of this rain, flooding, mud slides and gloom will not have been in vain. The lake down the hill from us is flooding and the multi-million dollar homes are in peril. Click here to see a slideshow of the flooding. My backyard is a small lake. I will try to post a picture of it tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

It is National De-lurkung week. Please say hey!
An acquaintance of mine, H., was diagnosed over the holidays with Dementia which is a rare, degenerative brain illness that causes dementia. H. is just 45 years old. One of her sons is a classmate of Jax.

The past two mornings, H. has been out for a walk and decided to stop by my house. Yesterday, I invited her in after she knocked on the door but she did not leave for over an hour and a half! She left only because I kind of ushered her out as I was taking Dex out to the bus for school. Then this morning, she knocked on the door and stepped right in when I answered. She took off her coat and shoes and looked at me. It was so bizarre. So I asked her if she wanted some coffee (I was just about to eat my breakfast) and she said yes. Again, she stayed until Dex left for school! I am afraid to answer my door tomorrow. I had not yet showered when she arrived because I had just finished exercising so I did not get to shower until the early afternoon.

The weird thing is that we aren't really friends. I mean we are friendly, say hello and chat about her kids (she loves to talk about them) but honestly I was so surprised to see her yesterday at my door. And again today.

Ash says H. is reaching out. Ash knows her so better than I do so I was wondering why H. is stopping by my house and not Ash's. Anyway, I hope I have the courage to tell her to tell her that I cannot entertain her if she comes by again tomorrow. Gotta bake and get ready for book club.

And speaking of book club, earlier today there were reports that Random House was offering people refunds on their copies of "A Million Little Pieces" but they are now denying that report. This is getting so interesting!

Monday, January 09, 2006

As Silvia mentioned in my blog comments yesterday, thesmokinggun.com has an article about James Frey and "A Million Little Pieces", claiming that he fabricated much of the book (their article here). It certainly changes ones view on the book, imagining that some was fabrication and not a "nonfiction" book as it was marketed.

Anyway, my dilemma is do I let the rest of the book club know before the meeting on Thursday so they can read the smoking gun article too or do I tell them afterwards? Everyone is so keyed up to discuss the book! I feel like I will burst their bubbles if I tell them about the smoking gun. Actually, I think I am just trying to save face because the book I chose last year for book club SUCKED and here I picked this awesome book and here it is - FAKE! At least this book should generate lots of discussion!

Today is the 21st straight day of rain. The weather forecast predicts rain everyday for the next 15 days which should break the all-time record for most consecutive days of rain (33 days (1/6 - 2/7/53)). It is getting so friggin depressing.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Book Club this week is at my house and we will be discussing "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. What a book! Everyone is excited to talk about it because it has affected each of us in different ways. No one has yet told me that they have hated it (I have read on forums and other places online of people hating the book).

I bought a red turtleneck sweater at Macy's with a gift card I received from my SIL. It is a lovely deep red colour (called claret). I was so taken with the colour that I did not look at the label and the friggin thing is made of cotton and rayon. I assumed it was just cotton but I should have known better because of the colour. I HATE RAYON. It shrinks. It wrinkles. It falls apart in the wash. Aargh. Of course I did not notice until after I had worn it. Maddening! And a waste of money!

Thursday, January 05, 2006

There was a constant downpour of rain today. I think it let up a bit about 5pm but otherwise, it was pouring! I know you are thinking (Seattle - rain - duh!) but really it does not rain this hard that often. We just get rain often, not necessarily a lot of it at once. The rain this past week or so has been unreal. I hope it lets up a bit so we can get the kids outside on the weekend.

Tonight at the Sunday School planning session, the director of Children's Faith Formation almost screamed because there was this "thing" crawling across the floor. It was a Northwestern Salamander. This poor little black thing was walking slowly and purposefully across the middle of the floor in this big room. He was covered in dust bunnies so I wonder where he had been hiding. One of the Sunday School teachers and I took it outside. I am surprised that there even were things like that around here!

Today, a letter from the principal was sent home to parents to let us know that the county sheriff's office will be holding a meeting at the school tomorrow evening to discuss "the recent relocation of a level III sex offender to our area.". WTF?! What is it about our area?! That will make *5* registered sex offenders in the school's area. Unless this is about the rapist who moved here in November. But there already was a meeting about it at the library! There is no new info on the county website. I will see if I can get a babysitter to come so I can go to the meeting (it starts before Stephen gets home from work).

BTW, someone from Australia did a search on that same photo of my boys. Does this mean some sickos are passing the link around?! That makes 5 or 6 hits in two weeks. I have deleted the photo and most others of the kids off the blog but the if you google images, you can still see a little picture of them but not the full-sized image.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Had a bit of a scare this afternoon when I could not find Jax or Dex. They walked up to the park to meet me as usual but Jax realized that he had forgotten his book and wanted to go back to his class. Dex went with him and I told them I would drive to the school and meet them out the front (the park is behind the back school yard and they follow a path up there).

When I left the park, there was a huge traffic jam for some reason (25 cars on our end trying to get through a 4 way stop with many more cars coming from each direction) so it took me 8 minutes to get to the school. No Jax or Dex out front. By this time it is about 16 minutes after school has let out and it was pissing rain so the school was pretty much deserted. I parked the car and Cars and I ran to Jax's classroom door. No Jax or Dex.

I saw Ash talking to a teacher so I called to her and asked her if she had seen my kids. She said NO (she was standing right next to Jax's classroom door so I thought for sure she would have seen him) so I took off running to the office to see if they could radio the teacher's aide at the park (she goes to the park after school each day to ensure that all the kids who walk up to the park get picked up) to see if they had gone back up there.

As I am about to walk into the office I hear them page Jax to go to the office and I flip out - why did they do that?! (ok, breathe) Ash met up with me and told me that Gav's teacher was going to call the office to have Jax paged (ok, breathe). At that moment I see the teacher's aide from the park walk into the school without Jax and Dex (she walks stragglers back to the office). (ok, breathe, breathe). I ask her if I had seen my kids. She said yes, she sent them to the front of the school to meet me because she had not seen my car at the park and was wondering why they were walking back up there so late.

Just then, I saw them heading to through the front doors of the school (heavy sigh of relief) because they had heard the page. I scolded them about not doing what they were told to do "But you took so long to get here!" they protested. (ok, breathe).

My fear was that we would just keep missing each other going back and forth from the school to the park, never mind the fact that there are *4* sex offenders (3 are pedophiles) living less than 1 mile from the school.

So, we reviewed what they should have done (waited outside of the school) and what they will do next time, which is to wait outside of the school but if they are concerned go to the office because they can call me from there. Also, I will think twice about leting them go back alone for anything left behind.

Next I am ordering ""Protecting the Gift" because it is a good book and I need my own copy and The Safe Side - Stranger Safety which has been advertised over and over again on Nick Jr. Dex asked me to buy it earlier in the day, in fact.

This whole episode coming on the heels of me finding out that that twice in the past two weeks someone found a my blog via searching for "boys" and viewed a photo of my kids in a swimming pool has creeped me out.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Tomorrow we are back on our regular schedule. I have been sleeping in for the past two weeks so I hope I can get out of bed at 7am again!

I was reviewing my visitor's log and noticed that someone found my site by searching on boys. Creeped me out to no end so the specific photo that they were looking at has been deleted. Now I am questioning all of the photos I have put up here...

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year!

We had a blast at the party we went to last night. The kids managed to stay up to help ring in the New Year although Cars crashed shortly afterwards. It had poured rain most of the evening but stopped long enough for us to light off the last of the fireworks (they will be illegal by July 4th so we had to get rid of the stash).

Jax took this photo of us before we left.