Today I followed a van along a two lane road for about 5 miles (with a double yellow line so no passing allowed!) and the van would "speed up" to 35 (the speed limit 'though many people usually drive 40) then slow back down to 29 or 30 then speed up, then slow down, etc. It was driving me crazy! I was thisclose to calling the police to report a drunk driver but it turned out that it was just an old lady driver. A very old lady. Even when we both turned onto a larger road, where the speed limit was 40, she was still only driving 30! Aargh! Fortunately, it had two lanes in each direction so I was able to pass her (while still driving under the speed limit) and told her to eat my dust! Ok, I am going to admit that I am intolerant of old drivers. Seriously, they scare me and drive me crazy! Old lady drivers usually go about 5 miles under the speed limit and weave all over the road. Old men are aggressive drivers, run through amber lights, never let you in and don't use their signals.

My mother is the worst kind of old driver. (Actually, she was a bad young driver too!) She sits way too close to the steering wheel and she drives under the speed limit. She brakes too soon and ends up stopping for red lights about 5 car lengths from the intersection (too far back to trip any static loop to change the lights). It is maddening!

And when you hear of people accidentally mistaking the gas pedal for the brake and end up ploughing through a plate glass window of the nearby Subway, pharmacy or paint store, you can be sure that they are at least 80 years old. It is tragic and sad. Why are these people still driving?

Someone, please take my license away from me if I become an old lady driver. For safety's sake!

I watched "Across the Universe" on Saturday night and I loved it! It is so beautifully done. One of songs in the movie that was so well done is "Let It Be". You can see the scene here on YouTube.

I was a huge Beatles fan as a teenager. They were long broken up but there was always that hope that they might get back together. I would play my Beatles records over and over on my very "mod" hi-fi (white plastic with a bright pink Plexiglas cover) stereo. I can remember listening to a special on the radio one night explaining how Paul was dead and all of the clues on all of their albums telling us it was so. I played my record backwards to hear "Paul is dead" and saw that indeed, Paul was wearing no shoes on the cover of the "Abbey Road" album or the Beatles standing in front of "Paul's" grave on "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". A grave decorated with flowers in the shape of a bass guitar. Oh, these clues had us almost convinced that the real Paul McCartney was dead and that it was an impostor in jail in Tokyo after being busted for marijuana possession.

Anyway, I bet after the last couple of years, Paul McCartney does indeed wish it were an impostor who was living his life. At least his nightmare appears to be over. :)

I went to the school this afternoon to have a conference with Jax's teacher. His report card was so-so. It ran the gamut between "approaching standard", "at standard" and "exceeds standard". For the most part though, I know that he can do better and he is just not motivated in class. Several other parents have commented to me recently that their children are not either and while I am loathe to blame the teacher, she sure is serious and Jax (and others) find the class boring. One of the comments on his report card was that he needs to find "appropriate time to share his sense of humor with others". I asked her for specifics and she said that really she thinks he is just trying to lighten the mood in the classroom. Well, all work and no play...

So, I asked her to work on motivating him in the classroom and we will do the same at home. And he needs to read more AR books (I swear this is the bane of our existence in this house, especially non-fiction AR books - on the library's website, you cannot get a separate list for fiction and non-fiction).

We also briefly discussed Jax's issues with peanuts (his compulsive thoughts) and I explained how we have him in counseling and to remind her that if he is being inattentive, it is probably him obsessing about peanuts. I am still wary of getting an official OCD diagnosis on his 504 Plan for now.

Anyway, let's hope we see some improvements in the future.

Oh, and Dex asked why I did not have a conference with his teacher. Spring conferences are "optional" and I had to word things just so to not insult Jax nor Dex. Dex is doing well but he needs to "use his time more wisely when he finishes his work". He said he wanders around the classroom looking for stuff to do when he is done and cannot just read a book because it always takes him too long to pick one out. We've decided that he will chose chapter books to keep in his desk to read and to keep him busy.

Dex went to a birthday party today. It was for a kid who was in his class last year and who lives up the street close to our old house. I dropped Dex off at the birthday boy's home and then the parents were going to drive all of the kids to a movie theatre but then we would have to pick our kids up because there would not be enough drivers for the way home.

Well, apparently there were not enough drivers for the way there! Dex told me after I picked him up that one boy was going to have to sit on the floor of the van on the way there but then they found a seat for him. Huh? I asked him to explain how they "found a seat for him".

Dex: "The kids across the back row just scooted over so he could sit there."
Pez: "So there were enough seats for everyone?" (still confused)
Dex: "Not really. He was going to sit on the floor so they made room for him in the back row so there were four kids sitting there."
Jax: "WHAT?! THAT IS ILLEGAL!" (gotta love my rule-follower)
Dex: "Birthday boy's dad said it was ok."
Pez: Silently thankful that Dex is under 8 and is still required by law to be in his booster seat so his seat was "reserved".

Wah! Cars did not win the "Lottery" for the Continuous Learning class or either of the two full-day kindergarten classes! There will be 2 half-day classes and apparently there are another 10 kids that they don't even have room for who will need to be busses to another school (the next closest one has too many kids registered too so this will be interesting).

I am really bummed out! I was counting on him going to school full-time next year. I had tons'o'things planned. Alas...

I guess it could be worse. He may have been one of the 10 who need to be bussed. Also, he is 4th on the waitlist for full-day. So there is still a chance. And if not, I will save myself $260/month (full-day tuition).

Jax's knee was fine today so my mommy guilt is gone - whew!

Book club tonight was a lot of fun. Best moment of the night when one of our former members who came (even though she had not read the book) said to Laurie "Ugh, did you taste these brownies?" and Laurie replied "Yes, I brought them".

I was pleasantly surprised at how many people enjoyed the book. I know that one person did not and Ash did not come since she has the flu and she did not finish the book because she did not enjoy it. Our regular non-reader had not read it but said she was interested in doing so.

I just remembered that Cars needs to take snack to preschool tomorrow morning! Ooops! Looks like I will be stopping at Safeway on the way to school.

This afternoon, while we were at the park for Dex's baseball practice, Jax fell off the playground equipment and hurt his knee. He came hobbling over and told me what happened in a very whiny voice. I made a comment to him that he was whining because he was tired and maybe needed a nap (he has not been sleeping well). He snarked back at me "Maybe *you* need a nap!". I told him to get away from me and sit by himself on the bench. When it was time to go, he limped over to the car and I rolled my eyes at his big over-acting.

At home, I asked to see his knee and it is swollen and red. Oops! I gave him some ice (well, the boo-boo bunny) and some ibuprofen. He was still limping when we went to bed but the swelling was gone down. I feel like a complete heel! To overcompensate for my mean mom-ness, I let the kids have orange pop with their dinner. I suck.

Last month, Book Club was moved to my house from Ash's because her family had the flu. This month, she was to have it for me but now she has the flu so Book Club is here again on Thursday night. The second of our new members quit. I don't think she liked our book picks plus I think she perhaps underestimated the time it took to read a book each month (or at least, to read a book that she did not like each month). So we are back down to 10. I think we will keep it at 10 for now.

Since Book Club is here, I had to make a quick Costco run to buy some things for it (wine, artichoke dip, veggies). And I need to have Stephen remove all of the Lego from the dining room table again. Although, I gather he has completed building all of the Star Wars Lego and most of the Harry Potter Lego. We need more shelves for the wall downstairs.

Bro#1 sent me this photo recently after seeing the picture that I posted two weeks ago of the boys on Rachel. The first one was taken when Bro#1 and family visited us in summer 2001.

Look how teeny tiny Dex and Jax are!

Nothing much going on. I had my eye appointment on Friday and was able to put the contacts in my eyes no problem! Yeah for me! I have my trial lenses for a week and then if I like them I will order contacts (I will do it!). I also ordered a pair of glasses. They were not the inexpen$ive ones. Stephen did not like them so I went with a different pair.

Jax and I walked to the school this afternoon to meet Stephen, Cars and Dex (who were there for Dex's baseball practice). It took us just over 30 minutes and walking along the main street was quite harrowing(we did that to avoid the big hill). Even though there is a big shoulder on the side of the road, it is amazing how many cars drive on the shoulder! It will be good when the city finally builds a sidewalk along that stretch of road.

I had my hair cut yesterday and it feels good to have it in a short bob again. It was getting too long. Since I have stopped colouring it, it gets so dry when I grow it long (well I suppose the flat iron doesn't help either). Cars, Dex and Jax also had their hair cut although you cannot tell with Jax (she just thinned it really). He sure has a mop of hair. Dex decided he wanted short hair again so he could spike it with orange gel on "Crazy Hair Day" which is two weeks.

Stephen's car is on its last leg, I think. The heater is not working, the windshield leaks, the "CHECK ENGINE" light is always on, the radio display does not work (this actually broke years ago), the radio antenna is stuck up (it is supposed to go down when you turn off the car), the doors do not lock automatically (or unlock automatically if you lock them manually), the windshield wipers work most of the time, etc. So, we've been talking a little bit about what kind of car to replace it with. The kids want him to get a "punch buggy". I want something fuel-efficient since he only just uses it to drive to/from work but he wants something "comfortable" which means big. Hopefully the car will last through the summer but if the air conditioning is not working, I imagine we will get one sooner. It has been nice that this lemon has lasted longer than we had imagined it would. BTW, never, ever, ever buy a Saab. They suck!

Milestone

I signed Cars up for kindergarten today. I cannot believe it! I am excited and sad at the same time (more excited though!). Our school has a "continuous learning" class where the kids are the same class from K-2. There are approximately 8 kids in each grade in the classroom. Since Cars will be a "young" kindergartener, I think this class would be a great fit for him. However, a billion people apply to get in the class and it is a "lottery". Hopefully Cars will be chosen. If not, I have asked that he be considered for the lottery for the full-day slots. We should find out on Friday of next week.

Another milestone is that tomorrow I am going to go to the eye doctor to get contact lenses! Longtime readers of this blahg will know that I tried them four years ago to no avail. It was impossible to try to stick a foreign object in my eyes every morning while trying to get a kindergartener, a preschooler and a baby ready for the day (it would take me at least 10 minutes per eye). This time I am determined to "make it work" as Tim Gunn would say (btw, did you watch last night's finale? I fell asleep and while I know that Fierce Christian won, I missed all of the important parts like the judging!).

I also have an astigmatism (sounds icky!) in my right eye (only needs correcting "one way" whatever that means) so the contacts might be tricky and perhaps may not work for me so I am also ordering new glasses. My last ones were from Costco and while they were super cheap, I am not sure they fit me well enough so I am going to order them from the doctor's office. I did manage to find a very inexpen$ive frame that I like but even so, the gla$$e$ are pricy.

One positive thing in all this is that I do not yet need bifocals! In fact, the doctor was amazed at how good my near vision was (and I thanked her like it was something I actually could control or had been working on - doh!). One less aging thing I need to fret about right now.

I stayed up late last night to watch "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" so I could watch Dolly Parton sing "I Will Always Love You". When I was a teenager, I used to have the LP soundtrack for that movie and I would listen to that song over and over again. Then just over a decade later, Whitney Houston released that song and while it was a nice version (albeit so overplayed!), it just did not have the same emotion as Dolly Parton singing it. I believe she wrote it just for the movie. If you haven't hear it before, take the 2:45 and listen. So pretty! (Oh, and I guess I could have just looked up that clip on YouTube rather than stay up late to watch it in the movie. But if I had, I would have missed this gem (the Aggie Song).

I screwed up yet another dinner. I give up. I cannot cook. I can't!

I received my birthday present 4 weeks early!



I am looking forward to learning to play. How long do you think it will be before I can play this?

Grass season started up again so the kids have been back on Zyrtec for about two weeks and Dex has started having "tics" again. Hmmm...I am certain there is a correlation. Stephen has noticed too so we have decided to stop Zyrtec and switch to Clairitin to see if it makes a difference. He has bad seasonal allergies and gets sinus infections so there is no way that he can't be on any allergy medication.

*sigh*

I met the lady who bought my old house today. She invited me over for tea and to chat and discuss art. She wanted to see some of my paintings and she showed me some of her drawings. I loved her work - she is a good artist and likes to use bright colours as I do.

It was a little strange being in my house that was no longer my house. She has been making the house her own and she of course changed some things (painted the fireplace mantel black - it looks great - and the bathroom cabinet black (downstairs bath). She has kept up the valances in that bath and in the living room and she loved the colour scheme so she is keeping it. The house looks really nice with her things. She asked me a lot of questions about the bushes, trees and shrubs and what they will look like in the spring.

She then asked me about a lady who walked into her house one day and used the bathroom. Oh no! It was H. She has really deteriorated from her dementia. Over the past year or so she had gotten into the habit of coming by my house and asking to use the bathroom. Sometimes she would just walk right into the house (usually in the warmer weather when the front door was open and the screen door was not locked). Sometimes there were caretakers with her or her dh or some friends. It was fine with me (sometimes she would come and go without even talking to me). Back in October, I told her dh that we were moving and could he please explain that she would not be able to stop by our house anymore.

On the day she walked in the house on the new owner, H. was with a new caretaker. The new owner heard the door open and then open again and a "Hello?!" She came downstairs and saw H. walk past and into the bathroom. The caretaker said "It is just H. using your bathroom" and the new owner saying "Who is H.?". They stared at each other a moment then the new owner said that the house had been sold and that she was a new owner. The caretaker was very embarrassed and quickly explained that H. had memory problems and she apologized. The new owner said no problem and told H that she could stop by again if she needed to but she has not done so again.

Oops! Before we moved I had asked Stephen if we should tell the new owner about H (her visits were probably every week or so) and I think I asked our realtor about it but everyone said no. Our realtor had been at our house one day when H. stopped by so she knew who she was and knew the story. Good think that the new owner was very understanding. It would be very shocked (and scared) if it happened to me.

And the funny thing is that on the way to see the new owner, I saw H. and her dh walking their dog along the street and I waved to them. I even thought to myself "I wonder if H. knows that we moved".

Cars told me, in a very serious voice, that he had to watch Super Why! today on PBS because he needs to learn to read and this show will teach him how.

He is doing a great job on learning his letters and the sounds. I now have no worries about his academic or social skills for entering kindergarten. I am still a little concerned because he will probably be one of the youngest kids in kindergarten (I know of one girl who is 3 weeks younger) and probably the youngest boy.

Registration is next week. My baby will be in kindergarten in the fall!

More Random Thoughts

1. Jax earned a new Lego set by controlling his worry thoughts and by eating out at our friend's homes, new restaurants and by purchasing milk at school. I am very proud of him. He chose Indiana Jones Temple Escape. Now, do you think it can be found anywhere in the Puget Sound area? Nope! He is devestated and I had to order it from the Lego Store and it will not be shipped until April 2nd (I did not tell him that date or he would have had a heart attack in the store). I will break it to him gently later.
   edited to add that we did find a place online that had it so we ordered and it will arrive mid-March which is much better than early April.


2. I waited too long to book the kids swimming lessons for next month and the 5pm time has been taken. Drats! They will have to swim at 6pm through the end of March. I went ahead and booked them for 5pm in April. Please don't let Dex's baseball practice be on Wednesdays.
   edited to add: I found out that Dex's baseball practice is on Wednesdays! Friggin Riggin Briggin!


3. I have signed Cars up for swimming lessons starting next month. I can guarantee he will not cry once this year. He is really looking forward to it in fact.


4. I took the Circuit Training class at the club for the first time since April or May. My legs were like jello when I was done. They will be plenty sore tomorrow.


5. Today, my kids and I were talking about piercings and I have no idea why I told them that sometimes people pierce their nipples or their penises! OMG - what was I thinking?! I was just listing off all the places where people get piercings ("ears, nose, eyebrow, lip, and some people even pierce their..."). I quickly tried to change the subject and I pray that they do not repeat it to anyone!


6. I learned how to make numbered bullet in html today.


7. KillJoy (yes, she is that again) told me that I *must* send my sister birthday cards. Um, no.


8. Cars is obsessed with pointing out fat people. "So and So's grandma is fat!" and "Mrs. Teacher is fat!" and this lovely one "Mommy, you are kind of fat! Not really fat, just kind of fat!"


9. I have mentioned before that someone from my city is regularly reading my blahg. I finally figured it out today (checked ip address on the visitor's log against the ip address in an email header). Sneaky! She never told me that she reads here. Still watching Cars for me tomorrow?

This made me grin!

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ixzF1Mgp3CrPFDa4Vw_pa4yobIcA

In experiments using a neural scan, researchers at Oxford University found that a specific region of the brain associated with emotion lights up with activity within milliseconds of subjects seeing pictures of infants' faces.

But images of adult faces didn't elicit the same response, said co-principal investigator Morgen Kringelbach, noting that the reaction was the same for both men and women, and for people with and without children.

:)

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I had the kids make their aluminum metal projects today and they turned out GREAT! They mounted them so they are a little crooked (ok, who is kidding who - I would have probably made them crooked too).


This is Jax's. It is Yoda as a Hippie. :\

This is one of my favourites

And here is another one of my favourites

This was my example that I showed the class


I'll post pictures of the necklaces that Dex's class is making later in the week.

Art

Tomorrow, I will be in Jax's class to help the class make an art project for Art Gallery Night. No other parent volunteered to do it. I was going to have them do scratch art but I decided on Sunday it would be too messy (cheap but messy). Then on Sunday I went to an art supply store to buy some aluminum metal sheets (5"x5") and now will have them do some embossing. I think it will be fun. I actually wanted to do copper but it was $14.99 for 6 sheets vs $4.29 for 6 sheets of aluminum. I will try to remember to take pictures of the art work when it is done.

Later in the week, we will be completing necklaces for Dex's class Art Gallery Night project. I cannot remember if I posted about it already or not. The kids each made 3 polymer clay beads with mica fingerprints. The kids will string other beads to them to make necklaces. We also had them make one extra bead and made a necklace for the teacher. I got the idea from here. I think it is such a cool end-of-year gift for the teacher (and relatively inexpensive). I may do the same for Cars' preschool teachers.

I Did It!

Ok, guess what it was? Here are some clues:



Yes! I took a ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island with my family. We had a special guestcourtesy of Snapper's dd, Miss Talk. Was there anything better to do on a sunny, warm winter Seattle day?

First things first - where are the life preservers?! No way we were setting sail without me knowing where those were.


Ok, life preservers, check! Now we can get Flat Stanley out to enjoy the ride.
He and Dex as we sail off from the dock.


The ferry went much faster than we were expecting. And it did not sink. Bonus!


We arrived safely at Bainbridge Island (bad focus job).


We tooled around the island for a while and then back. I feel a little foolish that I was so terrified to take the trip before. I think because it was perfect weather plus Stephen was with me (in case it sank, he could help rescue the kids) made for a fabulous trip. We bought lunch from the deli section of the little grocery store on the island and ate it in a park. The we walked along the path back to the ferry terminal before embarking on the ride back to Seattle. It was much windier by then so we mostly stayed inside on the way back.

Then since we were downtown and had paid through the no$e for parking, we were in no rush to leave. We decided to walk to Pike Place Market, however it was packed so all we did was take a photo of the kids on the pig, Rachel.


(Oops, forgot to take Flat Stanley out for the photo). We then walked back to the car and headed home.

Ok, so I cannot believe I had been such a wimp about the ferries. And I did not even flinch when we drove across Lake Washington to get to/from Seattle (although I must admit that I directed Stephen to drive via I-90 rather than 520 because that it is the 520 bridge that really terrifies me). So, I am ready to do it again. Who's in? CraftyMama?

About this time...

About this time 10 years ago, I was pregnant with Jax and on bed rest due to preterm labour. The day I went into preterm labour, Stephen was in Waterloo, Ontario interviewing for a job. Fortunately, my oldest brother and his family had driven in from the Chicago-area to visit for the weekend and my SIL took me to the hospital where they were able to stop labour. I was later able to go back to work 1/2 days until two weeks before Jax was born before I went on full bed rest again.

About this time 9 years ago, Stephen had flown from Minneapolis to Seattle to interview for a job. He treated it more as him interviewing them rather than them interviewing him (is that grammatically correct?). The day of the interview the sun shone here for the first time in 90 days. He went golfing the next day and decided he would not mind living here so we moved a few months later.

About this time 8 years ago, we were enjoying our first winter in the Pacific Northwest and I was pregnant with Dex. The rain did not bother me. The sun actually did shine from time to time (unlike the year before apparently) and we had one snowfall that was melted before noon. How could you hate winter living here?

About this time 7 years ago, I was weaning Dex in preparation to fly to Minneapolis for my friend, DeniSe's wedding. I also was putting off some surgery because I wanted to wait until after the wedding. I had contacted "The Oprah Winfrey Show" about following my passion and they wanted to me to fly to Chicago to be on the show and they asked me to reschedule the surgery to do so. Uh, no because there was a chance I had cancer and I was not going to put the surgery off to appear on the show. In the end I was featured in a "letters" segment (Link here courtesy of db#2). I also experienced my first earthquake then.

About this time 6 years ago, life was good. Jax had started preschool and I had a newly expanded group of friends (moms of the other kids in his class). I was losing weight and get fit again because watching all of the people rushing out of Manhattan on September 11, 2001 scared the shit out of me when I realized that I was so unfit and would not be able to do the same to save myself or my children should something like that happen here.

About this time 5 years ago, I was pregnant with Cars. I was experiencing some bleeding and I went to the emergency room. They told me I had miscarried my baby. Stephen and I sat in stunned silence for two hours while we waited for an ultrasound to confirm the miscarriage. The technician gasped when she saw a live baby bouncing around on the monitor. I think hearing her say "look at your baby jumping around in there!" was probably one of the most joyful moments of my life.

About this time 4 years ago, I was suffering from PPD. Life was bleak despite my three wonderful children. Stephen took his month paternity leave which we were "saving" until the summer. I needed help. I was going to see my crazy doctor on a weekly basis and felt like a failure. We went to Florida on vacation and the change of scenery did help (as did the sunshine and warmth).

About this time 3 years ago, we were updating our bathroom. Well, "we" were paying Handyman to do the actual work. As usual, I was having a hard time making decisions which stretched this project for weeks and weeks and weeks. I was also on the verge of turning *40* and celebrating the event with a girls' trip to Vegas. Wow - has it been three years already?

About this time 2 years ago, life was busy. I was teaching art in both Jax and Dex's classes. Nanny was still coming on Fridays and I quit going to see my Crazy Doctor. I guess I was no longer crazy.

About this time last year, Cars was in preschool and I actually had 5 hours to myself that I did not have to pay for (ok, we were paying for preschool but on the whole, it was much cheaper than paying Nanny). And opposed to not feeling crazy anymore, I really felt "normal" again. I recognize in myself that I do not handle stress well and I do a lot (by not doing a lot) to keep stress in my life at a minimum. Sometimes I realize that I am missing out on a lot of experiences because the fear of stress and what it ensues holds me back. ~shrug~ Still trying to decide if I am ok with that or not.

Oh, and P.S. About this time last year was also the birth of Cosmo Fridays. :)

The lunar eclipse tonight was cool! I was at first disappointed when we arrived home from swimming only to see clouds in the sky. A few minutes later the clouds parted and there was a copper-coloured moon. Very neat! I also saw a billion stars in the sky. Perhaps not having street lights isn't so bad.

We did nothing really exciting today. My poor kids. During this winter break they went to the skateboard park twice, to a park, to Michaels', Joann's, Ben Franklin's and an art supply store, ate lunch out everyday (and dinner tonight - we ate at the club after swimming lessons). They did have a friend come over today for a short time and that is about it. I really wanted to take them on a ferry ride but I am terrified. We almost went last summer - perhaps we will try again this summer if I have someone to hold my hand.

Stephen has a bee in his bonnet about taking a vacation for spring break which is in 5 weeks. I think we won't get any good deals booking so late and I would rather go on vacation in June.

I am hosting Book Club on Thursday because Ash's dh and son are sick (it is her turn and she will host for me next month then). Anyway, I am feeling a little stressed because this will be the first time that most of the book club members have been to my house since the moved and my house is suffering a little these days (check out the dining room table photo from two days ago). Aargh! Anyway, I will have Stephen clean up all the Lego then get to work putting the dining room back together. Of course I should have been cleaning today but it was another very gorgeous day so I took the kids to the skatepark after a stop at Costco.

I am also a little stressed about what to make for book club. I wanted to have something new and different but with the time constraints, I am having a hard time finding recipes that are peanut/nut/shellfish/wheat-free. I already have chips and salsa, a veggie tray and meringue cookies on the menu but I need another appetizer of substance.

Any ideas out there? Oh, besides being nut/peanut/etc free, it needs to be easy to make!

Today was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining. It was about 60 degrees. I took the boys to the skatepark then we ate a picnic lunch (well, if you consider Subway to-go a picnic) at a park.

I love bright, clear sunny winter days when you can see all of the snow in the mountains. At the skatepark I could see the Cascades, the Olympic Mountains and Mt. Baker (which I think is technically part of the Cascades). The sky was so blue and the sun so warm. Days like today erase any question about why we tolerate the grey, rainy winters.

LegoLand

Chez Pez has been overrun with Lego. It has gotten ridiculous! Stephen knows that the kids love it though so while others would encourage their children to chose different gifts, Stephen thinks it is great if all the kids want is Lego.

Due to lack of space though, the kids are only allowed to have certain Lego pieces out at a time. This causes problems sometimes because if the AT-ST or the Rebel Base (ok, not sure of the exact names) are away but the kids want to play with them, they have to chose one to put away while we take out the new one (which is inevitably in pieces). Then the ordeal of rebuilding begins.

Here are some photos:
Sorting Through Lego (see the big bare wall? Not for long!)

Some completed Star Wars Lego Set


Stephen has spent the last two weeks re-building Star Wars Lego that have been in bins (because of course all of the pieces were not together). The constant sound of him digging for pieces is driving me NUTS.

Dining Room Overrun with Lego


More Lego on the Fireplace Hearth


This just wasn't working for us anymore. So we decided to install shelving in the playroom.


Lego Now has a Home (rather than over-running my home!)


The "mudroom" is next! Still working on a plan there.

How Privileged Was Your Upbringing?

Copied from fellow Washingtonian, Margi, at She Walks Handsomely:

This is an exercise by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University, who ask that their copyright be acknowledged by anyone doing this meme.

This is based on North American/United States culture. Items in bold are true for me.

Father went to college My dad attend the Ontario College of Art

Father finished college

Mother went to college

Mother finished college

Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor

Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers Probably

Had more than 50 books in your childhood home

Had more than 500 books in your childhood home

Were read children's books by a parent

Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 An art class when I was 14

Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18

The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively

Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18

Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs I lived at home while I went to college so I had no residence/room & board fees so I guess this applies to me **edited to add that I paid for all of my tuition and books

Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs

Went to summer camp YMCA day camp and also a sleepover bible camp

Had a private tutor before you turned 18

Family vacations involved staying at hotels

Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18

Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them

There was original art in your house when you were a child Yes, my dad was an artist

Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 Yes, it was installed for my 16th birthday but I had to pay the monthly bill

You and your family lived in a single family house

Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home

You had your own room as a child Yes, after my sister moved out of the house when I was 14

Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course (n/a in Canada)

Had your own TV in your room

Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College

Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16

Went on a cruise with your family

Went on more than one cruise with your family

Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up I remember going with them to see "King Tut" at the ROM

You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family (oh, I *so* knew how much it cost to heat our house which was kept about 65 degress and we always wore slippers and "put a sweater on" was always the answer to "It's freezing in here!"

TGIF

This seemed like the longest week EVER. All week long I thought it was one day later than it was. I woke up disappointed yesterday when I realized that it was on Thursday. I think part of it was due to the fact that Cars' v-day party was on Wednesday yet I knew v-day was on Thursday.

Aaargh, as I was writing this, holding my laptop on my lap, my very lovely, sweet 4 year old jumped on me to give me a hug and promptly snapped my wireless mouse dongle off the laptop. Serenity now!

I have to go to the school later today to sign Jax's 504 Plan because it needs to be renewed. Apparently the current one "expired" but no one told us and it was only when I went to the school to look into starting the process to get a 504 Plan for Cars for his food allergies that the school counselor told me that my signature was required on Jax's. I wonder if I had not gone to the school if/when they would have ever told me about Jax's!

Also, the school counselor told me to start the process for Cars, I needed to speak to the school nurse. The school nurse then told me that I needed to speak to the school psychologist. The school psychologist was not in that day so I emailed her. She replied that the school counselor needed to be contacted, since the counselor is the 504 coordinator at the school. But, the psychologist has scheduled an eligibility meeting for May 20th. I forsee another clusterf*ck in getting this done.

I cried tonight during Project Runway when Chris was chosen to go to Fashion Week (well, chosen to compete against Rami again before Fashion Week but I know Mr. Draper will not win). Anyway, I cannot wait for the next episode! (And while I do love Chris, I want turtle-slow Jillian to win the whole thing).

For some reason I have been overly concerned about looking old and getting wrinkles. I am "blessed" with oily skin (zits still at age 42!) and fortunately I do not have a lot of lines on my face but I have been obsessed with making sure I do not get anymore. I have been using Lancome eye cream (free with online purchase of foundation that has been discontinued but is still available online - it is pricy so not sure what I will use when the freebie is gone!). I found some Almay "anti-aging" moisturizer and 15 minute facial that I have been using too. BTW, both Almay products were purchased when Bartell's had all Almay products 50% off.

I also made note of a lot of products listed by posters at a forum that I frequent (as a lurker). Again, however, many of the recommended product$ are pricy! So, I want to look young but I want to look young inexpen$ively!

So, I have decided that I must do facial exercises so I won't need all of those beauty product$, right? For a few years I have been doing one for my eyes and brow (directions can be found here. I don't do it regularly - usually for about a week or so every few months. I have decided to do it everyday now though. I have been scouting YouTube for other examples of facial exercises and I will combine them all together to get a routine (for free!) for me. So far, besides the eye/brow lift, I have found exercises to define my jawline, tone my neck and work on the bags under my eyes. Pretty soon I will have a very toned and younger looking face to go along with my...grey hair...and flabby abdomen. Hmmm...

Why can't I get this obsessed about working on my abs?!

Driving home from the club this morning, I had on either JackFM or the local oldies station on the radio and I heard the song "Sweet City Woman". OMG! I don't think I had heard that song in over 20 years. I don't understand why not - I mean how many great songs prominently feature the banjo? I belted it out and was wracking my brain trying to remember who sang it. I decided it must have been a Canadian band since I had not heard it in recent memory (I've lived in the States nearly 15 years). When I got home I looked it up and found out that it was indeed a Canadian band - The Stampeders. And that automatically made me think of one of their other "famous" songs - Ramona since it is also the name of my bff. Anyway, I had a blast watching videos of them singing their songs on YouTube. And if you are so inclined, here is "Sweet City Woman" and "Ramona". BTW, The Stampeders also sang "Hit the Road Jack", "Carry Me" and "Wild Eyes". Surely one of those songs must have been a hit in the States.

One of the things is that Canada has "Canadian Content Rules" for radio (and TV). I forget the exact percentage but it is something like 50% of all music played had to be "Canadian Content". As a result, we heard the same songs over and over again. And Canadian bands are sometimes HUGE in Canada and barely known outside of the country. An example of this was back in the early 90's the Barenaked Ladies were so popular in Canada. On tour they were selling out entire stadiums. However, in 1995 they were touring the States and we had tickets to see them at the Minnesota Zoo. A venue that maybe holds maybe 800 people. That day there were about 300 people there but the concert was called due to a tornado! We did get a chance to chat with Ed Robertson as he noticed us holding signs that said "I went to your high school" (I did but graduated the year before he and Steven Page started).

Stephen went to a conference once in Nashville and he found out one night that Blue Rodeo was playing at a local club. He convinced everyone that they had to get their early

Here are some hits by other Canadian bands/singers. Do you recognize any of them?

Chilliwack: My Girl
Anne Murray: You Needed Me
Barenaked Ladies: If I Had a $1000000
Triumph: When the Lights Go Down
Rush: Tom Sawyer
Max Webster: Paradise Skies
Rough Trade: High School Confidential
Teenage Head: Some Kinda Fun
Kim Mitchell: All We Are
Alannah Miles: Black Velvet
kd lang: Constant Craving
Leonard Cohen: First We Take Manhattan
Blue Rodeo: Til I Am Myself Again
The Pursuit of Happiness: I'm an Adult Now
Tragically Hip: Courage
The Guess Who: American Woman
Burton Cummings: Break It To Them Gently
Dan Hill: Sometimes When We Touch
Trooper: Raise A Little Hell
Bryan Adams: Run to You
April Wine: Just Between You and Me
Sweeney Todd: Roxy Roller
Celine Dion: Where Does My Heart Beat Now
Sheriff: When I'm With You


Ok, I guess I could go on and on. I just had a fun um, hour and half looking up songs on YouTube.

Nothing much happening. Dex's service project on Saturday (assembling boxes for the homeless living in Tent City). Today I went to IKEA looking for ideas to create a "mudroom". Our entrance from the garage into house is a wreck! I have a plastic bin filled with hats/mitts, a 15 hole shoe holder (does not fit 15 pairs!), two racks of hooks for coats and backpacks. We have way more shoes than fit in that space. I want to create a really nice mudroom area without spending a fortune. I was looking at the lockers from LLBean but I think they would be quickly outgrown. I would love something like this or this. If Stephen were handier, he could make them. Well, I guess if he really had the desire he would make them too but that desire is not there so I will have to figure out what to do and buy what I need. He'll install pre-assembled stuff (or easy-to-assemble things like I might buy from IKEA).

edited to add this link. I cut this article out of the paper the weekend we moved. This is my ~dream~ mudroom.

Other news this weekend is that my ATM card was canceled because someone attached a skimming device to our bank's ATM machine. I almost NEVER use the ATM machine (I prefer to get my cash from Safeway using the cash-back option when I purchase something) but once back in October, we were near the bank and we needed money for the weekend so I ran into the bank. Just recently people have noticed money disappearing from their accounts (several people with whom Stephen works were hit as this ATM machine is near their company and the bank caters to Hi-Tech employees). Anyway, I received a letter in the mail on Friday stating that my card would be canceled effective Friday and a new card would arrive in 10 business days. That is a long time to be without an ATM card. I had to buy groceries today and charge my AMEX card (though I guess I could have written a check - never thought of that since I have used an ATM card for groceries for the past 12 years!). Anyway, we've checked our account and it does not seem that we have any fraudulant transactions. I hope my new PIN is easy to remember (and I shall now always cover the keypad when I use one - I used to think only whacks did that but apparently if they were whacks, they were security-conscious whacks!).

Friday Friday

Once again it is the weekend. Kicked off nicely with Cosmo Friday. Tomorrow Dex has to do his service project for his 1st Reconcilliation. I need to make it to The Container Store sometime this weekend too. And we are thinking about the summer and if we are going to take a vacation. We have a couple of places in mind so all we need to do it figure out where to go and start planning!

Very Random Thoughts

Just a bunch of random thoughts...

- Art Start tomorrow in Dex's class and the kids will be making fingerprint beads necklaces for Art Gallery Night. The kids will just have three fingerprint beads on their necklaces then we will string them on black plastic lacing. We will make a full necklace for the teacher (end-of-year gift) with one fingerprint from each child

- I am also in charge of Art Gallery night for Jax's class. We are scheduled to to the project next Friday and I have absolutely NO IDEA whatsoever about what to make. Help!

- I have been trying to ease a toxic friend out of my life but sometimes it feels like she is trying to hang on like a dog with a bone. I wish I were the type who could come right out and say it. However, if she weren't so toxic I would not feel the need to do this. And why do I feel guilty about this?

- I have given up candy and cookies for Lent (but chocolate is exempt since it is the definite cure for PMS)

- I did not get what I wanted for Christmas and I feel so selfish and greedy for pouting about it. Yes, I did get a lovely camera but it was not what I wanted

- we bought a lithograph in the summer and the artist died last month. I keep wondering if the print is now worth more

- this spring will mark the 9th anniversary of me being a SAHM. I often wonder where I'd be if we had not made that decision

- I wonder how long spell check on blogger will be broken (it has been over a week now)

- Why can't I find regular cinnamon-flavoured Trident gum anywhere? I don't care much for the chiclets-type Trident

- I am dying to know what colour rhodies I have at our new house. I asked the neighbour but she claims they have never bloomed because the previous owner was such a crappy gardener

- The new owner of our old house wants to meet me. I am nervous. She wants to talk art (she apparently liked my paintings and she is an artist)

A day and a half in bed and I am mostly all better. I probably should have spent all day in bed yesterday but we had a Super Bowl party to go to. What an exciting game!

We had a good time at the party but the real excitment for me was that Jax ate food there! L talked to him about all of the food and reminded him that it is mostly all things he had had before. Foods he was unfamiliar with were still all peanut-free. Last week Jax told me that he would eat a couple Glutin breadsticks because they are peanut-free. L made sure she had some (she is allergic to wheat so we often have these sticks at Cosmo Friday both here and at her house). So, Jax had some of those, one Dare chocolate creme cookie, some carrots, one pig-in-a-blanket and some pretzels. TOUCHDOWN! That is the most he has eaten at anyone else's house since Thanksgiving. He is working so hard at overcoming this. I am so proud of him!

On the mend

I am feeling a bit better today although my ears are plugged so my balance is a little off. We are still planning to go to the Super Bowl party today but probably will not stay until the end. Go whichever team wins!

Stephen is still sick but the fever is gone so of course he went to work.

And because it is the weekend, I am allowed to be sick. I have a sore throat, sinus congestion and an achy body. I am off to bed as soon as the boys are home from school.

Stephen went away for three days to a retreat/team building thing for work. When he arrived home Tuesday night, he was sick. He was in bed when we arrived home from Jax's appointment and it is now 3:30pm Thursday and he is still there. He has a fever, head ache, back ache, sore throat, nasal congestion and today we added dizziness to that litany of symptoms.

Now, I am the first to admit that I am a horrible nurse. I hate it when people are sick because I feel so useless when I cannot make them better. I have been giving him Theraflu every 4 hours and fresh glasses of water every few hours. I have heated up chicken soup for him and kept the kids away so he can sleep (and so they will not get sick too). I do not have a lot of patience though and when he tried to get up out of bed on Wednesday afternoon, I told him that he was useless to me if he remained sick so he must stay in bed and get better. He said "Thanks for the sympathy".

I did feel a little guilty and I apologized to him. I fluffed his pillows and made some oooh and aaah sympathy sounds. When this morning came around and he was still sick I made sure I did not give the impression that I was sick of him being sick.

Then, at lunch time we had this exchange:

Me: Here is your soup. Do you want some crackers?
Him: No thanks, this is good.
Me: Ok, let me know if you want anything else.
Him: Thanks for taking care of me.
Me: No problem. I know you would do the same for me.
Him: Sure, if you were sick on a weekend.

Aaargh! Isn't that the truth! When I am sick, I would not be afforded the luxury of lying in bed until it is over. Ok, so if I were as sick as he is, I would probably not make dinner and would order in a pizza or have Stephen bring something home. He would probably make lunches for the kids and get Jax and Dex to the bus, but I would still have to drive Cars to/from preschool or swimming lessons, or soccer or whatever. After school, I would still have to ensure that they got their homework done and if I had to be lying down in bed, they would be in the room a gazillion times asking me a million questions!

Oh, and now he is using the intercom on our telephone to page me. Off to check what the patient needs.

Serenity now.

Co$tco

I spent a fortune at Costco today and I did not even buy anything! Well, of course I bought some things but when I look at it, how the hell did I spend $193.45 on a few items!

Ok, looking at my bill, I do see that I spent $32.99 on Zyrtec. It went OTC this month so I can no longer order it via mail-order prescription service. Jax and Dex take a tablet everyday. So it works out to about 44 cents per tablet (vs 66 cents per tablet if I bought it at Fred Meyer). But, since we had a no co-pay on Zyrtec when it was a prescription medication, $32.99 every 5 weeks is going to bug me!

I also had to buy a new pair of winter ski gloves since Dex lost one earlier this week at school - $11.99.

And I did splurge and buy a 2 pound brick of Dubliner cheddar. Oh, and I did buy a new swimsuit since I don't want to ruin my tankini in the hot tub (yes, I am too much of a prude to go in au naturel). Oh, and that 50 yard roll of grosgrain ribbon! So pretty and what a bargain!

Pork chops, deli roast beef, frozen corn, celery, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, red peppers, bacon, napkins, Bounce dryer sheets and Eggos round up the list. Nearly $200 and I totally did not even look at the middle section of Costco (books, clothing, furniture). Perhaps next time I should take a calculator with me and keep a running total. No more surprises at the register!

So at Jax's appointment tonight, we talked a lot about how he will not eat at other people's homes. He just kept saying he was uncomfortable and eventually admitted to being afraid that the food might have peanuts in it. The psychologist was great and talked about what being brave meant (doing something even though you are scared) and we have a plan for Jax to be brave and to try to eat some food this weekend when we go to a Super Bowl party.

We also talked about buying lunch at school and Jax said that he would like to buy lunch again but he was too afraid. (I send a tetra pack of organic chocolate milk with him).

And this is how he described why he did not want to buy milk:

"I think that they might have somehow made peanuts into a liquid and then injected it into the milk but it is so small it is invisible so I cannot see it then if I drink it I will have an allergic reaction".

*sigh*

The psychologist explained to him that no, there were rules about what is in milk (ingredients: milk) and they would never put peanuts in it. So, we've come up with a plan. For every 5 days that he buys milk, he "earns" a day which is also equivalent to him not asking more than 5 "worry thought" questions. After so many days he will earn (yet another) Lego. He is very motivated because he really, really, really wants that Lego (Indiana Jones Lego). He has done so well with recognizing and not asking those worry thought questions. I hope the milk-buying works for him too. And, that he will be brave enough eat at the Super Bowl party.

I am very close to changing my blog template to something new. I cannot add new photos to the sidebars without screwing up the format. I have no idea why it will no longer work for me so I may just change to one of the plain blogger templates. It is a little scary though because I love the style of this blog and none of their templates have two side bars. I suppose if I became more proficient at html I could design my own template but alas...no time and honestly, no real desire. So, don't be shocked if you see a change in the coming weeks.

Make it work!

Stop the snow, stop the snow, stop the snow

Snow day today. We just hung out until mid-afternoon when the roads were clearer. I took Jax to a friend's house and then we went to the drugstore after I gassed up the car. More snow is in the forecast for tonight/tomorrow morning so we might be looking at another snow day tomorrow or at the very least, a snow delay.

I still cannot believe how much snow we've had this winter. I know I keep saying that but it is really surprising.

We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks today. There really was not another kids' movie playing other than Veggies Tales pirate movie. I was expecting Alvin and the Chipmunks to suck but it was actually funny. The tween girls behind us loved it too - I don't think I have heard kids laugh so hard. Jax, Dex and Cars really liked it and Cars kept saying afterwards "I can't believe how FUNNY that movie was!". So cute!

Jax said that he had a stomach ache and did not want any popcorn but I know it was really because he is very uncomfortable eating outside of the house. I mean what kid turns down popcorn and skittles?! He has lost a lot of weight and Dex is now less than 5 pounds lighter than him now. :\

It isn't easy being green

Pretty green, eh? And by pretty I mean very, not beautiful.


And this is what is left of the snow fort taken 11 days after it was created.

Pretty amazing to have snow around for so long. And more snow is in the forecast for the next several days. Even if it does not actually snow, the temperature is still cold enough that those chunks of (now) ice will be here until at least the middle of next week!

I feel like I have deja vu. I taught the same art lesson today to Dex's class as I did almost exactly two years ago to Jax's class. The difference is that Dex's class were CRAZY and the kids wiping the charcoal all over their hands and then wiping it on their desks. Another mom and I were teaching and I could not believe how out-of-control they were. The class also has 6 more kids than Jax's class (that's one more table group!) and a lot more boys in the class so that could be it. At least Dex drew a portrait of me and not an action shot of me parachuting between two mountains as Jax did back then.

Also, I do not have PMS as I have already fallen off the roof and I am in such a crabby mood. At least Ding Dong girl was pleasant to me when I saw her at the park after school (I am driving the kids to/from school for most of this week as the bus driver is out and transportation cannot guarantee that the substitute drivers have had epi pen training). And, I made an appointment with the gynecologist to discuss incisional endometriosis again. I keep putting off the inevitable, I guess.

For My Dorky Brothers

If you click on the links below they get more inhabitants in their fake cities (I don't get SIMS sh*t). But anyway if you are so inclined, please click.

Thanks!

http://knarf.myminicity.com/ <--This is Fiona and Tara's Dad
http://lecnac.myminicity.com/ <--This is Lola's Dad

Dorky brother #3 (or #1 I guess) is stuck in Facebook and cannot get out.

I've started a few new blahg posts in the past few days but in the end none of them seemed...interesting. So I did not post them.

Nothing is going on short of the day-to-day stuff. It has been cold and we still have a snow fort (not much of it left but there nonetheless) on our front lawn. This is the longest I have ever seen snow stick around here in the 9 winters we've lived here. Seriously. Three days was the longest before.

One nice thing about the cold weather is that the sun has been shining brightly for a few days in a row. A rare treat in the winter here. It has also given me an idea about just how hot this house will get in the summer time with the afternoon sun burning down on us. I will need to buy some blinds or shades for the kitchen window.

Also, having clear skies during a full moon in the winter is cool. The moon was low in the sky last night and I could see it shining through the trees as we drove up to Jax's appt. On the way home, with far fewer cars on the road, I could see a billion stars too. So pretty!

Almost done. Stephen just has a one foot strip of the second coat to finish. "Botanical" (aka Lego Green and the darkest colour), "Elm Valley" (bright green) and the ceiling is "Verndale". Garish!

I'll post another photo once the paint is dry and the furniture is back in place.

And since I am posting photos, here are a couple from the snow earlier in the week.


Boys walking to the bus stop


Backyard

Front yard

Since we moved in, we have been promising Jax that we would paint his room which was a bright yellow (ceiling too!). Well, this weekend Stephen decided was the weekend. Earlier in the week, I went to the local paint store and picked a great green colour (Jax's colour of choice). Jax hated it and insisted that he be the one to pick the paint and of course Stephen AGREED! Yikes!

So off we went to Ace Hardware and Jackson took a green Lego brick with him to "match" colours. O.M.G.! Stephen said that was ok and I am of course freaking out because 1) Jax's room does not get a lot of sun and it is dark anyway 2) One must walk past Jax's bedroom to use the main bathroom in our house so every guest we have will walk up the stairs and past the Lego Green room to the bathroom and 3) It is Lego Green!

In the end we compromised and said we would paint 2 walls Lego Green and the other two walls a lighter green (but still bright). It is still pretty brash because any sage green-type colour really clashed with the Lego Green. I gave Stephen instructions to purchase a whitish colour for the ceiling and the kids and I left Ace to go to the Lego(!) store.

Well, Ace Hardware Guy and Stephen, both clearly interior designers, decided that the contrast between Lego Green, bright green with a white ceiling would be too much (never mind that the baseboards, closet doors and blinds are white) so they decided that the ceiling should be painted the same bright green as the walls. BRIGHT GREEN! OMG. Fortunately, we arrived home just as the primer had dried and Stephen was just about to pour the bright green into the paint tray. I ran back out to Ace and bought a much lighter green (on the same paint chip strip) for the ceiling. It will still be a very GREEN room but much less so than if the ceiling were painted BRIGHT GREEN! Jax had better love it. And if it looks cruddy, then his door will be permanently closed whenever we are expecting company.

Imagine!

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) North Central What people call the "Minnesota accent." Sounds almost Canadian. You may have even been asked if you were from Canada before.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

This has been a busy week, especially with the snow and all. It has still not all melted and we have a huge snow fort in our front yard. The kids have had a blast playing in the snow so I won't complain about it.

Tomorrow's Cosmo Friday is at my house. I will have to put away all of the Lego tomorrow because Jax freaks out when it gets broken (which of course it is designed to do and go back together). Honestly, it gets broken usually when some of the other kids who come over have a Lego-throwing fight. They throw the ships (usually the lego is built into ships) at each other or across the room. So, we are not going to let that happen anymore so I just have to put it away high up in the closet and ask them not to take it out. I will have to figure out something to keep them occupied for the 2 hours that they are here. I may have to resort to xbox and Guitar Hero. We'll see...

The new hot tub cover arrived today (and the hauled away the old one). It looks good. I chose a brown colour that is almost the same colour of the deck. I hope that wasn't a mistake in case in the dark someone thinks it is part of the deck and walks on it. The old cover was grey. Icky grey. The cover arrived without the solar blanket so the delivery guy said he will be back up this way next week and will bring it up then. I will have Stephen follow up with that.

We are still awaiting the new timer for the hot tub. The gas/electric bill arrived yesterday but I am afraid to open it so I will let Stephen do it this weekend. I am beginning to wonder if there is also something wrong with the furnace because sometimes I hear it trying to light and it does not. Hmmm...$$$$ Speaking of furnaces, I drove by our old house on Monday on the way home from correcting spelling in Dex's class and there was a heating and cooling truck in the driveway. Yikes! I have convinced myself that she is having air conditioning installed rather than imagining that there is something wrong with the furnace (which was old but in working condition when we sold the house). Oh God! Am I going to fret everytime I hear about something wrong with that house?! Perhaps we should have moved further away!

Dex and Jax had their first private swim lessons at the club (well, semi-private since they are taking them at the same time). The swim instructor is young and kind and encouraging unlike the lessons that Cars goes to (not young, kind of a hardass but she gets results!). I scheduled them just for two weeks to see how it would go and I think it will work out so I will schedule out another couple of weeks. My kids are never going to be Olympic swimmers but I just need them to swim and not sink in the water.

Cars and I watched from the sidelines and it was HOT in there. It did not help that I was wearing winter boots and an acrylic (eek!) sweater which of course made me sweat like a pig. It was the first acrylic sweater that I purchased in 22 years. I bought it in Toronto last summer and I love the style of it (long tunic-length cabled hoodie in charcoal grey). The problem of course is that it is acrylic which means it does not "breathe" so I only wear it on the coldest days now. And today was cold but not in the pool area. The temperature of the teaching pool is warmer than the recreation and lap pools and I am certain that the instructors have also cranked up the heat in that pool area. It must have been over 80 in there! Sweat, sweat, sweat.

Now, if I were ambitious, I would knit myself that same sweater in wool or a wool blend and I would be so much more comfortable. Ok, who is kidding who, I will not knit myself a sweater. A scarf perhaps, but not a sweater. But considering that I have not picked up any knitting needles in well over a year, I don't imagine I would even be able to knit myself that!

We've got snow again! Not sure if there will be school tomorrow or not. Stephen's car is stuck in the driveway and no doubt my van will not be able to get out tomorrow either (icy snow). And our babysitter stopped by an hour ago because her car was stuck in the snow on the hill and her cell phone was dead so she needed to warm up and call her parents for help. As long as our power doesn't go out that will be ok. Ash's power went out an hour ago. I told her to come here if it gets too cold in their house and if our power goes out, we'll all head to Laurie's since her dh bought a generator after last year's storm.

I took Cars to soccer today and he had a blast! Afterwards he said "Mom, I LOVE soccer!". He is so funny.

Ok, off to check to see if the school district has yet called for a snow delay tomorrow.

Monday, Monday

Well, today is off to a great start. The bus is supposed to come at 7:51am but it always arrives at 7:58am. Today, I purposefully left the house at 7:51 rather than the regular 7:45 but of course today was the day the that bus was "early" (still not 7:51). The bus drives up the road, stops at the corner of our cul de sac and the kids get on. then the bus drives up the street (hill) about 1 bus length, then backs up into our cul de sac before driving back down the street from which it came. So, my kids ran and were able to catch the bus as she was backing into our cul de sac. Then the bus was about to drive off when another little kid came running down the hill for it. So, we were not the only ones who had gotten used to the 7:58 pick-up time!

I am taking Cars to "L'il Kickers" today which is indoor soccer for l'il kids. I told him last week that I was signing him up for it and he had a complete and utter FIT. "I HATE SOCCER!" (He has never played) and "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO" (wanna bet?). I made the mistake of telling him on the way to school last Wednesday and he was miserable at school for the first part of the morning but apparently cheered up. Then when I picked him up he announced that I was the meanest mom and he was not going to soccer. So, I have not mentioned it again and it will be a nice surprise for him when I take him directly from preschool today. Wish me luck!

Stephen and I went to his work holiday party (MLK day perhaps? ;) on Saturday night. It was held downtown Seattle a conference center. They had rooms set up with pool tables, a casino area (black jack, craps, roulette, texas hold'em), a room with "dueling pianos", a dj and dance floor and some museum exhibits. We just wandered around most of the night, talking to people Stephen knew.

He had just told me about the party the previous Monday. I was irritated because he said he did not want to go. We rarely go out alone, especially to somewhere where we need to get dressed up. So, I told him that we were going and he had to arrange for the babysitter. Once he had one arranged, I went out shopping for a dress to wear.

Anyway, he did get a babysitter and I bought a dress and off we went. Here is a picture of us.



edited to add that I just found my dress at macys.com and it is more than double what I paid for it! I bought it at Macy's in Bellevue Square! Yikes! I think I got a bargain on that dress.

The kids got home about 10 minutes later than usual because the school went into lock-down just before 3pm because there was a bobcat on the school grounds. Animal Control showed up but it ran into the woods beside the school (the same woods a bear ran into a couple of years ago).

But they are now home safely and we are off to Ash's house for Cosmo Friday! :)

Tonight's book club was spent mostly talking about all of the issues we have with our children. Problems range from OCD, food allergies, speech issues, ADD and ADHD to anxiety and sensory issues. All nine of us present had at least one child with a "problem" that needs to be addressed. Hmmm...perhaps problem is the wrong word. Maybe "issue" is better? Anyway, it was eye-opening.

I really did not want to talk about Jax's issues but someone asked me in front of everyone else "Speaking of OCD, how is Jax doing with his counseling?". *sigh*

Then I arrived home to an email from Dex's Religion teacher that on Sunday, as part of a community service project, their class would be making peanut butter and jam sandwiches to take to the food bank. First off - ick! Who wants a sandwich made by 7 year old hands? I hope they use gloves. And secondly, a group of 7 year olds and jars of peanut butter just does not sit well with me so I sent a note saying the Dex needed to be excused from class due to life threatening food allergies in the family and I copied the Children's ministry leader.

Stephen worked late tonight and Ash's dh is away so we arranged to meet at McD's for dinner. This is one of the very few places where Jax feels safe eating. The kids, while all getting really big, can still play in the playground after they eat. Anyway, as I picked the kids up at the bus, I explained to them all that we were going to McD's and they had to be on their best behaviour all afternoon. Oh, let me interject that Wednesdays are "Early Dismissal" so the kids get out 1.5 hours early. It makes for a very looooong afternoon on Wednesdays.

Anyway, right after homework was done Jax was miserable to his brothers. He would not let them play with his new lego (to be fair, he did just get it yesterday but he was pretty snotty to them about it). Then at one point he shoved Dex. Uh-oh. I had him go into the kitchen and pack himself a sandwich to take to McD's rather than getting a Big Kid Happy Meal. I think he thought that I would not follow through with this but when it was time to leave, I reminded him to get his sandwich out of the fridge.

Also throughout the afternoon Dex had been making this "OOP-OOP" noise. It was driving me crazy as he "OOP-OOP'd", through the house. I asked him to stop once. He did for a few minutes. Then he started again. I sent him to his room for a time out. He "OOP-OOP'd" again just after the time out was over. OMG! The "OOP-OOP" was like a thousand daggers digging into my brain. Seriously, I just about lost it. I gave him one more warning and just as we were about to walk out the door to get in the car he "OOP-OOP'd" again. Uh-oh. I told the kids to get in the car and I raced up the stairs and made him a sandwich too.

We filed into McD's, Jax and Dex with long faces and Cars excited because he is getting some french fries. Ash and her kids were already there, just waiting for their food. Ash looked over at us and tried to hide her laughter. I just shrugged then I noticed that her dd was holding a sandwich. Apparently her dd had a bad afternoon too. LOL Great minds think alike...

Now, just so you don't think I am a completely mean mom, I did buy Jax and Dex a chocolate milk each and I gave them 10 french fries. I even let Dex get some ketchup. :)

Jax had his third appointment with the psychologist today. It was a little eye-opening for me. Jax apparently writes down questions at school to ask me when he gets home. I always wondered why he was asking so many darn questions when he arrived home from school. These are questions like "My sleeve touched my desk and once a boy sat at my desk and he might have had peanuts for breakfast and since my sleeve touched it and then the sleeve accidentally touched my Lego, will I be ok?" and "My shoe touched something at school that might have been a peanut and then I wiped my shoes on the carpet at school under my desk is that ok?" He bombards me with questions like that when he gets home. And it continues until he goes to bed at night (but then the night questions start = "I am trying to sleep but then I sneezed and it got on my hand and I washed my hand but then forgot to put cream on it is that ok?"). It is very frustrating and I try to be patient and understanding because I know he cannot help these "worry thoughts" as the psychologist calls them.

Anyway, besides that writing down of the questions, Jax also said that he did not want to eat outside of the house because he worries that if, on the way home in the car, he has an allergic reaction we are in traffic and cannot pull over to administer the epi pen. I had no idea that was why he was not eating when we were out. At least now I can help reassure him. And also I will insist that he wear his new ebelt when we go out so he will feel reassured and not worry that his epi pen is all the way in the front seat in my purse.

One thing that made me smile today though was that Jax asked if Autism were contagious because someone with Autism was talking to him today and "he spit when he was talking to me and some felt like it got on my lip and if it got on my lip and I accidentally swallowed that spit will I get Autism too?" Shows Jax's obsessive worrying and his innocence about what Autism really is.

Another weekend has passed by in the blink of an eye. I really did not do much other than de-Christmas the house, and clean some. I have put a tablecloth on my dining room table and I vow not to turn it into a dumping ground like it was in the old house (I have a room for that now! ;) The biggest thing I need to do is stop working (working - ha!) on my laptop at that table. That way no piles of paper will accumulate nearby.

It did snow for a short time today (there is still a bit in the backyard). Then the sun came out and we all walked to the store to buy a loaf of crusty bread for dinner.

Now I am sitting in the living room (see, not at the dining room table!) with a glass of red wine listening to Van Morrison. What a great way to end the weekend. Cheers!

I had planned to take the Christmas tree down tomorrow but after I arrived home from picking Cars up from preschool, the tree had toppled over into the living room. Fortunately it seems that only 1 ornament got smashed. Stephen hauled the tree out after dinner (it was tall and very heavy and I could not lift it). I have all of my ornaments piled on the dining room table right now and we'll get the boxes down tomorrow morning from the garage attic and put them all away.

No Cosmo Friday today due to some scheduling conflicts and miscommunication. So, we'll reconvene next Friday. Just as well because I usually eat way too much then come home and have one or two big slices of pizza.

I've got nothing to share today. Oh, here is a photo that I took today of my PEZ collection:



(please ignore the Lego blocks on the corner of the hearth - they are from the Lego Advent calendar and have not yet made it down to the playroom)

I am figuring out my new camera and here are a few photos I took yesterday.

Jax at the skateboard park


Dex at the skateboard park


Cars chosing to play Star Wars rather than skateboard at the skateboard park


A blue heron that I saw fly into my neighbour's tree. It sat there for hours. I wish I had been able to capture a photo of it flying.

Welcome 2008!