Enough said?



That was INSIDE. Who knows what the actual temperature was outside. The "official" one taken about 25 miles from here was 95F I believe. I am sure it was 100F here though. I am such a hot weather wimp!

Garage sale went well although it was a lot of work. We packed it up early today (at noon) because there weren't that many people today, we didn't have a lot left and it was just too hot. Overall we made over $500. Not too bad. Now I have to inventory and pack up what is left then take it all over to Goodwill.

It is going to be a very long time before I have another garage sale and NEVER AGAIN in July!

One hundred degrees. One hundred degrees was the temperature yesterday. One hundred degrees was the temperature on the day we had a garage sale. Today is due to be the same. I am closing by noon. I most likely will need to anyway because I am almost out of stuff (compared to what we had).

Terry and I did well yesterday. The big ticket items did not sell. Hopefully they will today.

We went out for dinner last night then for a drive just so we could be in some air conditioning. We'll probably do the same today. Tomorrow should be cooler.

Ok, this garage sale thing is out of control. My garage is full of junk and there is no room to move about to organize it. I am panicking about getting it all organized and so panicked that I cannot do anything. Stephen *knew* I would get like this. So did I actually. WTF was I thinking? BREATHE! BREATHE!

Ok, the only think keeping me from going off the deep end is the entertainment in a forum I go to. Well, perhaps entertainment is the wrong word. Someone called someone else a "completely dumb bitch" then she said it was ok because she was not saying it due to a disagreement the other one but because her feelings were hurt. Oh my! And all of this in a Fahrenheit 9/11 thread. lol

Well, back to the garage and the heaps of junk!

Whew - getting ready for a garage sale is exhausting. I forgot how much so. I spent Sunday going through more closets, the garage, the toys, etc and I think I have a lot of junk to sell. No really big items, other than a stroller and an Evenflo Megasaucer. But lots of good stuff priced really well.

We have a major yellow jacket problem in our yard. Stephen thinks he can solve it himself. He has already been stung once. I think I am going to have to call an exterminator. Good-bye garage sale profit$.

Stephen took Cars for a haircut this evening. I asked him to just have them cut around the ears and neck. Off Stephen went with my baby and he came back with a little boy! Oh I cried! The little curly wisps are gone. He does not look like a baby. Oh I am tearing up again!

Not a happy boy.


All done! Handsome boy!
.

Taking a break from clearing out junk out of my house! Getting ready for the garage sale and I finally tackled the closet under the stairs. I put all of the kids crafts stuff in a huge plastic bin - much better than that stuff being scattered in several different plastic bags.

While cleaning out that closet, I found out the following:
1) I will never ever ever ever need to buy white glue again in my lifetime
2) ditto on crayons
3) ditto on gift bags
4) The closet is not a good place to store wrapping paper if I think it will not get crumpled

This closet is used to store office supplies, craft supplies, art supplies, wrapping paper and ribbon, fabric ribbon, sewing machine, sewing basket, brooms, all cleaning supplies as well as crystal glasses and china tea cups because I have no room in the kitchen cupboards and no buffet in the dining room (which is now a craft room/lego room anyway). Anyway, whenever I bought some art or craft stuff, or school supplies when they were on sale super-cheap, I would toss (literally!) the bag into the closet. I didn't realize until I pulled it all out and looked at it together that I had 9-4oz, 1-7.6oz (nearly empty though), 4-2 oz bottles of white glue! Who needs that much glue???? Now I am going to have to think of crafts to use it all up.

So the closet is organized (for now) but still very full. It does not even have my bead stuff, my acrylics or any of my scrapbooking stuff in it.

I NEED MORE STORAGE SPACE!

Ok, I also tidied up the "game" closet which holds our board games and puzzles. I had no less than 4 Trivial Pursuits games. Two are slotted for the garage sale although I must say it goes give me great pains to do that. I also put out my original Scrabble game that Stephen and I played from the time we started dating, oh so many years ago (18). We used to have great Scrabble matches. However, he started losing to me all.the.time. Badly. And now he will not play at all. So that game is going into the garage sale (not to worry though - I do have my Deluxe Edition that he bought me about 8 years ago. I cannot wait until Jax can spell a little better so I can teach him to play.

Stephen took the kids out to mini-putt while I finish up the closet and get the stuff I am selling out to the garage. Then the fun begins...cleaning everything in order to sell it so I get top dollar for everything. I hate-hate-hate going to garage sales when things are over-priced and not even CLEAN. Ick!

Enough rambling from me...back to work!

Date Night?

Stephen asked me to find a baby sitter and we are going OUT tonight.  I am so excited.  We are going to a movie - probably to see Anchorman. Katie will babysit. I am a little anxious because she has not babysat for us since Cars was born. Well she actually has, I guess, but she only watched Jax and Dex. Good thing her parents will be home right across the street!

Took Jax back to the doctor today. He was lethargic and just lay on the couch all morning. He also has a fever of 101.7*. His throat is bright red but he tested negative for strep. His ear infections are nearly cleared up so it is just some crummy virus. I am sick of my kids being sick. It is wearing on all of us!

So, the kids are having movie night tonight while Stephen and I go out. They rented Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Original Movie. Jax wanted to rent Lord of the Rings but I think we'll save that for a time when I will be home to watch it with them (besides, I want to see it too!).

Nanny came today for the first time in three weeks. I stayed home most of the time, taking a bunch of junk out of the closets upstairs out to the garage. Garage Sale next weekend!

Cars is climbing up on everything! Two days ago I found him like this
So I moved the chairs away from the table but he has figured out how to push them around the kitchen. Today:


He will then cry when he wants to get down because he has not figured out how to GET down without falling.

Ok, time to put that pizza in the background of the last photo into the oven.

Crazy on You

Ok, Blogger changed their dashboard again...

We went to the Locks today in Seattle. It was so cool. I hadn't been there before although I had been to the locks in the upper Mississippi across from our apt in Minneapolis (here if you are interested:
St. Anthony Falls Locks. Other than a major meltdown by Dex and the neverending traffic back-ups (Seattle traffic SUCKS!) it was a great day.

After dinner while Stephen gave the kids baths, I headed out to Costco for a few things ($180 later - how does that happen??). They had a few aisles blocked off because Nancy and Ann Wilson of Heart were there signing copies of their newest album. I was sad for them because there were not big crowds but then I realized the had been there for hours and the lineup for autographs was CLOSED. So I didn't buy their CD - lol

Ok, so back to the $180 I spent at Costco. Shit! I really didn't buy anything extravagant or what we didn't need. Here's the list:

Venus Razors (16 count) $24.99 (ouch!)
Tampax Tampons(100)$10.99
RainCoat for Dex $11.99**
Infant Tylenol (ioz) $6.19
Children's Kirkland Brand Ibuprofin $6.89
Chicken Breasts $18.45
Pork Chops $17.05
SugarSnapPeas $5.49
Skintimate Shave Gel $6.99
Rainier Cherries $6.99 (2lbs)
Goldfish Crackers (58oz) $5.99
Ritz Crackers $4.99
Eggos $6.89
Carrots $3.49
English Cukes $2.99
Pears (6lbs) $4.99
Comet (6 cans) $4.79
Choc Milk $10.99 ***
Yellow 5x8 paper Pads $4.99

**(will take it back because Stephen says it is girly)
*** ok,this was a convenience splurge Horizon Organic Chocolate Milk 10-8 oz individual boxes

And that comes to $179.95! I cannot believe I spent that much there. I think I need to stop going there alone!

Mean Mom

It was one of those days when I could just not make any right decisions/moves/etc for the kids.

Mean Mom was on duty. Jax said wrote a note to tell me that "I hat my mom". Mean Mom laughed and thanked him for hatting her. He then snatched the note from Mean Mom and changed it. Next, he heeted Mean Mom. Mean Mom had a good laugh at that too.

Mean Mom then made Jax go outside without tying his shoes because he spent the time when he should have been getting them on writing that lovely note and Mean Mom no longer had time to tie them (a sleeping Cars was in her arms). So of course he walks outside and trips on his shoe laces and it was Mean Mom's fault again. Now Mean Mom is "ruining everything!". Oh the tragedy!

So, Mean Mom took the kids out to run errands instead of meeting friends at the beach. The errands were to buy school supplies which are on sale this week so that perked Jax and Dex up a little. They were very well-behaved and loved picking out school supplies. Nice Mom is back. Nice Mom decides then that maybe a stop at the beach is in order after all (Nice Mom packed bathing suits and towels anyway even though she had no plans to go). It was too late to meet friends though.

The friggin park was packed (well duh! It is 2pm and HOT). Mean Mom is back. Mean Mom drove around for 10 minutes ("Why are we just staying in the car?") then was able to get the parking spot that Ash vacated as they were leaving as we arrived. The kids change into their swimsuits in the car. Nice Mom reminds them to bring their towels which they of course forget. Get to the beach and they want Mean Mom to march back to the car (1/4 mile) to get them. Mean Mom thinks not. Mean Mom tells them to stand in the sun to warm up and dry off then wipe their feet off with Cars' blanket.

Anyway, home again, home again, jiggity-jig. Of course this is the day that Stephen is golfing. So...tick tock tick tock the day drags on and on and once again Mean Mom and Nice Mom alternate, based on how often Jax and Dex fight with each other and how often they are sent out of the room for timeouts.

Mean Mom then makes everyone go for a walk. Meaner Mom won't let them take their bikes. Meanest Mom shows up when we take a walk around the BIG block. By the time we got home, Nice Mom had helped pick out some great rocks for their collection and lets them ride their bikes back and forth in front of the house for a while.

Nice Mom was who put a bandaid on Dex's scraped knee and let Jax stay up a moment longer to show off the school supplies when Daddy finally arrived home. Nicest Mom put let them read for 5 extra minutes before lights out.

I hope Nicest Mom comes back tomorrow.

Ok, I do have some good news to share.

I ~think~ I am over my ppd. I was thinking the other day that I can see clearly now. No more fog. No more anxiety (other than the standard mom-type stuff). No more panic. No more thinking about how I will get through each day. I can almost say I am happy. I still have a hang-up about admitting I am happy (admit and the shoe will drop - dumb superstitions). I have learned a lot of tools to handle things. I have changed my way of thinking that has allowed me to let go and I am much better for it.

I go to counseling once every two weeks now and I think after September, I may drop it once/month until after Christmas then say good-bye to my therapist all together.

Life is good.

(that, in spite of the double ear infections that Jax and Cars have, and the single ear infection that Dex has).

Oh so tired

Another nearly sleepless night. Cars is so sick. At least this morning he is not crying and needing to be held as he did all day yesterday. Jax is feeling better today too (not all better but no more complaints of a sore ear). Dex said his ears hurt yesterday too but this morning he seems fine.

So yesterday was a complete write-off. I spent most of the day holding Cars. He wanted nothing to do with Stephen. My arms are sore. My back is sore. I need some sleep.

Ok, end of the bitching and moaning. I'll write more when I have something interesting to say.

Ta-Da!

Here it is. The new blagh template. Still a work in progress as you can see.

Not much going on today. Stephen is still nursing his noochies. Cars, Dex and Jax all have mild colds (although Cars is perhaps a little sicker than the rest).

(edited to say spoke too soon. Cars and Jax are up now with fevers and crying. This is gonna be a long night)

Gladys Kravitz Watch
New next-door neighbour wanted to know if I wanted to have a garage sale with her. They went from a much bigger house in Oregon to this one and need to get rid of stuff. I too have stuff to dispose of so I think we will do it. Now we just need to plan a weekend...

Template Blues

I thought I was in love with my new blagh template. I mean it was BLUE (fav colour...well purple is my ACTUAL fav colour but purple and blue are virtually the same - at least purple is made from blue). But the more I look at it the more boring I think it really is. I think I chose it because I loved the number guessing game.

So I am on a quest to find the perfect blaghskin for my blagh. Be prepared (hear that Nymphe?).

Took Stephen in for the old snip and tuck. He is lying upstairs in bed where he will no doubt remain for a couple of days.

JP and Marilyn are not coming down (Marilyn put her back out) so no Smarties for another few weeks. How will I survive??

I am addicted

Jean-Paul sent me this link CLICK HERE that will go on Livejournal.com and grab the last 30 images that have been posted on public journal entries in users journals and community journals. It is fascination and disgusting and intriguing and very humourous.

I Don't Want to Live on the Moon

I Don't Want to Live on the Moon

Written by Jeff Moss
1978 Festival Attractions, Inc. (ASCAP)
Sung by Ernie (Jim Henson)

Well, I'd like to visit the moon
On a rocket ship high in the air
Yes, I'd like to visit the moon
But I don't think I'd like to live there
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above
I would miss all the places and people I love
So although I might like it for one afternoon
I don't want to live on the moon

I'd like to travel under the sea
I could meet all the fish everywhere
Yes, I'd travel under the sea
But I don't think I'd like to live there
I might stay for a day there if I had my wish
But there's not much to do when your friends are all fish
And an oyster and clam aren't real family
So I don't want to live in the sea

I'd like to visit the jungle, hear the lions roar
Go back in time and meet a dinosaur
There's so many strange places I'd like to be
But none of them permanently

So if I should visit the moon
Well, I'll dance on a moonbeam and then
I will make a wish on a star
And I'll wish I was home once again
Though I'd like to look down at the earth from above
I would miss all the places and people I love
So although I may go I'll be coming home soon
'Cause I don't want to live on the moon
No, I don't want to live on the moon

Warning Label!

Edited out because my blahg was too wide.

On the Road Again

Took a road-trip to the State Capitol today to visit an online friend. We had a lovely visit (at least I think we did!) lol Jax complained about the long drive (1.5 hours) and all three kids slept on the way home.

Stephen is working late this evening so it is take it easy night right now. Flylady would be disappointed.

OH! Cars just took 10 steps across the room. What a big boy!

Rain Rain Go Away!

Ok, buh-bye rain. You've been here long enough today. Non-stop pissing rain. My Gladys Kravitz Perch will be handy as an Ark in another couple of hours.

JP and Marilyn are coming to town with my, I mean "the boys'" smartie stash. Also, JP of course has some ebay packages to pick up. They are also bringing down a jar or two of Pea Butter, which looks and kind-of-but-no-really tastes like peanut butter. Both Jax and Dex love the stuff, Dex especially on waffles. I can stomach it over soy butter but I do prefer almond butter but much of it is made on the same lines as peanut butter so it is not safe.

Speaking of not being safe, after we shot off all of our fireworks we all got a traveler or road pop and headed up the cul-de-sac to see Nosey Neighbour who was quite tipsy. The neighbours had a nice set up with chairs and tables out in the middle of the road. One of the snacks on the table was a bag of peanuts. So tipsy Nosey Neighbour is munching away on the peanuts, throwing the shells on the ground. My anxiety is going up with each shell as I was thinking "Shit! What if Jax falls on the ground RIGHT HERE next time he rides his bike". Then she started pawing Cars who was wrapped in a blanket. Everytime Jax came near I walked away from her so he could talk to me. We left a short time later and I immediately threw all of Cars' clothes in the washing machine (yes, at nearly midnight!). One good thing about all this rain is that hopefully every speck of peanut residue has washed away and it will be safe for Jax to ride up there again.

Well, I must get my beauty rest...

Brrrrr!

Where did summer go? It is cool and rainy today. It is supposed to be like this all week. How depressing!

The 4th of July was fun. The sun came out after a mostly overcast day. We had three other families here for a bbq then we started lighting off fireworks about 8pm. We had some big ones (read ILLEGAL in our city) and it was great fun watching them go. My favourites where the ones that would shoot parachutes into the air and smoke on the way down. They were good to set off while it was still light. We had two small grass fires (oops - gotta water the lawn) from sparklers.

Tomorrow we are off to Olympia to visit one silly and evil Sage. I am looking forward to seeing her.

Thursday is Stephen's stress test at the cardiologist. Then Friday is the big snip-snip for him. I need to find someone to watch the kids for a couple of hours in the morning because of course Nanny isn't coming yet again. I am going to get rid of her at the end of the summer since I don't think I really need that time to myself anymore (it is nice but not necessary) and it is getting to be very spotty when she can actually come.

Ok, hacking up a lung here so off to take my meds.


Boys on the Fourth of July

Hack-hack-hack

Cough is back with a vengence. I didn't take any allergy meds yesterday and I think that was a big mistake. Let's hope this will clear up now that I have used the inhaler and Safeway-brand Claritin.

We have an arsenal of fireworks for tomorrow night. We'll probably light them off before it gets really dark. Stephen bought them outside of the city limits so we have some real aerials. Then the teenager across the street gave him some real firecrackers that he bought at the Indian reservation. I wonder how severely Stephen will burn himself tomorrow.

I made some sugar cookies for tomorrow. Man I love that gel food colouring. The icing on them looks great! Bright Blue. Bright Red. They look good enough to eat! :)

I talked to Jen for a long time tonight. The girls are both doing well. Both are in NICU and were transfered to St. Mike's. They are both back up to their birth weights. They are working now on getting them to learn to swallow so they can take a bottle or nurse.

Jen is feeling so out of sorts. She gave birth and then goes home without the babies. It feels so wrong, she thinks. Jen also still has PUPPPS that has not gone away (it usually goes away post-partum). She and Greg are pretty sure she will never get pregnant again.

Well, off to bed to get my beauty rest.

IKEA

I went to IKEA today (are you jealous, Sarag?). We met up with Heidi and kids and had a good time. Geez, her kids are soooo adorable. I spent over $60 on nothing. Ok, I did buy two reading lamps for Jax and Dex - but that was only $20. Hmmm...

Spent too much money at Costco last night too. And Fred Meyer. Can you see a pattern here? Retail therapy.

Cars does not scream when he is shown his shoes anymore.

Ah, the sun has finally poked through the clouds today. It is chilly! It should never be less than 70F on July 2nd!

Gladys Kravitz Watch
The neighbours up the cul-de-sac behind us are planning a big bash for the 4th. Nosey Neighbour invited me up but we are having our own barbeque. Perhaps we'll head up there with our MHL after our guests leave. :)

Again, nothing to see here. Come back another time.

Fell off the roof today. Bllaaahhhhg.

The meeting with the lady at the church was really great. She made me feel very comfortable. I met the parish priest and she showed me around the church which is HUGE (intimidation factor #1). I signed Jax up for RE classes that start in September. I also signed Dex up for "preschool" that runs during Mass times. I now need to call another woman to make arrangements to baptize Cars.

Met an online friend today from my Aug2003 Babies forum. She has twin boys who are so cute! They are a few days older than Cars. She lives about two minutes from my house and used to live in my neighbourhood. Small world. I knew she lived in the Seattle-area but didn't realize she was in my city!

Stephen is golfing tonight so he won't be home for another hour or so. I am taking it easy tonight and letting the kids watch Cartoon Network.

Oh, I finally saw some pictures of the twins. They are beautiful! Ally (Alexandra) looks like she has curly blonde hair! There was just one picture of Tori (Victoria) and I couldn't see much because she has tubes in still and she had a hat on. They are both so wee.

Cars has a viral infection. At least that is what the doctor said. His fever keeps spiking to 102 and he is moody as hell. Doesn't help that he has had 3 teeth pop in the past week.

We canceled playgroup today because of Cars' sickness. So it just ended up being a very looooong day. Jax and Dex did pretty well though, pretending to be singers in a band most of the day. Stephen bought them a microphone and microphone stand yesterday when I was at my psych appt. They think they are IT and are trying to think of a name of their band.

One of my favourite online people will be going offline in the next day or two. I will really miss her and hope that her time offline will not last as long as she is anticipating.

Cute Roof Guy came today to collect the cheque for the roof. He also did another quick inspection so I am assured that all is well. Now I cannot wait for rainy season so I can laugh at the elements and know that I will be high and dry inside of my house.

The Liberals won the election in Canada yesterday with a minority government. So not much will get done over the next few years but at least those PC will keep their hands off of the social programs. I know JP is glad that the PC lost but also sad that the NDP didn't win. Even I am not as Pinko as my brother! lol

Tomorrow I am meeting with a woman at the Church. It is time to go back.

Puff-Puff

Ok, who knew an inhaler could clear up a cough? Ok, it isn't totally cleared but I can actually BREATHE! I got an Rx for Albuterol and was told to take Sudafed and Claritin - all safe for nursing moms. I should be back to normal in no time.

Cars has a fever today and he is miserable. And to make matters worse, I bought him his first pair of shoes and he HATES them. He screams and screams when they are on his feet. Before today, he has only ever worn Robeez so I think the walkers must feel so weird on his feet.

LOL - for snack tonight Dex wanted carrots. Usually they get a piece of fruit or some yogurt and he does not usually even eat carrots. He is an enigma.

Ash keeps talking about switching kids for a day. She says it will help them appreciate us. Thanks but no thanks. Her kids can be very sweet but can also be very difficult (as can mine!). At least I can yell at my kids and send them to their rooms!

Sunday Sunday

Usual weekend crap here. Fred Meyer's yesterday for a b-day present for a b-day party Dex was invited to. Also bought another baby gate and some flowers to plant in our containers. We are only a month and a half late on those flowers. Anyway, Stephen planted them today and they look good. Nice to finally have some colour in the backyard.

I filled the kiddy pool today and Cars had a blast in it. He was flopping around and laughing. Much better than last time I put him in and he screamed. Of course last time I had just filled the pool and it was ice-cold. This time I filled it in the morning and by the time he went in it was almost warm.

Stephen took the kids to the driving range and then to Home Depot today. I had 2.5 lovely hours to myself. I painted a painting while they were gone. I really like it too. (pat myself on the back much?) It is not like anything I have done before sans the COBALT colour that all of my paintings have. Anyway, I totally ripped the idea off someone on eBay too. But, the painting is just for me and I like it.

Tomorrow I am going to see the doctor about this cough I've had for nearly 3 weeks. I'm a little nervous because the last time I had a cough this long I had a thyroid problem which was causing my cough (nodules compressing on my windpipe).

I am so busy this week! Tomorrow is our summer playgroup, doctor appt and then psych appt; Tues is regular playgroup; Wed I am meeting someone from my August03 Babies forum; Thurs is summer playgroup again and Friday I am meeting Heidi et al at IKEA. Busy busy busy!

Ok, better run. Jax wants to talk to me and I need to cherish these moments since they are few and far between these days.

The cardiologist says Stephen is having unusual symptoms (atypical) so he is being sent for a stress test on July 8th. He also has to get a full blood work-up done to check to see if his cholesterol is fine, if he is anemic, etc. No sense worrying until then so I won't...much.

Greg called today. Jen was released from the hospital today but went to her parents' place because it is closer to the hospital and has no stairs. Greg is going back to work but his work right next door to the hospital so he can go in and see the girls often.

Alexandra has been upgraded to NICU 2 from NICU 3 (not exactly sure what it means but she is doing very well). Victoria is struggling a bit. She is the one with the kidney problems too. Poor little things!

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Not sure if I mentioned this before but the lady behind me is divorced. Her dh left her about 6 months after they moved in for a woman he met on the internet. Anyway, I was chatting with her the other day while she was working in the yard and I said I hated yardwork and just let my husband handle it. She said "I wish I could do that" and I was so embarrassed. I wish I hadn't said that. >:

Ok, so it is officially summer vacation. School is now over for both kids. Swimming lessons ended too. Now what do we do?

Stephen is going to see the cardiologist in a few hours. He was upset with me for telling his mom that he went to the doctor about pains in his chest. What-ever. Of course I am pissed at him for being upset with me. Stalemate.

I noticed this morning that Cars has a 4th tooth. It is his upper right tooth next to his incisor. No left incisor yet for the snaggle-tooth little boy.

Jax's report card was good but not stellar. Not sure why I expected him to have an exception report card for kindergarten. Aaargh. Why am I doing this to him (and me) already?

Oh great, he just jumped off of the swingset which is too close to the deck so off I go to bring him inside. *sigh*

Blah day.

Jax is at school. It is the next-to-last day for him. Then I will have a 1st grader-to-be! *gasp*

Cars vomited twice (well more like spit-up) since last night. Guess I over did the dairy with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream last night. I will go back to having the occasional piece of cheese and see how that goes.

The roofing company sent a drywall guy here to fix the big dings in the skylights and the whole in the master bedroom ceiling. He said he will finish patching the drywall and come back tomorrow to paint. Problem is we do not have any paint for the bedroom ceiling or upstairs skylight (we do for the kitchen skylight) so they are going to repaint the whole bedroom ceiling! Stephen is very impressed that they are doing all of this for us (whereas I expect them to do so).

Speaking of Stephen, he has been having chest pains for well over a month and so my DH finally went to the doctor yesterday. She said she thinks he probably just strained a muscle but to be sure (history of heart disease in his family) she is sending him to the cardiologist. He goes on Thursday.

Stephen is also trying out a motorcycle today. He wants to see what all of the fuss is about.

The babies are named Alexandra Mary and Victoria Jane. They are both doing well, as is Jen. The twins are expected to stay in the hospital for two weeks and are still on ventilators are the moment.

Lots of excitement on the forums this weekend. Chard is a woman, which I suspected for a long time. But the kicker is that Chard is Amie which just totally blows me away. Amie is a sociopath. Crys is just a freak.

We put up a permanent baby gate at the door from the kitchen to the dining room. One of the MouseTrap ball bearings went missing after Dex played with it and left it out. Stephen is SURE that Cars ate it. I am sure he did not. We'll see if it turns up in a couple of days.

Dad died five years ago today. June 20, 1999. It was Father's Day that year also. I miss him.

They're Here!

I am an aunt again! Twin A and Twin B were born last night at 2:41am ET and 2:44am ET. They were 8 weeks early and 4 weeks before their planned arrival via c-section. Jen was hospitalized on Thursday for pre-eclampsia. Last night her kidneys started to shut down so they had to take the babies. Jen has barely seen them and will not name them until she does (they are in NICU and she is under a special watch to make sure her pre-eclampsia goes away and her kidneys start working normally again). Greg is concerned but elated about being a dad. I cannot wait to see pictures of them!

Hot-Hot-Hot

Hot day today. The air-conditioner is keeping the family room around 79 which is much better than 85 that is usually gets in this hot weather.

And of course the hot weather brings out the big huge
spiders. Saw my first one last night in the bathroom. Had to awaken Stephen to kill it. ~shudder~ Even though I was really creeped out I kept my cool. I am proud of myself for that.

Climbed the Gladys Kravitz perch today to admire my new roof. They still haven't taken away the dumpster. They sent a follow-up guy came to inspect the roof. He said they need to come back and fix something near the chimney. I also showed him the hole in my master bedroom ceiling (!) and the big digs in both skylight wells. He said they would repair all of the drywall but I do not have any more paint to match my bedroom. :
Kindergartend end-of-year party. They tried to make ice cream in ziploc baggies. Not smart on the hottest day of the year so far. Of course the school is not air-conditioned. Anyway, Ash ran home and got a big tub on ice cream that she had just purchased (she said she knew the home made ice cream would not work out). Nosey Neighbour's nose got out of joint when Bossy Room Mom started going on about whose dumb idea was it anyway (Nosey Neighbours). LOL

The kindergarten teacher got all choked up when they presented her with a book "What I like about Miss C". She is a lovely person and did such a great job this year for her first year teaching!

Well, I am hot and tired so I am going to bed.

Roof: Day 2

They are still up there hammering away. Guess it is going to take longer than two days afterall. Snotty neighbour asked if they were going to go until 9pm again tonight. Since it is 8:50pm I would say apparently so.

I am FLYING. Ok, not exactly doing everything she say when she says it but I am inspired to clean up and out my house. It felt so good to purge all that shit into the dumpster last night. Although I did notice that the TV stand is OUT of the dumpster today. Not sure if it because it took up so much room or if one of the roof guys is going to take it home. We'll see if it gone when they leave today.

Ash is organizing a night out with all of the kindergarten moms (P.M. class only). I think she is miffed at me because I nixted her decision of Thai food. There is virtually no way to avoid peanuts in a Thai restaurant.

::short break::

Me, asking Stephen for the umpteenth time...

Me: What day are you going to come watch the kids swim?
Stephen: What time and day do they swim?
Me: (eyeroll) Monday and Wednesdays at 9 and at 1.
Stephen: Mondays are no good for me.
Me: They only have three lessons left.
Stephen: I can make it to one lesson - which one do you want me to come to?
Me: Pick one of your children.

Ok, that was pretty bitchy of me but for f*** sakes, I have been asking him since the first week of March to come out to one of their lessons. What does it take? I think I will start whistling "Cat's in the Cradle".

Can you tell I have PMS?

Frigging Flylady

Ok, the stupid witch told me to go shine my sink but first fill it up with water and bleach. Guess who has *7* bleach blobs on their shirt from splatter? Bugger! Bugger! Bugger! There is a reason why I do not use bleach in my laundry (I have ruined more things than you can imagine). Now "flying" I have managed to ruin a perfectly good shirt.

The roofing guys started on the roof today. Bang Boom Crash Bang Bang all day long. I have a headache.

Nosey Neighbour told me that when they did their roof, she filled the dumpster in her driveway with a bunch of old crap they had lying around in the garage. I told Stephen this (he was planning a trip to the dump next weekend) and he asked the roofing guys if it were ok for us to put some stuff in it. They said sure. So, we got rid of an old crib (Terry was not able to sell it at 2001 garage sale so it has sat in our garage ever since), a bunch of old broken pieces of wood from the fence, a broken desk chair, five old window blinds, an area rug, a tv stand, an "expired" carseat and some other stuff I cannot recall. Feels great to get rid of it all! I posted 300 pounds tossed at Flylady.net but I am sure it was more than that.

Baby Steps

First baby steps...I rejoined Flylady. I have gotten to the point where I would no longer consider her emails harrassment (although it would help if she did not send me emails at 8:30 telling me to go to bed!). Anyway, part of my back to my old self baby steps that I am taking.

And we have more baby steps. Cars took his first steps. He'll be running in no time.

He's home! He's home! And he even went to the airport early to see about getting on an earlier flight and arrived home three hours early! Whoo-hoo!

Five years and two days since I moved to Washington State.
Five years and one day since I realized that $230k did not go far in Washington State.
Five years to the day that we found "the" house and put in an offer.
Four years and fifty weeks since our offer was accepted.
Four years and forty-six weeks since we moved into "the" house.

Five years but it seems like yesterday. It was so hot that day and it was the end of the day. We were so done looking at houses but our agent insisted that we look at one more. It was not close to where we were looking but we agreed because it was close to Erik and Terry - the only people we knew in the state of Washington. A looooong trek during rush our and we arrived. We walked into the house and I loved it. We walked into the kitchen and I knew this was the house that we were going to live in. We had a few bumps in the house-buying process (the sellers were high maintenance!) but in the end, we had a very lovely house that became a home.

Funny thing is that after five years of living here I am just now considering Washington State home.

Rest assured that the exercise thing was a passing fancy. Whew! Back to slugville for me.

Ash's turn to watch the kids this afternoon. I had made up my mind to come back home, alone, and have a long bath. Of course all that changed when I saw the state of my bathroom so I spent the time cleaning the bathroom, including mopping the walls above the shower (high ceilings suck sometimes). I nearly fell off the step-stool and I smell of bleach but my bathroom is sparkling.

Dex is over his hissy fit from last night. He will be making a formal apology to Nanny when she returns tomorrow (if she returns - yes, it was THAT bad). I am still horrified at his behaviour. I won't go into all the details but it started when he kicked her as she told him to go to his room to get his pajamas on. It ended very badly too according to them both. *sigh* It is so out of character for him...

Today was Dex's last day of school and the last time we shall step foot into that preschool. After forking over $25 for teachers' gifts, I was in no mood to write the teachers little thank you notes so I didn't. One of the teachers I really, really loved too - she was Jax's preschool teacher too - but the other two I was indifferent towards. All of the Stepford Wives brought in gifts for all three teachers, even though they had already contributed $25 (or more) towards gifts. Laurie also felt the same way I did and she did give them additional cards or gifts (I believe we were the only two who didn't).

It is chilly in here. I think I need to turn the heat back on. The weather sucks - low 60's and overcast/rainy/windy. That Gladys Kravitz perch is beckoning but I cannot go out there until it warms up!

Much better day today (for me). Dex had a hard day but he can write about it in his blog.

Stephen met the other Stephen SameLastName and his wife Chacke (accent agu needed over the e) for dinner tonight in Minneapolis. He said it was so nice to see them. Friday night he sees our old gang. I am jealous!

I actually EXERCISED today. I mean it was real exercise. I did the WW exercise dvd that I got the first week of January before I quit going. It felt good to do it and who knows, perhaps I will do it again tomorrow.

Dex's tooth is popping through more. Cute little snaggle-tooth!

Gladys Kravitz Watch
New neighbour's children scream as much as mine do. teeheehee

Ok I am an emotional wreck. Broke down in the pediatrician office today. Told her about the ppd and she asked me why I wasn't on any meds. I explained to her that as long as I was nursing Cars I would not take anything that might affect him - passing any chemical to him in my breast milk. Much of that stems from my guilt of Jax's peanut allergy and the fact that he most likely became allergic due to the vast quantities of peanut butter I consumed while pregnant and nursing. Then through my sobs I had to convince her that I really was ok and that I was so much better than I was months ago.

On a better note, Cars' ear infection has cleared up completely. Dex has a sinus infection and the beginnings of an ear infection so he gets a round of Augmentin since the Amoxicillian did not clear it up last time. Today was his 4 year check-up. He weighs 39 pounds and is 42.25 inches tall which puts him in the 75th percentile for height.

Yesterday I went shopping at Old Navy (took a slight detour home from the psychologist's office). I bought Jax a Hooded Sweatshirt. When I gave it to him he was so delighted and he immediately put it on then ran for his ball cap, put that on too and said "Look at me! I'm a teenager!" He wore it all the rest of the evening. He thinks he looks ultra-cool. I think he looks like a hoodlum - a cute one. I also bought all three boys matching Flag t's in olive.

Dex's upper incisor finally popped through. See? He was teething!

Gladys Kravitz Watch
Too much rain lately for me to be up on the perch.

Can't sleep. Well, I did sleep - from 8:30pm until 1am because I had a horrible migraine. The worst in years. Then Cars awoke so I fed him, put him back to bed and I've been awake ever since. I've done the crossword from yesterday's paper, read some of the forums, paged through a magazine and ate some (you guessed it) Chips Ahoy! cookies. Hmmm...now what?

Stephen leaves in 3.5 hours for Mpls.

There was a nice article about my SIL and her business in the Vancouver Sun today (yesterday). Stupid site - you need to be a paid subscriber to access the article. Anyway, she is hoping it drums up some business for her company.

Took Dex to a b-day party on Sunday. Man, I thought I was an anal and controlling mom. Jen tried to control the 4 year olds way more than I did at Dex's party. At least I know I am not the only no-fun-mom around.

Stephen took Dex and Jax to see Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban on Sunday. I am a little jealous because I wanted to go see it. I could have arranged for a babysitter for Cars but really I want to go see it without any distractions (read: KIDS). Nanny is coming on Wednesday evening so perhaps I will go then.

As much as I would tell anyone who would listen that I DO NOT IRON. I do. In fact I think I use the iron virtually everyday to press my t-shirts or get the wrinkles out of my jeans that got all crispy and hard air-drying in the laundry "room". I even press the boys' clothes from time-to-time. Anyway, now that the dirty little secret it out, I can admit that I burnt myself on the iron today. I have a lovely check-mark shaped burn on my forearm from reaching around the iron and not quite clearing it. Did it ever hurt! Needed to nurse it with Chips Ahoy!

And speaking of Chips Ahoy!, I need to go back to bed before the package summons me back to the pantry.

Ok, so there is a little news.

1) I am back to Chocolate Macaroon after 7 horrible weeks of Chocolate Mousse (which really is "fucking scarlet" as Dmouse may concur).

2) I have eaten more Chips Ahoy! in the past couple of days than one would think is humanly possible.

3) I have gained five pounds. (see #2 for reason)

4) I am in desperate need of a good night's sleep.

I guess #4 isn't really news since I write about it all the time.

Nothing to see here. Move along, folks.

There is some buzzing behind the blinds on the window next to me. I am afraid to look for fear it might be a bee or wasp rather than a fly.

Today Dex and I rode the school bus with Jax. It was fun to see all the kids get on at their stops. Dex had the biggest grin on his face. He loved it! However, he did not love the walk home. "Why can't the bus drive us home?" and whimper, whimper, whimper all the way home. Oh well, I enjoyed the mile walk. Nosey Neighbour watched Cars who slept the whole time.

Nanny showed up unexpectedly this morning. She had told me that she wasn't available today but lo and behold she showed up a few minutes after 8. I had her stay and I went to lie back down since it was a relatively sleepless night last night. Cars was up most of the night and Dex was up several times too. I must go to bed by 9 tonight.

The boy who ran over the baby wrote a letter of apology to the baby's mom. It read "I am sorry I ran over your kid". I thought it was cute but the mom didn't really. Oh well. The baby is doing well, no concussion, he had a small blood clot in his nose that kept bleeding but he is fine now.

I am feeling a little sorry for myself lately. And I do not even want to snap out of it. I want to wallow in my self-pity. Thank goodness for Chips Ahoy! Nothing like throwing oneself a pity party stocked up with a few bags of Chips Ahoy!

Oooh, the buzzing just got more angry-sounding. I guess I will have to take a look afterall...

Walked to pick Jax up from school today. Dex did well considering I took the single stroller and he had to walk both ways. Usually I take the double jogger (best garage sale purchase EVER!) and I push him there and he walks home. Anyway, it was HOT today and I got all sweaty and stinky. Then not long after we got home (we were gone nearly 2 hours!) it was time to take Dex to t-ball practice. What a day!

It was also emotionally exhausting because I saw a baby get run over by a bicycle. Well, he is actually a toddler but anyone under 3 is a baby to me. The bike knocked him down then the tire ran right over his head. I could not believe it. Poor baby had a bloody nose, a big scrap on his forehead and several on his arms and legs. And the sickening thump as his head his the ground keeps echoing in my mind.

I was the first one to him and I picked him up but looking back I guess I should have left him in case he had some serious injuries. Well honestly, I don't think I could have just left him. Anyway, I picked him up and ran him over to his mom. Then I turned to the kid on the bike (who should not have been riding his bike on the school yard, nevermind that it was crowded and he was whipping) to chew him out then I saw that he was scared as hell. I felt so horrible that my first thought was yell at him. I asked him if he were ok, assured him that the baby would be fine, then suggested that he might want to walk his bike out of the school yard.

I called the mom this evening and the baby is fine. I guess the principal is going to contact the bike rider's parents (one of the other kids knew who he was). I hope he doesn't get in too much trouble. He is guilty of using bad judgment, riding in the school yard, but he is probably only 8 or 9 and he did try to avoid the baby who ran in front of him.

I keep getting choked up thinking about the whole thing though. The baby, the kid, the mom. I cried afterwards and am tearing up now. What an emotional wreck...

Stephen took the air conditioner out of the box today (we've had it since my b-day two months ago) and he hopes to have it set up this weekend. Even today the house warmed up to 79 and it was probably about that outside. Hotter weather tomorrow.

Allergies. Shit. I forgot how bad they can be. I never had any allergies until I moved here. Then every year at the end of May or beginning of June it starts. Constant dripping nose, sore throat and sneezing and sneezing and sneezing. And since I am nursing I am not sure if I can take anything. Aaa-chooo!

At 4:53am this morning I realized that Cars was NOT going back to sleep. He had been awake about 10 minutes. Today is going to be a very long day.

Oh, time to take Dex to school. Just three more classes. Actually, the last day is "come meet your child and his/her class for popsicles at 10am!" So basically they watch them for an hour and pawn them off on us. I am so glad that we are leaving this school!

Welcome back, Mr. Sun!

Gorgeous day today. Sunny, a few fluffly clouds in the sky and a slight breeze. Love it! Migraine is gone. Got some sleep last night. Chips Ahoy! are on sale. All is right with the world.

Dex got to swim this morning during Jax's lesson so we do not have to go back this afternoon. Three more weeks of lessons then that's it for the summer. We'll start back up again in the fall or maybe wait until next spring.

Dex has a friend over - C. They play really well together (so far) and I hope it keeps up. I've got another 2.25 hours to go until I drop C off with his mom at the school grounds.

Stephen is going to Minnesota next week. I am already panicking about the loooooong days. How do Katie and Heidi do it with such grace? I have Nanny coming one evening then all day on the Friday. That will help. At least the kids will still be in school! I would definitely go crazier if he were going away two weeks later.

Dex is so excited because on Friday I have arranged with Chris the Bus Driver for he and I to ride the bus to school. Nosey Neighbour is going to babysit Cars while Dex and I ride the bus then walk home. I don't think Dex is going to be thrilled about the walk home. He has already asked if we can get the bus to drive us back home too.

Ooops - emergency - ball under the deck!

Dex is officially 4 now. As of yesterday. We had birthday donuts rather than a birthday cake because that is what he wanted.

Now that Dex is 4, he told me he didn't need pull-ups anymore. Sure enough he woke up dry today. We've tried this before and he can usually go 2 nights dry then wet the next night and back to pull-ups for a couple of weeks. We'll see what happens tonight.

Oh, and now that Dex is 4, he says he is a big kid and needs to take a shower. Tonight was the first shower he took without screaming about the water getting in his eyes.

The sun shone most of today but it was still cool. I am looking forward to warm weather again. Oh, listen...there goes the ice cream minivan. Some guy drives around with his minivan full of coolers hocking ice cream and playing "TURKEY IN THE STRAW" really loud.

So I caved and donated my $25 towards the preschool teachers gifts. :(

Jax fell off the swings twice today. The first time I could not stop laughing. He was saying "Look, no hands!" and then did a face plant as he swung backwards. The second time he fell off because he leaned too far forward when going forward. That one wasn't nearly as funny because he did clunk his head then the swing came back and hit him in the noggin. Ok, so it was a little funny. The kind of thing one would see on "America's Funniest Home Videos".

I have a migraine so it is early to bed for me tonight.

Lifted from katiefleck:

I'm an apparently intelligent, liberal, not-too-generous, not-too-selfish, relatively well adjusted human being!
What are you?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

Which makes me 80% compatible with katiefleck@hotmail.com. (teeheehee)

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.