Oh, nuts!

Cars is allergic to walnuts, pecans and Brazil nuts. :\ I will just say all tree nuts to make things easier because there is always risk of cross-contamination and then people trying to remember those three of the, what, nine or ten common tree nuts is just too risky.

We were late to the doctor's appointment today and that completely stressed me out! Mapquest said it would take 30 minutes which I knew we could only get there in that time if it were the middle of the night. So I gave myself an hour and it took an hour and 10 minutes! I was freaking out! It took over 30 minutes for me just to get to the highway (6 miles away). Traffic and a little bit of construction suck! Then, traffic was backed off at the exit where I needed to get off the highway (first one after crossing the bridge).

After the skin test, we were sent to Children's Hospital for blood work. I was feeling a little bummed out about the allergy test results. However, while waiting outside of the lab for Cars' blood draw, I saw so many children with severe disabilities and medical conditions, I completely snapped out of my woe-is-us attitude and kept thanking God that a life threatening food allergy is the worse of our worries.

Mystery Box

Today, Purolator delivered a package to us from Canadian Favourites. That site sells food items from Canada that are not widely available in the USA. Inside the box were all sorts of goodies! Dare Fruit Gummies, (peanut-free)Quaker Chewy Granola bars, Tim Hortons Coffee, Tim Horton's tea, a package of playing cards with Canadian facts on it.

The problem is, I have absolutely NO IDEA who sent this to us. The outside of the box only had the waybill with Canadian Favourites as the sender. And there was nothing else inside (other than the goodies packed in bubble wrap). I thought perhaps it was from Ramona so I called her but she said no. Hmmm...

Perhaps it might be from my friend, DeniSe. She sent me an email before Christmas saying that something was on its way to us (if it has not yet already arrived). Well, nothing came from her. I did email her the week after Christmas to let her know. So perhaps this is it. I called Canadian Favourites but they are based in Toronto and were closed by the time the box arrived here. I will call them again tomorrow before I contact DeniSe (just in case it was not from her).

And to add to the mystery, there was number on my caller id this tonight from the Ottawa-area but no phone message was left. They must have called just before Stephen and the boys got home (I was working out). Maybe it is from someone in Ottawa? Or maybe it was just a wrong number and it is just a coincidence that it is from Canada? Curiouser and Curiouser.

Meanwhile, the kids cannot eat anything until I know it is not from a stalker. ;)

Lazy Day

We are having a lazy day. I did not sleep well last night. Actually, I slept fine until my cellphone started beeping shortly after 4am because the battery was low. I could not get back to sleep until after 5:30am! Then I was up at 6:30.

Today was Cars' last day at Sunday school because I decided to pull him from the program. I think I mentioned that he cries every week because it is held in the same room as his regular preschool class and the first week of Sunday school he was so upset because his regular preschool teachers were not there. Cars also did not like the teachers - one seems a little stern. Today she yelled when one of the kids bolted out of the class rather than just go after him. It was like "OMG! J has run out again! Quick! GO AFTER HIM!" to the other teacher. All of the kids jumped and then wanted to know what was going on. I am glad I made the decision to pull him out. We only went today because I was on the schedule to be the parent helper and I did not want to leave them short-handed.

*yawn* I need a nap. I think I shall declare a mandatory quiet time this afternoon.

A Very Happy Friday

Listen! Do you hear that? It is the sweet sound of rain! Pouring rain! Oh, yes - it is raining!! No more snow! Most of the snow has already melted. Who knew I would be so happy to welcome the winter rain?

Yesterday I signed Jax's 504 Plan at school and it is official. Well, except that the 504 coordinator for the school did not actually show up at the meeting and it will not be totally official until her signature is on the plan. I could tell that the principal and school psychologist were not very happy about that. Anyway, they will send me one more copy of the plan once it has the coordinator's (she is the whack school counselor) signature. After the formalities were complete, the principal asked me if she could refer other parents to me who were interested in going through the same process. WHAT?! Does this mean that the school district has had a change of policy and they will be writing up 504 Plans?! It felt so weird because of the tension filled meetings we have had in the past.

No Cosmo Friday today because Ash's dd is sick and Laurie cannot make it either. So instead of Cosmos, I shall imbibe in chocolate. More satisfyinig anyway. ;)

Now, I am off to Costco to buy TurboTax ($15 coupon in the Costco wallet savings booklet) and pork chops (coupon there too). And to get some veggies. Generators are $200 off this week too. Hmmm...

No school for Cars yet again today. The school was on a delayed start today so no preschool. No delays or cancelations for Jax and Dex. The snow is melting and hopefully will be all gone by the end of the weekend.

The allergist's office called this morning to say that the doctor wanted to know if I wanted to get Cars in earlier to see her. Of course I do! The appointment we had was for the end of February - that is longer than most new patients have to wait! So he has an appointment for next week but we have to take him to the Seattle office. I have never been to that office before and already my stomach is fluttering when I think about driving across the bridge.

Tomorrow's Cosmo Friday is at my house. Not sure if Ash will make it because her dd is sick. I need to get more wheat-free crackers for Laurie.

Edited to add a link to The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network's statement regarding the "Boston Legal" episode which I wrote about on Tuesday.
FAAN Press Release - Boston Legal: It’s not about who is liable

Squee!

My bff is coming to visit me for my birthday!

Game On!

Hurray! School is on today with a 1 hour delayed start (it is also an early release day though).

On last night's Boston Legal, there was a story about a teacher being sued because a child in her class died from a peanut anaphylaxis. The teacher was on the telephone when it happened so there was a delay before she administered the epi pen. The parents were suing her to make sure that she and others would "take care". Ok, so since the teacher was a client of Crane Poole & Schmidt, I knew that she would prevail (why do they never lose a case on that show?!).

Anyway, in the end, they blamed the parents for not hiring a "shadow nurse" to follow the boy around school. Or for not sending him to a private school where the student/teacher ratio is lower. I was so pissed off at that because what about the parents who could not afford to do that? While the teacher was not completely to blame (a child sneaked in a candy bar with peanuts), turning around and blaming the parents is ridiculous. Now, I know that it was just a fictional show, but many people will take away from it that the parents were to be blamed. It is just a sad situation and I can see why in their grief they would want someone held responsible.

It reminded me of one person on a forum I used to frequent who would always tell me that if her child had a peanut allergy, she would *never* send them to school but would homeschool them. Well good for her but that is not a practical situation for everyone. Not everyone has the resources or ability to homeschool. And really, my child is required to go to school so the schools should be required to ensure he is safe while in their care. And sadly, it sometimes does take lawsuits or threats of losing federal funds for the schools to be responsive and responsible. Why not just do the right thing in the first place?

No school yet again today thanks to a new round of snow.

I can't believe this. Seriously. I can't.

I had good intentions. Terry could not meet me tonight but I was determined to go work out anyway. I got changed. I strapped on my heart rate monitor, put my shoes on and coat but as I was driving, Joann Fabrics was calling. I stopped at the one that was (sort of) on the way because but it was closed due to "power outage". So, I decided I would make a quick stop at the one that was a little out of the way to the club. But, it was their MLK day sale and so I had to look at EVERYTHING. Before I knew it, it was 8:55 and they were announcing that the store was closing! Yikes! Where did the time go?

But, chenille was on sale for $4.99/yard (regularly $12.99!). I really have no idea what I am going to do with the chenille but who can pass it up at that price? I browsed up and down nearly every aisle in the store (except the wedding supplies and picture frames).

Anyway, so I did not work out. I feel quite guilty now. But, I did get some good deals. :) I will definitely have to work out sometime during the week to make up for tonight. Definitely.

We did not do much this weekend. It is still cold and it snowed again yesterday. This is getting ridiculous!

No school for the boys tomorrow (MLK Jr. Day). We are invited to a birthday party (Ding-Dong girl's brother turns 4). I will need to run out in the morning to buy him a gift and to go to Michaels and Joann's to get supplies for Thursday's MOPS meeting. Thursday will also be our table's day for bringing food so I will take a breakfast casserole and some juice. BTW, OJ has not been a good price since the beginning of the year. What is that all about? Everyone trying to get healthy with their New Year's resolutions so the stores do not have to put OJ on sale? Normally, I would just not buy it until it was on sale but Cars drinks calcium-fortified OJ at lunch and dinner since he cannot drink milk (for breakfast he gets apple juice and 2 calcium supplements).

I was supposed to teach Art Start in Dex's class on Friday. I don't imagine it will get rescheduled this month because I don't really have the time. I'll see if one of the other moms can do it. Also, I am working with someone to do that class' auction project. No idea what we are doing, when it is due or anything. Well, I know it is due before the auction which is in mid-March. Now we have to come up with a great idea for a project that people will want to bid on and that will not cost the classroom parents a lot of money. I saw these ideas and thought they were neat and could be done for under $100 (or less than $5/per child):

= a chess set made from an IKEA table ($15) and the chessmen will be made by screwing different shaped wood pieces together. The kids will paint the pieces and we'll put a picture of each child on one of the light coloured squares on the table
= a collage of sun print paper - each child will make one sun print and we'll frame them in white. I think it would look pretty
= mosaic bird bath (I stole this idea from here: http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/alki/auction2005/studentart.htm
= celebration chair (this one is done all the time though)

I am meeting with another mom this week and hopefully we can decide what we are going to do and get cracking on it!

I took the kids sledding at Ash's again this afternoon. Boy, they had a blast. The snow would not nearly be so bad if they had the trucks to plough the damn roads! Anyway, this time when it was time to go it was the back hatch door that was frozen solid. Two more days until it starts to warm up.

A weird thing happened at Book Club last night. Just as we were beginning the discussion of the book ("The Myth of You and Me: A Novel" by Leah Stewart), P. blurted out that she was jealous of the friendship that Ash and I had and that she wanted to be Ash's best friend. Then she said that she knows that Ash and I had known each other longer (this was not true and everyone knows that they have known each other a little longer) so she understands but it still makes her sad. HUH? It was weird and uncomfortable and not something that you expect a 38 year old woman to say. The she said that perhaps she is just not a good friend which of course everyone had to say "Oh, you are a great friend". It was more than a little uncomfortable, and I felt that I should say something but in the end I just lifted my glass and took a big swig of wine. I really like P. but I don't understand her motive for saying it, especially at Book Club.

The ladies from Book Club left about 30 minutes ago. It was a fun time tonight. I was worried that everyone would cancel due to the icy roads but everyone carpooled and trucked on over in their 4x4's.

The roads are very icy. The temperatures dropped very quickly about 4pm and everything froze solid. We went sledding in Ash's backyard but when it was time to go home at 4:15, the sliding doors to my van were frozen and would not open. I had all of the kids climb in through the trunk then I had to climb in from the front seat to buckle Cars in his carseat. One of the doors is still slightly open and it will neither open nor close. I'll run the car for a while tomorrow to see if I can warm up the car enough to de-ice the door.

And speaking of tomorrow, no school. So, that is the 4th snow day for the year (and 5th day if you count the power outage day). The school has not built in these snow days so there are so many theories about how they are going to make it up. The most recent one is that the governor of the state is going to decree a one-time only deal where it is ok that the kids miss so many hours of school this year because of all of the weather-related missed days. Also, our kids get out early on Wednesdays so there is talk of extending the days on some Wednesdays to make up the hours. It will be interesting to see what they decide.

Stephen went to work for a couple of hours today. He drove with Ash's dh to go and rescue their stranded car then he and Gar drove to work together. They just stayed about 3 hours then headed home once the temperatures dropped. Gar dropped Stephen off at the church and Stephen was able to get his car up our hill to home. We'll see how the roads are tomorrow. Temperatures are not expected to go until Sunday or Monday.

Ok, off to bed. I hope the kids sleep in since there is no school in the morning!

More Snow!

We awoke to a smattering of snow. Then a huge storm hit just before the evening rush hour. Stephen had planned to work late to get some project finished but then decided at 6pm that he should leave. He stayed an extra 20 minutes and then got on the road. After 2 hours he had made it about 3 miles. He stopped at the Redmond Town Center to see if he could get a room at the Marriott but they were booked solid! He now has decided to go get some dinner and will try again to head home.

It took Ash's dh 3 hours to get home. One hour of it was walking though because he finally had to abandon his car about 2 miles (and three huge hills) from home. He has graciously offered to take their truck out with chains on to get Stephen. I haven't heard back yet from anyone to see if Stephen has taken him up on that offer.

The biggest problem is that the temperatures are dropping so the slick roads are going to turn icy. I hope he gets home tonight!

Good News!

Some good news for a change! The school called today and they have decided that Jax is eligible for a 504 plan. I am going in on January 18th to sign it to make it official. All this discord and it is over like that! What a relief though.

The wind storm came and went. It did not last long. The temperature is dropping and it is raining so perhaps we'll wake up to snow in the morning.

Cars has an appointment with the allergist next month (nice of them to get us in so quickly). Cars keeps asking me if food is peanut-free before he eats it. I have to keep reminding him it is walnuts we are concerned about right now.

Yet another wind storm is headed our way. As well as very cold temperatures and perhaps some snow. I am off to Costco tomorrow so I will be sure to stock up on some things to carry us through another power outage if need be (and don't think I haven't thought about picking up a generator!). Also, Book Club is meeting here on Thursday nigth so I need to get some yummy food to serve. I shall have to stop at Trader Joe's or PCC to get some wheat-free crackers for Laurie too.

Kris mentioned in the comments yesterday that 2007 is not off to a good start for me. Indeed! Today, Cars had an allergic reaction to walnuts. Swollen lips, hives and a cough which fortunately Benadryl took care of. Tomorrow I shall be calling the allergist to have him tested for all tree nuts.

Not Letting Go

Ok, Ed from Dell called me this morning at 6:27am. Can you believe it?!

The call went like this:

Me: {groggy} Hello
Ed: Hello, this is Ed from Dell calling for DeniSe.
Me: *sigh* Ed, do you realize that it is 6:27 in the morning?!
Ed: I am sorry but this case was flagged as an urgent call back so I was calling to see if you had received the software we sent to you.
Me: Call back some other time, please!

So, now I just cannot drop it and boy is Ed going to get an earful. I have his callback number (he left it for me the other day). I wonder if this was flagged as urgent because he promised to call me back in three days and today is actually the 4th day.

And WTF is up with not checking the time in the time zone you are calling?! I realize that Ed is in India but certainly they must have something to tell them what time it is on WA state.

It reminds me of when Verizon called me at 6:42 one morning to thank me for switching over to Verizon DSL. When I called them back to complain about the call, the woman told me that they *never* call customers before 9am. So I told her that I had a call register over my Verizon phone line on my Verizon caller ID box that Verizon called me at 6:42 in the morning so don't tell me that Versizon does not call before 9am, TYVM. Then I canceled the DSL, refused the package when UPS delivered it and whenever Verizon calls to ask me if I want DSL, I tell them exactly why I will not.

I have my laptop up and running although it is not exactly set up like it was and I have lost some things. I am not happy about it and I intend to let Dell know exactly what I think although Stephen says I should just let it go. But I cannot! I can't let it go! Just like last week when I bought dinner at KFC and the guy rang it up wrong (overcharged me) and the girl who came over to help him was snotty to me ("this would not be so hard if it weren't paid with VISA"). I told her I wanted my money back and to cancel my order and just why did she think it was ok for her to speak to me that way? Her jaw dropped to the floor and she got all flustered then the manager came over. I pointed out to him that his employee seemed to think it was a problem that they accept VISA at their restaurant. Really, I should have just let it go but I could not! I really just wanted to leave with a refund and my dignity but Stephen had his heart set on KFC and if I came home without it he would be so disappointed. And I really don't want to think about what the girl did to my meal while the manager spoke to me.

So, I really should just let it go. But I couldn't. Just like I cannot let this Dell problem go. Perhaps after I write them a letter I will feel better. I probably don't even need to send it. My Crazy Doctor used to suggest things like that to me (writing unsent letters). Perhaps I just might do that.

TGI(C)F

Thank Gawd it's Cosmo Friday!

It has been hard getting back to our normal schedule this week. Especially since things were not exactly normal for a couple of days. The park was closed (I mentioned that), my laptop is not back up and running (I mentioned that too), and it was only a 4 day week. Next week will be better.

We are having another windstorm and yet another one is due tomorrow night. I can hear the furniture blowing off the deck (no, we did not put away all of our plastic deck furniture!). I had Stephen pick up some more Duraflame logs on the way home, just in case the power goes out and we use the fireplace again for heat.

I found out this past week too that Duraflame uses "ground nut shells" in their products. I emailed them to ask exactly what kind of nut shells they use. They use ground walnut and almond shells. And, the product is 35% ground nut shells! Yikes!

I am over my Dell rant. I am still ticked about the whole situation and figure that I probably will not get my disks until Monday. I don't like it but I will deal with it.

The woman I know with that dementia stopped by today to ask me if I wanted to take her to Tully's. She had been out walking with her FIL - who has moved here with MIL to help take care of her and the family. He was standing on the sidewalk shaking his head for me to say NO. She has deteriorated terribly in the last few months. Her family is thinking about moving her into a home because she keeps running away. The problem is that she is only 47 and they are having a hard time finding a home that will take someone that young. It is so very sad.

So, my problem with my laptop has been properly put into perspective.

Friggin' Dell

My hard drive failed and the right button on the palm rest broke so they sent a hardware guy out to replace them. The problem is that the hard drive is brand new and of course there is nothing loaded on it. No operating system, no software that I had already paid for when I bought the laptop. I am mad! The hardware guy says that these hard drives rarely fail (hmmm, I did not get that impression reading the forums on the Dell website) so they do not send the OS or drivers Cd's automatically anymore and it saves Dell money.

So, I call Dell and am on hold off and on for an hour while "Ed" tries to figure out what disks I need. He finally narrows it down to 5 and tells me I should receive them in 3-5 business days. I asked him to expedite it and he says he cannot because they only expedite if they do not ship in a timely manner (HUH?!). I asked to speak to his supervisor and Ed tells me that the manager will say the same thing. I told him that they did not ship in a timely manner because the guy I originally communicated with on December 30th should have had the disks sent out with the hard drive and palm rest. "Oh, I had not thought of that. I see what you are saying" and he puts me on hold again for 10 minutes as I wait for the manager. He comes on the phone and apologizes for the problem and says they will send the disks expedited but they will not go out until tomorrow because we missed the day's mail cut off - by 10 minutes! Aargh!

Now, I have to wait until I receive the disks, reload all of the software myself, then load the other programs I had installed, reconfigure my mail program and wireless network and hopefully get back to where I was before. And, on top of it all, I forgot to delete all my old files and cookies off the old hard drive so I need to change all of my passwords on all of my accounts!

Dude, don't get a Dell!

The Christmas tree is down and out the door. Stephen cut it into pieces and it is now in the yard recycling bin. I do not have the energy to put the PEZ cabinet back where it belongs so for now I am going to keep it where it stands and hope we do not have an earthquake (it is normally strapped to the wall).

I am thinking of bringing down the other big armchair from the boys old room to put in the nook where the tree was. Then I will put the reading lamp beside it and have a nice little reading corner. We'll see how that works.

We had another windstorm today and the lights flickered on and off several times. I think I would have been disheartened if the power went out. When I went to the park to pick the kids up from school, more than half of the parking lot (about 30 parking spaces and about 15 feet high) was covered with debris/fallen trees from the big wind storm that the city cleaned up from the park. It was amazing to see.

The National Weather Service is holding a contest to name that storm. Some of the suggestions so far are "Typhoon Merry", "The Big Blow" and "Seattle Unplugged". Suggestions can be sent to namethewindstorm@noaa.gov until Thursday of this week.

2007!

Happy New Year!

We had a great time last night, ringing in the New Year with some good friends and good food.

I looked back at my goals/resolutions for last year and realized that I did not accomplish any of them! Doh! So no resolutions other than the one to de-clutter my house and get rid of items that we no longer need or use. I think I can accomplish that one.

Our vacuum which was on its last legs (er, wheels) stopped sucking the other day. I had really, really, really wanted a Dyson but after checking out Consumer Reports and seeing that a Kenmore, for half the price, did a better job, I headed out to Sears yesterday and now we are the proud new owners of a Kenmore Progressive Upright Vacuum with Inteli-Clean System. The Inteli-Clean system is a bunch of lights which show green (low dirt), amber (more dirt) and red (tons-o-dirt). Embarrassingly enough, it glowed RED the whole time I was vacuuming. Apparently, our old one really hadn't been working well for some time.

Blah blah blah...

Yesterday, was Ash's 40th birthday. Her dh arranged for Nanny to babysit the kids (they all came here) and four couples went out to dinner. It was a fun time. I passed the 40th Birthday Tiara onto Ash to wear. It was a lot of fun and I think she had a great birthday celebration.

We still have snow on the grass. This must be some kind of record - 4 days after the snowfall! It is like now ice but still hanging around. Weird weather.

The right button on my laptop's touchpad stopped working just before Christmas. I finally ran diagnostics on it today then contacted Dell. Turns out the whole "palm rest" needs replacing. Then I happened to mention that I also had another error message when running diagnostics...now I need a new hard drive! Good quality product I have here. :\

Tomorrow night we are going to Ash's for New Year's Eve celebration. No doubt fireworks will go off at midnight. I think we were very lucky on the 4th of July not to be cited for fireworks so I wonder if we might just pushing our luck now.

I am have a good start on my goal to get rid of some of the stuff in my house! Today, I gave away some baby stuff to my SIL while she and my brother came by for a short overnight visit. Whoo-hooo!

Today was a very cold winter day (for here). We had snow again yesterday (what is up with this winter?!) and it became all crunchy today. The sky was so blue so we decided to go tubing in the mountains. However, when we arrived there were about 400 people in line in front of us to pay for the session so we turned around and stopped in this little area down the street and just went tobogganing. It was such a blast! Jax is such a kamikaze!

Edited to add some photos from yesterday (click for larger if you like):

 
Dex sliding down a mini-hill sans sled

Cars kicking back enjoying the snow

Jax racing down the hill

Stephen making a snowball (Look at that blue sky! 
A rarity for me to see in the winter!)

Enjoying hot chocolate after sledding

Christmas rocked! The kids were delighted with their Christmas gifts, especially Jax We told the kids it was our "tradition" not to build Lego on Christmas day so they have been working them this morning. Stephen is building Cars' Lego.

We had two families come over for dinner and everyone had a grand time. I was only really stressed when I realized that dinner was going to be about 30 minutes later than I had planned because our friend's son, who has Asperger's Syndrome, started saying he was ready to go home before dinner and I really thought they would pack up and go then (they would have in the past) but they were able to encourage him to find something to do and he was fine.

Stephen spoiled me rotten of course. He totally surprised me and bought me a gorgeous purse and matching wristlet/wallet. I am so impressed! This is the man who in the past has surprised me a 19" monitor for the computer for Christmas (that one went back).

T and I braved the mall today. She bought a ton of stuff but I just bought a bunch of candles on clearance at Pottery Barn to replace all of the candles we burned during the power outage.

Ash's 40th birthday is this week. I am not sure what to get her. I did buy her some hand and foot cream from Arbonne (I signed up to be a consultant but that is really just to get the discount on the products - I love their face creams!). Not sure what else to get her.

JP and Marilyn are arriving tomorrow for an overnight stay. Gotta get the guest room cleaned out because it became our dumping ground for all the stuff we needed to move out of the way to set up two tables for Christmas dinner. We were going to take the kids tubing at the pass but the weather will be bad tomorrow and we do not have chains to be driving around in that snow. Perhaps we will go Thursday.

Oh and for Christmas, Dex made me a painted ceramic plaque at school. It is of the family and I love it. I opened it up and told him how great it was, that he got everyone's eye colour correct and I loved the detail. He said it was not that accurate and he was sorry because "I didn't paint you with the grey in your hair". LOL

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. Here is one of my favourite quotes from a Christmas show:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'".

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

P.S. Peace on Earth

Stuff

In my quest to get my house in shape for Christmas, I have decided that I have too much stuff. Way too much. All of my cupboards and closets are busting at the seams. I could not find a place to put away some votive candle holders that I took out during the storm (I cannot for the life of me remember where I found them but there is definitely NO place to put them back). I have two wicker baskets of stuff sitting in my bedroom with things I need to hang on to until a later date (most of it is MOPS crafts crap and the other is an Art Start project that I sometime need to deal with for an end-of-year gift for the teacher).

We do not park out cars in the garage so that is filled up with stuff. Granted, right now some of it are the Christmas boxes down from the loft in the garage but the other things like skateboards, helmets, traffic cones, bikes, an easel, ladders (3!), garbage pails, recycle bins, lawn mower, gas trimmer, paint cans, ETC have taken over. Never mind the shelves with SpongeBob Squarepants shaved ice makers, pasta drying racks, party supplies, and so on. Seriously, too much stuff!

And now Christmas is in a few short days so we will be adding MORE stuff to the mix!

So, my NEW YEAR'S resolution is go to through each and every room, closet, cupboard, shelf in the house and garage and get rid of at least 25% of everything. At least 25%! That would include my size 10 purple wool skirt that I purchased in 1989 (which btw, is probably considered a size 6 these days), two bridesmaid dresses (both of which are from weddings in 1992 and which are identical except one is red the other is royal blue), the Spongebob shaved ice maker, a dozen sippy cups, a breast pump (!), Jesse Ventura Governor of Minnesota doll (don't ask!), mason jars, a hot diggity dogger (a Christmas gift from the IL's the first year we were married).

So much stuff that will be gone from my house. Gone! And there will be room to move around and put things away without jamming things into cupboards. I must do this as I fear I will turn into a compulsive hoarder.

Dear Santa

Jax's Christmas list to Santa included:

1) Jango Fett Slave I lego set
2) "Superball Shoes"
3) Yu-Gi-Oh cards

#1 is taken care of and my brother got him #3. Now, about #2...I explained to him today one could not really bounce as high as the kids in the Superball Shoes commercial without help. He immediately wanted to email Santa and this is what he wrote:

Dear Santa Claus,

When I asked you for SuperBall Shoes ( Bouncy shoes with balls in them,) I thought you could bounce really high in them like in the commercial. Then I discovered that on the commercial, they probably were bouncing on a trampoline. I just wanted you to know I don’t want them any more.

Instead, I would like a Pirates of the Caribbean Electronic Black Pearl Ship Playset.

I hope what my friends say about you not existing doesn’t offend you. I know you exist though. (*Sigh*,) to bad they don’t know about you.

I’ve been trying to be the best I can around these times in December.

Sincerely,

Jax Ourlastname

OMG, I had tears in my eyes after I read it. This certainly is the last year that he will believe in Santa so spending that outrageou$ amount on that one gift might be worth it after all (ok, I am trying to justify it here).

And for the record, he is not getting a Pirates of the Caribbean Electronic Black Pearl Ship Playset.

Oh Sh*t

Oh Sh*t #1:

Our very full upright freezer that survived the 55 hour power outage (due to being jammed packed and the fact that we only opened the door two times), did not survive Jax's leaving the door ajar last night when he helped himself to a frozen Go-gurt. We tossed out half of the freezer. Again, thanks to the two frozen turkeys, we did not lose the expensive meat but all of the processed foods (why did they defrost so quickly?!) and all leftovers. I will be cooking up ground sausage and bacon later today.

Oh Sh*t #2:

I bought the WRONG friggin' Lego off ebay! It is the wrong one! Aargh! We just realized last night. Stephen said to me last night that Jax is going to be so happy because the Lego has "rare figures" and he keeps talking about it. I thought that the figures were not so rare because we already had one of each (Boba Fett and Han Solo in Cabonite). Then we both realized that we bought a Boba Fett and not a Jango Fett Lego (ok, tell me that you understand the difference here). And WTH would Lego have a billion different versions of "Slave I"?

I figured that we could just buy something else off the list to Santa but that would not do for Stephen. So this morning we started checking ebay again and there was no way we were going to be able to outbid these people AND get the Lego here by Christmas. Much to Stephen's chagrin, I searched FROOGLE ("Why don't you use BigSoftwareCompany LIVE?") and found the one we need at an exorbitant price but we could buy it right away and have it sent Expre$$ $hipping to have it here by Christmas. I feel just sick about the cost of it. Stephen says we learned our lesson today - If you throw enough money at it, you can save Christmas. :\

Tick-Tock

The clock is ticking and Christmas is coming! I feel as though I still have so much to do although in reality, much of it is already done. That storm and subsequent power outage has thrown everyone off and into Christmas panic mode.

Tomorrow, Stephen is taking the day to finish up his shopping. He has taken upon himself to do the stocking stuffers for the boys each year. He will also finish buying the gifts for the kids from the grandparents.

I haven't worked out in ages. The club does not have power completely restored to all of their facilities and apparently there are long waits to use the one cardio room that is open (with a 20 minute work-out limit). Hopefully by Thursday or Friday I will be able to get back to it. I am feeling like goo.

For the first time since Wednesday night, I slept in a warm bed last night and it was wonderful!

I have to make one last trip to the post office today to mail my nieces' gifts to them. The package should arrive by Wednesday or Thursday as I will send it priority. We need to get out in shifts today to finish Christmas shopping too. And find a store with milk to get us through the day (the milk man should be delivering tomorrow morning). The city to the south of us was still mainly without power yesterday so I will not be heading that way to do shopping. So that leaves the shopping areas in the city to the north/west will be just packed. What's the Christmas season without some hustle and bustle and crowds?

The Big Blow Out

Whew! The windstorm brought damaging winds that completely devastated our power lines. Trees were down EVERYWHERE and we were without power at our house from 8pm Thursday to 11am Sunday.

After I picked the kids up from school on Thursday, I filled the car with gas and bought some extra D batteries. I also bought a few snacks for the kids. We were fine with food. I thought about buying some Duraflame logs but we have not used out fireplace since 1999 so I decided against it.

We had driving rain and the wind started to pick up. Our book club decided to still go out for our Christmas dinner celebration even though the winds were high. The big storm wasn't due to hit until after 10pm so we figured we would be home safely by then.

While I was gone, the power went off at our house so Stephen let the kids sleep in the living room. About 10:30pm, the gate and one section of our fence blew down and hit the side window to the living room but fortunately did not break the window (you can see where the screen was damaged by the fence in the picture):



Of course there was no school (or work) on Friday morning because more than a million homes were without power. We decided to take a look around and this is what we saw:



This tree was well over 100 feet tall and very thick. My friend lives directly to the right of the house where the tree stood. She did not allow her kids to sleep in their bedroom that night because she was worried about this tree. It fell the other way though. These people decided to sleep in their downstairs (on the other side of the house) that night. The tree fell at 1:30am, crushing their bed and crashing straight through to the garage.



This house is across the street from the park which backs onto the school yard. It was hit by 4 trees. You can see the blue tarp on the roof. Their car was also crushed and had just been towed down the street so that crews could get to the power lines and trees. The log in the lower right of the picture was a utility pole that had toppled but was already chopped up into three sections.



This is just one of many streets where the power lines were down and laying across the roads. This street runs perpendicular to the park. A person I know told me that earlier in the morning you could not even look down the street because of all of the trees.

By Saturday morning it was 57 degrees in the house. I took the kids to Safeway in the early afternoon (they had generators to power their cash registers but no lights in the store and they were not selling meat, dairy or frozen foods).

The rest of the day we just hung out, cooked meals on the grill and the power outage was seeming a little "old". Ash and Gar packed it in and decided to drive to visit his sister in Portland. They left us some duraflame logs and the propane tank to their grill since ours was running low. By early evening, the house was 51 degrees. We started burning the duraflame logs, hoping that we would not have a chimney fire because we do not use our fireplace at all. At 6:30pm, our neighbour across the street told us to come over because he bought a generator and had light and heat (space heaters). We went over and watched a dvd. We got home, bundled up and slept in front of the fireplace (which really did not give up much heat).

This morning it was 47 degrees in the house. On the way to church, I noticed that the Shell station had power (and 20 cars in line for gas). Some of the traffic lights were running on the main street. No power in church though. The power came back on about an hour after I arrived home from church.

Now, this week I will be finishing up my Christmas shopping and also re-stocking our emergency supplies. And calling a chimney guy to check out our fireplace and chimney to ensure it really is safe to burn logs. BTW, the wind-up radio I bought after 9/11 worked really well but I am going to buy one that lasts more than 15 minutes on a charge. I already had this one on my Christmas list, which I am sure now Stephen will consider buying me (before the power outage, he told me we did not need another one). :)

Yet Another Winter Storm

A huge windstorm is on its way. The schools have canceled all after-school activities which includes Dex's 1st Grade Holiday Performance tonight. Gav's school has been without power since lunchtime. Tree branches are down all over the place. We are supposed to have our book club's Christmas celebration at a restaurant tonight but now some people are worried about driving along the parkway with all the tall trees dropping branches (or falling down).

Anyway, we'll see how the weather changes in the next four hours before I decide if I will venture out. And I suppose I should go and pick up some extra batteries after I get Jax and Dex from school.

Did you know

...that it is next to impossible to find a Harry Potter toy in stores when the movie is not in the theatres or newly available on dvd?

...that when you pick a tag off the Giving Tree you should consider that kind of thing?

...that dragging three children to 5 stores looking for out-of-date, impossible to find toys makes for three very grumpy children?

...that the duplicate Harry Potter toys that ones child received at a birthday three years before can come in very handy if you keep forgetting to sell them at your garage sale or putting them in the Goodwill box?

We had our meeting with the school this morning. They did not say that Jax was not eligible for a 504. They said that the health plan provides the same protections as a 504 so a 504 was not needed. "The school district views the health plan and a 504 plan as the same thing" was repeated over and over again. The problem is that they are not the same thing and they do not provide the same protections.

In any event, rather than go ahead with the 504 evaluation, they have insisted that we now speak to someone from the school district's Special Services area. If they were so sure that Jax was not eligible, they would go ahead with the evaluation and deem him ineligible. Now it is apparent that they just do not want a 504 plan for him for other reasons. I think that their push to keep from evaluating Jax proves that he is indeed eligible.

This stress has given me yet another migraine. I will wait until the kids are home from school before I take some meds (Replax - similar to Imitrex) and then have a quick nap before dinner.

I spent much of today writing Christmas cards after promising myself that I was going to make Stephen do his share of them this year. I have left him about a dozen (his aunts and some high school friends). Hell, I will probably end up doing them tomorrow while he is at work so they will get done and mailed "on time". To be fair, he has decided to put together a dvd with photos from the past year and he has spent the last three nights working on it (you know you have to get those picture fades and transitions just right to go along with the music - or so he claims).

I had planned to go out Christmas shopping today but it was a torrential downpour most of the day and I really did not want to drag Cars around in that. So now I am down to one day to get the last few items that need to be mailed to Canada. Yikes!

We finished putting the tinsel on the Christmas tree tonight so I was able to take a picture (click each photo for larger images).

First, here are the boys decorating the tree:


Here it is with the lights on and after we put the tinsel on. Dex had a heyday with it (notice the globs here and there):


And here is the Pez Cabinet after I moved it to the other side of the living room:

I almost lost my purse tonight. I left it in the bathroom in a store. Thank God it was still there. I was mostly concerned about losing my Green Card (I have to carry it with me at all times) but I also had money in my purse (I usually carry less than $20 and just use my debit card). I am so lucky.

Yesterday when Jax unpacked his backpack, there was a letter from the principal addressed to the parents of the students in Jax's class. The letter states that one of the students has a "severe nut allergy that can be life threatening if he/she is exposed to any form of nut products".

WTF?! He is allergic to PEANUTS, not "nuts" and any form of "nut products" will not do it, only PEANUTS will. I cannot believe this shit - she has just made things worse! There goes all credibility because now the letter is just plain inaccurate and therefore looks stupid.

The timing is suspect of course too. I have been pushing for this damn letter since August and now suddenly, on the Friday before Tuesday's meeting she sends this letter. The main point of contention over this whole ordeal has been that his health plan states that a letter will go home stating that he has a life-threatening peanut allergy and no such letter had been sent (until this piece of crap that came home yesterday). Aargh!

Cosmo Moms

Last month I read this article about Cosmopolitan Moms who get together Friday afternoons for a drink after a hard week of taking care of the kids. ;) Ash, Laurie and I decided that we just needed to do this too so last Friday we met at Laurie's after school and had a glass of wine and some munchies and chatted while the kids watched a movie. We had so much fun that we decided to do it again today but this time we actually did drink Cosmopolitans. Yum! It was so fun and we have decided that it will be our Friday drink of choice.

Last book club, Laurie showed us so photos of her old boyfriends so Ash and I did the same today. It was a hoot. I found out that Ash had been engaged to a different guy before too! Oh my, the things you learn while sipping Cosmos. ;)

I finally have a handle on my Christmas shopping (thanks to online shopping). I still have a few gifts to buy and mail to Canada but these should fit in envelopes so no huge rush to get them in the mail by today (which I thought was the deadline but it is actually on the 13th).

This and That

Killjoy is just that.

It's a girl! (my brother and sister-in-law's baby-to-be).

Christmas is coming way too fast.

Now, I am off to bed with a wicked migraine. I hope the boys do not kill each other before Stephen gets home from work in an hour.

Aaargh!

After careful consideration, I created a great list of things for Jax, Dex and Cars for Christmas for his aunts/uncles to buy for them. There were things like board games, books, cd's etc - all reasonably priced. Stephen decided today that he is going to buy an xbox 360 so he emailed his brothers and asked if they would like to buy things like xbox 360 controllers and games for the boys and they said YES. It irritates me because now Christmas is going to be about a friggin video game system. I am MAD.

I don't care that he is buying an xbox 360. He says that is what he wants for Christmas (and he can get it with a small discount from work) but I don't want my children's christmas to be an xbox 360 christmas. It would be different if they were older and other toys did not interest them. I had some cool ideas like Stare! Junior, some Star Wars chapter books, blocks for Cars, Make Your Own Rootbeer for Dex, etc. All fun, non-tv screen/computer screen activities. I limit them playing time so what fun is it for them to get a xbox controller for Christmas when they are only allowed to play for 2x/week for an hour?

Anyway, I need to cool down, review my Christmas master list. Looks like the budget has been blown.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

After looking at the rainy forecast for the next week, we decided to go ahead and get our tree yesterday. It is definitely no fun looking for a tree in the pissing rain.

We decided on an 8' tree this year so I had to put it against the wall where the PEZ cabinet stands. Which meant emptying the 300+ PEZ, moving the cabinet to a temporary location on the other side of the living room, and setting up the 300+ PEZ again. As you can imagine, this took quite a bit of time. I actually was not so smart when moving them and placed them all in two wicker laundry baskets so I had to re-sort them all again before putting them back. Next time, I will sort they by shelf.

Anyway, the tree looks great up against the that wall although my red tree topper blends into the red wall. I have been on the look-out for the perfect lighted star for the top of the tree. I haven't found it yet.

I put the lights up last night and today after school, the kids will put the ornaments up. I love the mish-mash look that the tree has after the kids have put like 5 purple glass balls side-by-side. I'll post a picture of the tree once the decorations and gobs of tinsel are up.

NaBloPoMo

We have started getting ready for Christmas. Stephen hung the outdoor lights today with help from Jax and Dex. I rearranged some furniture in the living room to make room for the tree that we will probably get next weekend. We should probably have gone today since it is not raining. We usually just get our tree from Home Depot.

Today the PTSA sponsored a "Christmas Shoppe" at the school where kids can go into the gym without their parents and buy gifts for them and have them wrapped. It is run by volunteers and proceeds go to the PTSA. Items ranged in price from 50 cents to $20.00. Jax decided that he did not want to do it but Dex did so we headed over after lunch. He had a budget of $5 for a gift for Stephen. There was nothing left besides some $3.50 candles and a $15 fake diamond necklace. He was crushed that he did not get a gift for his dad. I will have to take him out shopping next week to buy Stephen something.

There were also some teachers and parents in the library selling their tupperware, necklaces, knitted scarves and make-up stuff. Dex's teacher from last year has taken this year off work to help grow her Arbonne skin care business. She convinced me to take home samples and use it on my skin for a couple of days. She would not tell me the prices of the items until after I try them so no doubt they are expen$ive. But I am sure my skin will look great for the next three days.

One of Jax's teachers from last year and Dex's teacher from THIS year were selling scarves that they had knitted. Lots of pretty ones but overpriced IMO. Maybe I think that because I can knit and kept thinking that I could make those scarves for a lot less than they were charging.

Anyway, Jax's old teacher commented to me that she heard that Jax was having a great year at school this year. It seemed to me that she was very surprised by this. She is the one with whom he seemed to have a personality conflict with last year. He only ever got in trouble on the days that she was working and he used to come home a write little notes like "Mrs. XX is the worst teacher in the world!". She was also the one who told me that he did not speak to her in a respectful manner. He told me it was because she was mean and didn't like him. I used to scoff at that idea but later in the year I was not so sure. He definitely was not one of her favourites. At the end of the year he didn't want to give her a teacher's gift and very grudgingly signed his name to the card. I gushed to her that Jax was doing fantastic this year, and thanks for noticing. heh

Ok, time to get back to preparing for Christmas!

December already!

Yesterday, Cars and I went out and purchased a couple of Christmas presents so I can check a couple of things off my list. I stopped at an art supply store and picked up two "how to draw cartoons" books for Jax and Dex. Cars, who is usually so oblivious to what I am buying unless it is Pirate Booty or "Cars Yogurt" (soy yogurt), was very interested in what I was buying and who it was for. I told him it was going to be for his brothers but it was a surprise so don't tell them. The minute Jax got in the car after school, Cars blurts out "Mommy bought you a present of some kind of book and crayons but it is a surprise!". So, no more Christmas shopping with Cars.

And that Lego that Jax wanted for Christmas that is no longer available? Stephen insisted that we buy it off ebay anyway because this is probably the last year he will believe in Santa Claus so Stephen wants to make it special for Jax. I was able to find it for a somewhat more reasonable price (reasonable being subjective) and it arrived yesterday. It will be fun for Jax when he opens it on Christmas morning so that justifies the exorbitant price, right?

I finished my swap ornaments and have placed them in mailing envelopes but I cannot for the life of me find the stash of Christmas cards. I hate that! I was up in the garage rafters yesterday, teetering on the 8' ladder while peeking in all of the Christmas decorations/wrap boxes but still they eluded me. Looks like I will be heading out today to buy more because these are supposed to be mailed by today.

My parents were married 50 years ago today. I wish my dad were still here to celebrate it with my mom.

The End

The winter storm has come to an end. Last night, temperatures rose so we had rain rather than snow. The ice is gone from the roads. School is in (with an hour and a half delay so the kids go in at 10am). Cars' preschool is still canceled because the delayed start knocks off all morning preschool and kindergarten.

Today also marks the end of NaBloPoMo. I managed to post every day through the month but then that wasn't particularly hard for me because I tended to blog about my blah blah life most everyday anyway.

Lastly, today is the end of my sitting on my butt thinking about Christmas. I need to get in gear and buy, wrap, pack up gifts that need to be mailed to Toronto, Edmonton and Minneapolis! I am running out of time!

Snow Day #2

No school again today because the roads are still icy. Stephen did make it down the hill and off to work today. I hope he can make it home!

Comcast was supposed to come to take a look at our cable box/dvr and our cable line but the guy just called and said he cannot get his truck up the hill. Funny, the milk truck was able to make deliveries today. I bet the cable guy just does not want to work outside today (don't blame him - it is COLD!).

I made cookie dough for shortbread and sugar cookies today. I was short an egg but fortunately Neighbour had walked to the store to get some eggs. There was no milk in Safeway. None. She said they were also all out of beef and ham. Crazy!

Snow Day

No school so no school meeting. I guess it will be rescheduled until next Tuesday.

It is very cold for here - 24*F - so the snow is not melting. The roads are all ice so Stephen has decided to stay and work from home. There is no way that he will be able to drive the car up the hill so it will have to stay at the Shell station until tomorrow.

The kids are itching to go outside so I suppose I should bundle them up so they can play in the snow. This could be the last snow that they can play in for this winter season so we might as well make the most of it.

edited for clarification...24*F, not -24F
That better Pley? ;)

Let it snow...some more

Please forgive me for being a typical Pacific Northwesterner and blathering about the weather all of the time. It is just what we do.

We went all day long with no snow but then it came with a vengence right at rush-hour tonight. What a mess! Stephen almost got into an accident so he turned around and went back to work, arriving one hour after he left. He left again at 7pm but is not yet home (less than 10 miles).

Oh! He just came in (8:23). He had to walk the last 7/10 of a mile home because the car could not make it up the steep hill that leads to our street.

We'll find out in the morning if school is canceled for the kids. And if so, that means that our "Guidance Team" meeting scheduled for 8AM is also canceled so they will have to wait another week to formally tell us that Jax's disability (life-threatening allergy) makes him not eligible for a 504 Plan. Of course, everything I have read tells me that he is eligible. >:\

I have not yet heard back on the results from my CT scan. Since it was Thanksgiving last week, I figure I will give it an extra couple of days. I might need to add a day too for this snow day since snow usually shuts the whole area down for a day.

Ash is scheduled for sinus surgery in the morning too but that may be canceled due to the snow. She is having the same surgery that Stephen had 4 (or was it 5?) years ago by the same surgeon.

Ok, time to go work on my swap ornaments because they must be mailed by Friday!

Let it snow...

We awoke to a dusting of snow this morning and what looked like a promising day for more snow. Unfortunately, the snow turned to sleet and it rained most of the day. It has now again turned to snow so with luck, there will be enough snow for the boys to throw one snowball each just before bedtime.

Edited to add - it started snowing before dinner so there was plenty of snow for snowballs:

This morning as I drove down off the plateau to go work out, we had rain mixed with snow. They are predicting snow for tomorrow and of course Jax's feet have grown like 8 sizes (ok, more like 2 FULL sizes) since last year so I took him shopping this afternoon to buy some boots. I found a good deal on a pair at Mervyn's (they are closing all of their stores in WA and OR).

I also caved and bought myself a new cell phone. I could live without the caller id working and the broken screen but it was completely draining the battery in a couple of hours and that wouldn't do. T-Mobile even replaced the battery for me for free (how nice of them) but that made no difference. So out I went and purchased a new phone which also extended my service with them another six months. The service extension is not a big deal, I suppose, but it bugs me to have to do that. Especially with the spotty service we have from my house to the parkway along the lake (I just do not make any calls until I hit the lake).

I was going to buy the new phone off ebay but the phones were selling for anywhere from $60-$80 more than I had to pay (plus shipping!). Anyway, I shall now be much more careful about where I put my phone and about zipping my up my purse.

I took photos of the boys today for our Christmas cards. Unlike last year and the 60+ photos I took, this year I managed to get a decent one after 30 pictures. How wonderful that they were so cooperative.

This is not the best one but it is one of my favourites because it really captured them (not that Cars looks cross and sulky all of the time but he is three after all!)

Stephen braved the Black Friday crowds while I stayed home with the kids. He got a few items but the main ones on our list were sold out by the time he got to those stores.

I raked up a ton of leaves that I should probably have done last time we had a day of no rain. I completely filled the yard waste bin and my neck and shoulders are sore!

Movie night today "Cars" or last night's episode of "Survivor". We haven't decided yet.

Stephen has spent much of the day (after shopping) putting together all of the Harry Potter Lego sets for the boys. The Lego has all been dumped in one big bin so a lot of the time has been spent searching for just the right piece. He is so patient!

Happy Thanksgiving

Feeling better and we are off shortly to E & T's for T-day dinner.

Yesterday, I had a CT scan to take a look at what my OB/GYN thinks is incisional endometriosis (basically, he thinks some of the uterine lining leaked out of the incision in my uterus from my last c-section). Anyway, I had to drink barium for the test but I kept throwing it back up. I thought it was just the fact that the barium is oh-so-gross but later when I had the chills and a fever, I realized that I must have the flu. Then, by 2pm yesterday, Stephen had the same symptoms. We took turns napping yesterday and the kids' 8pm bedtime could not come fast enough.

We are supposed to go to E & T's house for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I cannot see that happening based on how we are still feeling at the moment. I will have to let them know soon because we are to bring the pumpkin pie.

Ash drove Jax and Dex to school today. I will pick them up when they get out at 11:30am. Poor Cars is basically on his own this morning.

The flu or some other stomach bug has landed. Of course it is Stephen and I who are sick. Jax is worried about who will make him dinner! lol Wish us luck!

I am a very proud parent today. Both Jax and Dex had glowing reviews from their teachers at Parent/Teacher interviews. Jax's especially was so good compared to last year and the attitude he copped with his teachers (I think I was too embarrassed to write about it!). He is doing really well and I think a lot of it has to do with his teacher. I do really like her (although I do still hate that the classroom is not peanut-free but that is not an issue I have with her but with the administration).

Dex is doing well and his reading has really taken off. We need to continue to work on his handwriting (which is horrible!). We asked for a stack of handwriting practice paper (you know, with the two solid lines and middle dashed line).

Jax's teacher also reminded us of the Guidance Team meeting on the 28th and that she would be there. I told her it was about peanuts and 504 plans and mentioned that I was not sure she was needed but that she could follow up with the counselor (I have been spelling that word wrong for ages - Pley - why did you not point that one out to me? ;)

Anyway, I am so proud of my boys. They ROCK!

Well, I did not accomplish much from my to-do list this weekend. I did work out and return two things to the mall. Oh, and I did buy a Christmas present so I guess that is four things. I decided that I hated the swap ornaments that I was making so I have been planning what to do in place of the ones I was making which turned out to be very cheesy-looking.

When I went to the mall to return the boots and pants, I parked in an area that I never park in so when I entered the mall, I passed by a store that I have never been in before - Coldwater Creek, so as I passed it on the way back out, I decided to pop in to look around. Ok, the clothes were nice but kind of, hmmm, how do I describe them - "old". I mean they were not out-of-date (although there were some mom jeans and stirrup pants (STIRRUP PANTS!!) in the store) but just something that perhaps my mother might wear. Oh, I then noticed that I was the youngest person in the store by at least a decade (and we all know I am no spring chicken!). One of the saleswomen, who must have been at least 60 years old, approached me and said "Oh, I love your hair! What a great effect! They did a great job!". WTF?! Did she think that I paid someone to make my hair look like it is growing-in-grey? Seriously. I was speechless and just blinked at her a few times before turning on my heel and taking my too-young-for-Coldwater-Creek self out of that store.

Reminder to self: Park outside of the Nordstrom or Macy's entrance from now on.

edited to appease Pley's spelling issues. ;)

Blah-di-blah-di-blah

I am totally blowing off my to-do list today. I did work out with Terry but that is about it. I may assemble a few packages to mail...maybe.

My gut is killing me. I am still taking antibiotics and I wonder if that it is. I missed a few doses here and there so I still have 2 left. I took one before bed last night, not heeding the warning to take with food. Ugh.

Stephen has taken the boys swimming at the club today. And then he is taking them out for lunch and to the park before the rain returns for the rest of the month. The meteorologists are excited that we stand a chance to break the all-time record for most rainfall in one month. We've already broken the November rainfall record.

I have the name of someone who was able to get a 504 plan from our school district for food allergies for her son. We met online at a food allergy forum but it turns out she is also an acquaintance of my friend, T (the kids go to the same school). So much for the district's policy of not writing 504 plans for food allergies, eh?

I called the mail-order drug company the other day to order more EpiPens® for Jax. I had to talk directly to customer service in order for them to affix the pharmacy labels directly to the EpiPens® and not just to the box. Anyway, after arguing with them that yes, they can do it because they always do it with Cars' EpiPen® Jr, they said they would send them out right away. They arrived via overnight express, in a huge box which contained a cooler with three ice packs and the EpiPens®. I wonder how much Big Software Company had to pay for that! Or is the mail-order company footing the bill? Normally, they come via regular mail.

I have been thinking a lot about going to see Crazy Doctor again. Not sure if I need to but just the fact that it is almost always on my mind makes me wonder. I was stressing so much about childcare, if I need to go, but then I decided that it would be ok to pay for daycare for Cars at the club if Crazy Doctor could not see me while Cars was at school. The club's daycare is licensed and they just charge you an additional $1/hour if you are off-site. I have this info, just in case...

My To Do List for this weekend

• meet T to work out
• return boots to Nordstroms
• return pants to B.R.
• pack up and mail present for O's baby
• pack up and mail C's birthday gift
• finish packing up and mail gift for R
• buy/mail b-day cards for L
• pack CARE package for my niece (she is away at college plus her b-day is coming up)
• finish Ornament Swaps (create, pack, mail)
• knit hat for Cars
• take photos of boys for Christmas cards
• start Christmas shopping
• order keychains for mom and mail to her

Too much to do. So why haven't I been doing any of it?!

The sun is shining and it is about 50 degrees. If you did not see the downed tree limbs and branches down everywhere, you'd never know we had a storm yesterday. Our power was out from 2pm until 6:54pm (not counting the times it went out in the morning). Some of my friend did not get their power back until 7am this morning. I guess overall we are very fortunate that we live in a pretty mild climate so it did not get too cold in the house.

MOPS was this morning. Our craft was no-slip wooden hangers. Next time we are doing Votive candles. I need to get a crack on figuring out exactly what I am going to do and get all of the supplies. I am thinking of something like these Votive Candle boats but with Christmas paper. I need to find some vellum too.

We are going to E and T's house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I am making pumpkin pies since it is nearly impossible to find some without a peanut warning on them. The Costco ones are HUGE and only $5.99 but they are made on shared equipment with peanuts. I also need to make a dessert for T's kids because they will not eat pumpkin pie. I will probably make a chocolate pudding pie or something like that.

I wore my news pants with my kick-ass boots today. :)

Another Wind Storm

Another wind storm has hit today. The power has gone off twice so far this morning so I am taking this oppoortunity to get my post in for NaBloPoMo!

I am also trying to get laundry done but it is taking FOREVER while the power goes off and on and off and on.

I was up waaaay too late last night reading online documents about "hidden disabilities" and food allergies, the responsibility for schools who receive federal funding and protecting children. I know that we are right and just because the school district has a policy where they do not like to write Section 504 plans for food allergies, they cannot deny because it is State and Federal law. Also, I have found at least one person who has a child in our school district with a Section 504 plan for their life-threatening food allergy. So, we will go in armed with that information.

To make this day even more fabulous, I accidentally ran over my new(ish) cell phone with the car today. Friggin Riggin Briggin!

OMG, where has November gone? Seriously, it feels like the 4th of the month, not the 14th! Next week is Thanksgiving then comes Christmas and I am so ill-prepared! Yikes!!

I hate-hate-hate our school district. You can guess what this is about. As always, I loathe this situation. I don't want to get into it for now. Maybe in two weeks after we have a meeting where they will FORMALLY denying Jax his legal and civil rights.

Sleepless near Seattle

Blogging early today because we are having a windstorm and it is highly likely that the power will go out.

I think I have mentioned before that many (ok most) nights Cars will wake up and end up in bed with Stephen and I. Well, with me mostly since he sleeps on my side of the bed so really it has not been a problem for Stephen. However, one night last week Cars came in and ended up sleeping on Stephen's side of the bed. The next morning, Mr. Grouchy-due-to-lack-of-sleep-and-sharing-his-pillow-with-a-three-year-old said "This is ridiculous! He cannot sleep in our bed anymore!" Easy for him to say.

Cars never comes in our room on the weekends because Friday and Saturday are "Crazy Sleep Night" which means the boys can sleep anywhere in their room or the "other room". Some nights they all climb into the double bed, other nights they put their mattresses on the floor, sometimes they just sleep on the floor with no mattress and we will blow up the queen-sized airbed for them too. They all love "Crazy Sleep Night" and will discuss and plan all week where they will sleep on "Crazy Sleep Night". Anyway, on "Crazy Sleep Night", Cars never comes in our room. I think it is because when he awakens, he is close to either Jax or Dex and doesn't feel the need to come into our room.

Ok, so Stephen has had enough and I really would like to sleep a whole night without having to share my pillow so last night before bed, I told Cars that I wanted him to stay in his own bed all night long. And if he felt that he needed to come into our room, he would have to sleep on the floor. I figured that eventually he would tire of sleeping on the floor and eventually he would stay in his bed. He said "O-tay" and went to sleep.

At 3:23AM, the door to my bedroom opened and there stood Cars with his pillow and blanket. I told him to go back to bed and he announced that he was going to sleep on the floor of my room (notice that Stephen slept through all of this as he does most nights). I got up and arranged the pillow and blanket at the foot of the bed and Cars lay down and went right back to sleep.

Then this morning when we all came down for breakfast, Cars said to Jax and Dex in that teasing sing-song voice that kids use "I had "Crazy Sleep Night" last night! and you didn't. Ha ha ha-ha ha".

"No fair!" the others cried, "We only have "Crazy Sleep Night" on the weekends!"

Some arguing ensued and as much as I tired to convince Jax and Dex that Cars indeed did NOT have "Crazy Sleep Night" last night, they don't believe me. They want to sleep on the floor of my bedroom on a school night too. Help - I've created a monster!

I think tonight I will most likely be back to sharing my pillow with a 3 year old.

Shop-a-holic

I am a little high from the smell of swishing credit cards. I have been buying stuff for me. I don't shop ~that~ often for myself except for basics (ok, stuff from Joann's and Michaels but that really don't count).

Anyway, I do spend a lot of time window shopping online. I found these pants and have been coveting these

for weeks and weeks and weeks now and they are finally on clearance so I ordered them online on Friday night (Stephen's fault since he was out and the kids were in bed and I was bored. ;) Anyway, they should be arriving this coming week. However, last night I went shopping with Ash and the pants were a little cheaper in the store than online and I really needed a smaller size than the one I ordered (happy dance!). So I bought them and I will have to return the bigger size when they come.

Well, these pants are a little long so I figured that I needed (NEEDED!) to buy some kind of shoes or boots with a heel. Boots, definitely boots. So, we went to Nordstrom's Half-Yearly Sale for Women and Children (love that nice long name for their sale and everyone around here actually refers to it as that, never just "Nordstrom's sale"). Boots galore! I found this pair

which I love. They would look great with a skirt (not that I actually wear them) or with pants. They were dressier than I was originally intending to buy but they are so nice and I had to have them. Plus the salesman was so very nice.

Then today I went to Fred Meyer (to buy groceries and our free-with-coupon turkey) but decided to take a detour to the "Outdoor Mall" as my children call it. Basically, it is a mall with all of the stores that you would find in any regular (indoor) mall. Not sure whose bright idea was it to build a outdoor mall when it rains for 6 straight months?! Anyway, I stopped at a shoe store and found these boots

which were more along the lines of what I had been thinking about buying. And they would look better with the cargo pants. Plus they were on sale, then an additional 50% off! Plus, if I bought a second pair of shoes or boots, they would take 20% off my entire purchase! So I bought these

which were on sale but not listed at 50% off but when the salesperson rang it all up, she took 50% off the sale price of them plus 20% off the entire purchase. So, those two pairs ended up being about $10 cheaper than the one pair of boots which I will be returning to Nordie's.

Rock on!

11/11

Today is a day for celebrating!

One year ago, I was in Las Vegas to celebrate my best friend's wedding! Happy 1st Anniversary to Ramona and Greg!

And it is also a day of Remembrance:

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Blah blah blah...

Book Club last night was fun. Our book was Wifey by Judy Blume. It was fun to re-read that book. I had originally read it when I was about 14 years old (OMG if my mother had ever found out I would be in so much trouble - more than I got in after my cousin was caught with the copy of Forever that I had lent to her).

Conversations were very interesting and I learned so much more about some of the women in our club - like I did not know that Ash had been engaged to someone before her dh!.

Today it is Veteran's Day (observed))so no school for the boys. I am planning to take the kids swimming at the club. Torrential rain again (why am I always surprised at how much it rains each November?) so I am certain it will just packed in the pool.

Stephen mentioned this morning that we really need to have someone do something about the drainage (or lack thereof) in our backyard. And the fact that the retaining wall is leaning over more and more each year (a result of drainage from our neighbour's property into our backyard). Come spring, however, when we get estimates for it, he will balk. Just like with the gutters (a higher priority IMO).

Oh my, it just started raining harder - how is that even possible?!

Yesterday when I was in Costco, I ran into K whom I had not seen in a long time. We were never close friends but we were in this "Goddess" group together a few years ago where we got together once a month and celebrated girlfriends and friendships etc. The group started dissolving when one woman left her husband, another moved to California, one more moved off the Plateau and then K and S had a big fight which made it uncomfortable for some of the others who were good friends with both of them.

Anyway, getting aback to K. She is a very kind person. She is warm and friendly and very funny. However, she reminds me a bit of Oprah in that she really hasn't a clue how people who are not in her socio-economic bracket live. K had an allowance of a couple of thousand dollars each month and if it looked like she was falling under it one month, she would rush out to a several stores and buy $100 gift cards to ensure she would hit her amount so that her dh would not cut her allowance. A while later, she had run up her credit cards to $40k and was wondering how to ask her dh to write a check to cover it.

As I mentioned, K is a very kind person and is always looking to help people out. A few years ago she had called me and told me that there was an opening in a playgroup that some woman had formed in her home for 18 month-2 year olds and she just knew that it would be perfect for Dex and me. Dex could play there while Jax was in preschool and I could go have some mommy time to go for a massage or pedicure or even just relax at Starbucks. And it was very "reasonable" - only about $300/month (which was almost double what I was paying for Jax to be in a structured preschool!). Um, I am a SAHM and I do not have a lot of extra cash lying around to that I can put my toddler in a for-profit playgroup so I can run to go for coffee or to the spa. Needless to say that I passed on that opportunity.

Another time, K asked me if I were looking for a Nanny (because apparently I was the only SAHM she knew who did not have one) two days per week because she did not need her Nanny full-time but she did not want to lose her completely. She only charged $18/hour and was a fabulous Nanny and what do I say?! Um, no again.

(Now, I must interject here that eventually I did get Nanny (a different nanny) for one morning each week after Cars was born but that was because I was suffering from post-partum depression and I could barely function. It was financially a strain on us but got easier last year because we had no preschool costs. Oh, and I am no longer crazy but it really did take over 2 years to get back to my new normal. The third year with Nanny was just pure decadence).

So, I had not seen K in a very long while until I ran into her at Costco yesterday. She had two of her three kids with her and two other women who looked to be in their early 20's. K explained that she was out taking her new au pair to Costco for the first time and she also had "Runaway Au Pair" with her and hey, did I need an Au Pair because "Runaway Au Pair"'s family was "Mean Family" so now she was staying with K until they could find a new family for her.

Au pair? Pour Moi!? There I was, wearing my Costco coat, my Fred Meyer clearance shoes, my Mervyn's clearance jeans, an Old Navy Deal of the Week t-shirt, my growing-out-the-grey-because-I-cannot-afford-monthly-trips-to-the-salon-for-colour hair and K asks me if I need an au pair. I had a nice laugh and thanked her very much but told her I was fine since Cars was now in preschool two mornings each week.

I wonder what K will have to offer me next time I run into her?

I received an email today from the Catholic school and school at all three campuses is canceled for the rest of the week because of the flooding at one of the satellite campuses. That makes no sense to me. Why should all parents suffer? I mean, why should the kids at the other two schools miss out?!

So, the rain finally stopped so I went to Costco today to pick up a couple of things and walked out nearly $140 poorer! OMG, I seriously thought it was about $75 worth of stuff. A few things I bought were:

Wheat Thins $4.99 (Jax and Cars love these)
Grands Bisquits $4.99 (total impulse buy here - they had free samples and I fell for it!)
ChickenBreasts $20.00 (I bought this package because it was an even dollar amount and I thought that was cool)
Bananas $1.30 (these used to be 99cents!)
Salad mix $1.99 (no spinach here!)
Turkey Lunch meat $6.00 (for two pounds!)
Mixed Peppers $6.49 (usually I just buy the red for $5.69 but I splurged!)
Kirkland Detergent $11.49 (I usually buy Tide but the box was too big to fit in the cart - or just about! - so I bought the Costco brand)

Another splurge item that increased my shopping cost was a $24.99 cooking thermometer that I thought would make a good Christmas gift for Stephen. Ok, so now I can see how I managed to spend $140.

Oh, time to make dinner. I am making a "French Braid Chicken with Broccoli". I gave the recipe to Ramona this morning while we were on the telephone then I decided that I wanted to have it too! It is so yummy!

Rain and Light

The Pineapple Express storm has brought record rainfall and flooding to our region the past couple of days. As a result, many schools are closed due to flooding, including the Catholic school which runs Cars' preschool at our church (even though our church is not affected). So, Cars is home with me this morning and we'll just hang out here today. I was going to work out but it is next to impossible to get same-day childcare at the club. Then I thought about going to Costco but the thought of pushing my unbagged groceries through the parking lot in the pouring rain is not appealing to me so I'll wait another day.

Last night, Stephen and I finally finished hanging the new light (and plastering/texturizing/priming and painting). Here's a picture:

Now I need a picture of painting to hang on the wall above the tv.

Drugged

I finally decided I needed to see the doctor about my cold/sinuses, so I dragged my butt to her office today in a torrential downpour. The diagnosis was as expected - a sinus infection. So now I am on Mucinex (over-the-counter), Rhinocourt nasal spray (might be Rx but I got a free 2-week supply from their office), a 10-day dose of Augmentin (anti-biotic) and Diflucan (because, Ladies, we all know what happens when you are on anti-biotics for 10 days).

Now I am going to make myself a cuppa tea and sit on the couch with my feet up. I'll knit while Cars watches (what else?!) Star Wars.

To Tell the Truth

Jax wants a Lego set for Christmas that has not been out since 2002. I can find it on ebay for about triple the original price but no way I am paying that price! He told me that he will just ask Santa for it then because Santa can get anything. I think we might need a heart-to-heart conversation about Santa this year. :(

I just signed Jax and Dex up for Little League for next spring. Practices start in February and league play begins the last weekend of March through to the beginning of June. This year, Jax will have to be evaluated and he will be placed on a team according to his skill so the teams are evenly distributed. Jax really, really wants to be on Gav's team again next year. He just might be because Gav is better than him and if they are sorted just right, they may end up on the same team. I cannot really say that to Jax though, can I? So I just told him that we will have to wait and see.

On Dex's registration, I wrote "We respectfully request that Dex not be placed on a team coached by Butt Head". Butt Head was his coach from last year. He actually seemed like he might be a good coach for kids over 12 but for 5, 6 and 7 year olds, he was horrible! He would make the kids run laps if they missed a ball. He MADE them hit both right and left (this is first year instructional coach-pitch league and they are just learning to hit the ball) during games. He would not let Dex catch because "there are no left-handed catchers in the Majors". He would tell the kids to run the bases but if they did not hit the bags with their left foot then they did it "wrong!". He would tell the kids they were "screwing around" if they did not pay attention. Definitely NOT the kind of coaching that Dex, at age 5 needed. His practices were not well run and he would often start batting practice 5 or 10 minutes before the practice was to end. I would either have to stay an extra 1/2 hour (keeping in mind that I have all three kids with me at the school yard where they practiced) or take Dex and leave with him crying because he did not get a chance to bat.

So, I just do not want to deal with BH again this year. I felt a little uncomfortable writing that on the registration form but there is no way either Stephen or I could suffer through another year of BH. Of course, after I submitted the registration, Dex chirps "I hope I am on the same team as last year!". Do I tell him?! *sigh*

Old Grey Mare

It has now been 1 year (well, 360 days) since I last coloured my hair. Ok, I did get some low lights done in May but I am talking all-over colour. It is funny that I don't think the pictures of me show just how grey I am (see upper left for recent photo - click for larger). A lot of the grey is on one side - the right - and more along the temples. It is funny that the hair on top is darkest.

Anyway, I am still miffed that my mother told me that I need to cut my hair if I am going to keep it grey. Really, there are more and more women out there going grey and keeping their long hair. I see pictures of models in the jjill and Chico's catalogues with long grey hair. So clearly there have to be real women out there with grey hair who do not want short hair, right?!

And why am I so bothered by this? I had no qualms about it until my mother made those comments. I have endured one whole year of grey roots, way past grey roots and now, half grey hair. My plan was to grow in the grey then cut shoulder length as soon as the grey was long enough, then grow it again to the length it is now. I have been second guessing this decision now. I mean I don't want to colour my hair again (although I do have brunette envy whenever I see women with hair colour that I used to have) but is it really wrong to want to have long hair when it is grey?

Thinking back, when I worked at IBM and I was young with only the odd grey hair or two, my friend and I used to make fun of Jane, a manager who had waist-length salt and pepper hair. We used to say she looked like a witch. Now my friend and I both have long grey hair (she is still colouring)and I wonder if people think that I look like a witch! Eep!

So, what to do. What to do? Colour or cut. Or nothing. What to do...?

Snuffle

So here I am on like Day Eleventy Hundred of my cold. Ok, it is really day 9 but it feels like many more. Seriously, I don't think I have ever had cold that has lasted this long.

Art Start in Dex's class went fairly well. I was surprised at the number of 6 year old girls who can already sew and they did well. One told me that she does cross stitch too! The muslin I used was very thin which was good for poking the tapestry needles through but it was not thick enough to keep the stitches from pulling too tightly. We spent a lot of time pulling on the too-tight stitches. The other Art Start mom thinks that we should mount these little squares and frame them for the end-of-year gift for the teacher. Hmmm...have to think about this because those kids really, really, really wanted to take home their embroidered squares.

Jax and Dex's school photos came home today. Dex's are of course crumpled because he just jammed them in his bag. The pictures are fine - nothing great. Jax's hair is a disaster in the pictures. Seriously, besides that it is long and shaggy, it looks like he did not brush it that day. He does have a lovely smile though so that makes up for the hair.

So, remember that letter from the school district that we have been waiting for (see just about every September blog post for reference)? I got the name of someone at the school district who apparently is currently working on it. UBI: Her last name is the same as my first name. Anyway, I called her today and she told me that it is on its way to Risk Management (again!). I told her how irritated I was that it has been all these weeks since school started and not one official note has gone out to parents about food allergies. I told her that we needed consistency and to know where the school district stands. She started in on the "false sense of security" line. Save it, Name Stealer. That is not what this is about. Anyway, looks like we will just move ahead with our plans and change them as necessary when/if this alleged letter every materializes.

Ok, off to cook our pizza for Pizza and Movie Night.

I saw this comic in the newspaper on Halloween and I thought it was cute.

The MOPS craft was a lot of fun today and everyone really liked it. It was that one with the roll of toilet paper wrapped in fabric to make a pumpkin.

Now I need to prepare to teach Art Start in Dex's class tomorrow. I decided to go with darning needles, embroidery floss and muslin rather than yarn on cardstock. This is what the lesson plan calls which is easiest on me because it is less prep-work than doing the yarn on cardstock (too much cutting and hole-punching). I am feeling sick again (not sure if the cold is back or if it the effects of the flu shot) so I need to do what is best/easiest for me (and forget what is best for the kids! ;)

Oh, I am feeling flushed again. Oh, I just had a horrifying thought that this could be a hot flash and I am peri-menopausal rather than it being a cold. No, I am sure it is the cold. I am sure.

Blustery Day

Today it was very windy but not as cold as the past two days. It feels very much like fall. After school, I made a huge pile of leaves at the park and the kids had a great time jumping into the crunchy leaves. I wish I had brought my camera with me.

I met Stephen at work today so we could go together and get flu shots at the clinic they set up in his building. Then we had cafeteria food for lunch. What a romantic date.

I am teaching Art Start in Dex's class on Friday. We are supposed to be doing embroidery but the needles are just too sharp for 6 yr olds (IMO) so I am scrambling to figure out what to do in its place. I know that they have plastic needles for kids but I really do not have time to be running all over the place trying to find 20 of them. I might just use yarn with masking tape around the tip like an aglet (love those crossword words!) and then punch holes in a design in paper. Ok, this is what I need to plan and organize tomorrow afternoon after MOPS.

Tonight I will go walking with Neighbour for the first time in about 3 weeks. I hope I can keep up with her!