Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 9

I took the kids to see "The Karate Kid" today. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The original Karate Kid is a classic so I was worried about a remake but it was different enough. Today was a cool, overcast day so it was perfect for going to the movies.

Afterwards, the kids had dentist appointments. Cars gagged and gagged whenever they tried to get him to bite down on the x-ray things so no x-rays for him this time. The dentist made sure to mention (again) that they all need to see an orthodontist. I told her that they went last summer and were going again next week for a follow up appointment.

Stephen is definitely sick with fever now and has the beginnng feelings of a sinus infection. He is going to see his doctor tomorrow afternoon to have her look at a rash on his arms and near his eye so he'll just ask her for antibiotics to stave off the sinus infection.

And just because it is funny and so true... watch this: Man Cold

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 8

Today, Spy took Cars and Dex to play at her house again with her boys. Jax had a friend come over and I contacted a psychologist for Dex's anxiety. I have an appointment with her on Wednesday and hopefully she will be right for Dex and can get him in to see her soon.

I also made the decision not to have a 4th of July party this year. Being sick for so long has zapped me of a lot of energy and now Stephen is feeling sick. Gah, what a summer!

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 7

My "woe is me" attitude is gone because the antibiotics have for sure kicked in and I am doing much better. Still exhausted but I was able to get out and we met Spy and her kids at the ice rink. My boys had so much fun although we did learn that Jax has outgrown his skates so we'll be making a trip shortly to Vancouver for a new pair.

Hoping that by Monday we have warm weather back and the boys have a mom who is raring to go!

Today is the 6th day of summer vacation (not including the weekends) and we have done virtually nothing. I have been sick since Saturday. On Tuesday I was feeling a little better so the kids and I tried our hand at Geocaching. The GPS on the iPhone app is not that accurate so we were only able to find 1 of the 3 geocaches that we searched for. However, it was fun and we are going to go do it again.

Yesterday I felt like a ton of bricks hit me and I spent much of the day in bed. I finally caved and call the doctor's office but they said there was no room at the inn but too a message with all of my symptoms (sore throat, sore face, sore ear, congestion, eyes hurt when I moved them, cough and on-and-off fever, body aches, the list goes on). A while later I got a call back saying that because of the eye pain I was having, I needed to be seen. I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on antibiotics. I barely made it home after I filled my Rx and Dex had his bass guitar lesson so I made him walk there (accompanied by Jax). It really isn't that far but the bass is heavy. He survived and at that point, I really did not think I could have driven anyway.

This morning I felt a teeny bit better but I am still a long way from feeling well. I had a little break down today because 6 days of illness and feeling as though the kids were mad at me for not having any "fun", as well as lack of empathy from Stephen got to me. He of course did not expect me to make dinners and take the kids out if I were sick but he has this way of acting as though everything is a checklist and chore and I just could not take it. :'(

On top of it, I fell off the roof almost a week early. I was recently reading about menopause and peri-menopause and I read that periods start getting closer together so falling off the roof today made me feel really, really OLD. No more babies (God forbid!! - but knowing that I am too old for it really makes one feel sorry for oneself if one has been sick for 6 days). And on top of that the cramps and that little endometriosis growth that I have that aches and aches when I have my period.

Woe is me. ~sniff~

Maybe I just need a big ol' hunk of chocolate to make me feel better? Instead, I will settle with two 1000mg horse tablets of amoxicillin and crawl into bed.

Summer O'Fun 2010 Day 3

Today, I had the Maytag repairman come to replace the heat element in our dishwasher as it had been recalled. The repairman said that 1/1000 dishwashers had an element that was mean for stainless steel tubs and they would burn too hot and melt through the dishwasher. Just to be sure, they were checking and replacing the rings on 1.7 million dishwashers. Mine was one of the ones that had the problem ring and he showed me where it was becoming an issue! Eep! Anyway, he replaced the ring while telling me all about 9/11 and UFO conspiracy theories. :0

After he left, I noticed that the door on my dishwasher would not go all the way down! He broke it!! Or something. Anyway, I called back and they said he would call me but by 5pm there was no call so I called again and they scheduled ANOTHER service call for Saturday morning. I hope the door does not completely break by then! I took a photo - perhaps I should take some video too of how it will not open all of the way. It made loading the dishwasher this evening a bit of a challenge.

So, a fun morning for my kids as we waited around for the Maytag repairman. Also, I am sick, sick, sick so we did nothing today. I think I might now have a sinus infection. :( It is cold (60 degrees) for the first official day of summer and it is depressing. As of June 16th, we were already 1" over our average June rainfall.

So this June Gloom has us all in a funk. So today, I let the kids play video games, watch tv and they played in a big box that our new patio furniture came in.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for all.

Summer O'Fun 2010 Day 2

Yesterday was Day 1 and we celebrated Dex's birthday at a sports bouncy place. They have tons of trampolines and there is trampoline dodgeball and trampoline bounce into a foam pit. The boys were all sweaty and stinky when done but they had a heck of a lot of fun!

Today we had some friends come over and we made our annual summer tie-dye shirts. They are currently in the wash so we'll see how they look once they are finished being washed.

I started going through the MOUNDS of paper that the kids brought home from school the last couple of days and found this poem by Carson:

Bad Cookies
By Carson

Ooh! Cookies!
I love cookies!
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Tongue is tickling
Oh no! I am allergic!
I eat gold fish
I learned a lesson
Don't eat cookies if you are allergic!


I think it is cute - a little funny but sad at the same time.

Today was the last day of school - hurray! Or oh no! I haven't any summer plans for us yet but we'll figure it out. We have had such rotten weather that it still feels like March! I sent the kids to school today wearing shorts but it was only 48 degrees as we walked to the bus stop. Brrr! It did warm up to the mid-50's by the time they got out at 11:30am and low 60's by dinner time. Still, let's see some sun and some temperatures in the 70's please!

I took the kids to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner to celebrate the end of the school year. One of the kids from Jax's grade (6th) works there (I guess his parents must own it or something). It made me feel really sad and I do not know why. He was doing a good job seating people and resetting the tables after they were cleared. He did not seem to mind it. Earlier today I saw another kid from Jax's class mowing the lawn at my old house and last Wednesday he helped mow ours (we hire his dad's lawn service to mow). I have such mixed emotions about 12 year olds working like that. I know they are helping their parents out and probably get paid some too but they are kids.

When I think back though, when I was 12 I had a paper route at the hospital, walking around from room to room to sell papers to convalescing people. I did it every Sunday with Ramona. It was kind of scary going in the rooms so Ramona did it mostly while I stayed out and got the papers ready for the next room. I think that is what helped prep her to be a nurse! And the awful hospital smell!** Of course we would blow all of our profits in the canteen on Mars bars and other junk. But it was nice having that little bit of money (a couple of dollars each week).

Maybe I baby my kids too much? Maybe they need more chores? A job? Hmmm...

** When I was in Toronto last month, one of my aunts was in the hospital and died. The moment I walked into the doors of the hospital (same one I sold newspapers in) that smell came back to me. Who can believe that 33 years later the place still smells the exact same?

It is amazing what a little sunshine after eons of rain will do the to soul. I feel so good and cheery and happy. :)

Tomorrow is Jax's 6th grade promotion. I am torn between feeling so happy for him and so sad because my baby is growing up. Mostly, I am happy and very, very proud of him. He is a great kid!

One of my friends is moving to the Netherlands for three years. I am so excited for her and a little sad for me because I will miss her. She and I work out together every Wednesday in the circuit training class and make fun of our instructor together. He is funny and takes the teasing well. Anyway, I'll miss her and look forward to their return in three years.

And on a final note, a Denine in Ottawa thinks my email is her email and registered for eharmony.ca (the "welcome" note arrived in my inbox). I viewed her matches (had the pw reset sent to my email) and I think I need to tweak her profile. I am sure she can do better. :)

Another week has gone by without a blog post from me. Am I ready to give this up? I don't think so. Just need to put visiting my blahg back into my daily routine. Sorry, faithful reader(s).

School is almost out for the year. Just 3 days left. Two and a half, actually, since the kids get out at 11:30 on Wednesday. Monday is the 6th Grade Promotion and I had (unwisely) signed up to do too many things. I am feeling a little resentful because now, instead of enjoying the activities, I am responsible for other people's good times. I am helping out with the luncheon for the 6th graders, which I honestly do not mind doing. I need to be at the school for 9am to help set up. I am also supplying a cake (not a problem). What I did not anticipate was when I volunteered to help with refreshments for after the ceremony, how much was was really involved and how stressed I am about it. Aargh! Also, as part of the team, I did not realize until this week that I am responsible for helping decorate the gymnasium after school today. Blech. I know that volunteering is very important but I have a history of volunteering to do too much all at the same time. I have also decided that when Dex is in 6th grade, I will not do anything but come to the party and enjoy.

Actually, I do not even know if Dex will go to 6th grade at our school or not. The district is moving away from Jr High (grades 7-9) towards middle schools (5-8) and I am not quite sure if Dex's grade will be the first to be in middle school in 6th grade.

Anyway...just looking forward to the end of this school year. We haven't any summer plans as yet. No golf lessons this year. The kids just are not that interested in it and now that Jax is older, his lessons would be on a different day than Dex and Cars. So we'll look into something else.

Oh, better run. Maytag repairman is due to arrive anytime and I forgot to empty my dishwasher (it has been recalled due to the heating element causing fires).

I finally watched the "American Idol" finale (a week late) and I could not believe Bret Michaels was able to come out on stage and sing just one month after being in critical condition with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a mini-stroke and being diagnosed with a hole in his heart. And earlier in the month he won "Celebrity Apprentice 3". The guy is a golden boy! I have watched him sing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with Casey James four times and I get choked up every time!

I was never a big Poison fan although I always loved the song "Something to Believe In". And really, who did not make fun of Bret Michaels for "Rock of Love"? But there is something very likable about that guy, bandanna and cowboy hat and all! He just seems like a genuinely nice guy. And he has seemed to have pulled through his medical crises with grace and such a positive attitude.

Anyway, I am off to watch "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" again. Better grab a kleenex this time.

Baseball, you bet!

Baseball season is nearly over...thankfully! We have had a tough time of it this year with Dex. Besides his weepy ways, it has been unseasonably cold and wet so if we are not rained out, we've been freezing at the games. On top of that, Dex's bad baseball year is not making it enjoyable to watch. In fact, his whole team is not playing well. Tonight was the first night of playoffs against a team we were closely matched to and, because it was playoffs, there was no 5 run cap per inning. Dex's team lost 17-1 in the 4th inning (10 run mercy rule). It was painful! Thankfully, just two more games left.