Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 28

No fun here today. Laundry and tidying up for me. The kids played nicely, watched a movie. Stephen worked late so I decided to take them the McD's for dinner then I was going to run through Michael's because I needed to pick up some memory wire for a bracelet I am designing. Anyway, Jax and Dex started fighting in the back seat. I told them to stop. A few moments later they were at it again. So, I went directly to Michael's, then stopped at McD's and bought only Cars and I dinner. We drove home and Jax and Dex made themselves ham sandwiches while Cars and I ate our McD's. A lesson learned from Mean Mom, I hope.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 27

We went to the zoo today. The weather had cooled down considerably so it made for a perfect day to meander around the zoo.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 26

Golf for the kids today. Hot but a little breeze which is a nice change from the weekend. Today is was 94* in our area.

The weekend was unbearable. Friday and Saturday it was over 100* in our area. Fortunately, on Friday night, clouds rolled in. It did not rain or cool off but it made Saturday at the Big Software Company's annual picnic better than sweltering since the sun did not come out from behind clouds until after 2pm. It was pretty humid too, which is unusual for here during the summer.

Sunday we went shopping for school supplies. I spent a bloody fortune. One item on Jax's list was "accordian file binder type". No one knows exactly what this means. The guy at Staples told me it meant a binder with an accordian file attached to it ($14.99). Ash took it to mean jsut a regular accordian file that closes ($5). I will have to ask Laurie, when she returns from vacation, what she thinks it means. Or just wait a month until the Teacher Meet and Greet and find out exactly what it is. I still need to buy 4 reams of paper, 2 boxes of kleenex and new lunch boxes for the kids.

I have been feeling so out of sorts lately. Feeling old. And feeling like my body is falling apart (the arch on my right foot has fallen!). I was watching some 80's videos (mentioned in an earlier post) and it made me feel so nostaglic and a little sad. I feel like those pathetic people who reminish and miss the "old days". Maybe I am going through a mid-life crisis? Whatever it is, it is pathetic. But, I guess I am not the only one. I received this email from a friend today:

Sometimes I want to go back to the "chicken-deli days" where all we had to
do was ensure we had money for pizza/sub after drinking and watch Jackie
eat hers without chewing. Or....me waking up the next morning and
smelling onions from my coat closest then remembering......"Oh ya!, we
had subs lastnight!"* lol

* She would often find a half of a sub in her coat pocket

Anyway, I guess this will pass. Just don't want to be the kind of person who sits around talking about "Glory Days".

Man, growing old is a bitch.

Scorching

Too hot to post.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 25

It is very, very hot today. The kids stayed inside all morning with Nanny while I went to IKEA to buy some stuff for MOPS crafts. Now the kids want to go to Target to buy Pirates of the Caribbean action figures with the money they have been saving. I will probably take them because it is cooler than staying at home.

Last night I had a nice long telephone conversation with my best friend, Ramona. It has been a long time since we have chatted like that. It was fun! We both agreed that being 41 is old and we needed to see each other again. Hopefully, this autumn or winter.

Ah, winter...with frost and cold. What I would give for that today...

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 24

Cars is wearing underwear. He is not potty trained but we are working on it. Only four accidents yesterday. And two loads of laundry.

Today we are going to the beach. It is going to be HOT. Then the next three days are going to be scorchers! And of course this weekend is the Big Software Company's Annula Summer Picnic. Usually it is held the last weekend in July but they moved it this year up one weekend because historically temperatures are 10 degrees cooler that weekend. Well, not this year! It is to be in the 90's here. And again, that is very HOT for this area.

This week has been odd for me. I have been off a day all week. On Tuesday, I thought it was still Monday so I forgot we had milk delivered and I left the milk in the milk box until 5pm (it is delivered about 8am!). Good thing it was cool on Tuesday and the milk was still cool when I took it out. Then last night I completely forgot it was Wednesday (although Stephen worked late, as he does every Wednesday) and I forgot to watch
Project Runway!! Eeep! And I forgot to DVR it. I will have to catch it later this week.

Ok, off to pack for the beach.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 22

Today, we went to a park in Redmond that has farm animals (pigs, goats, horses, rabbits and chickens). I thought it would be fun for the kids to have a scavenger hunt so I made copies of Katie's list from her 50 days of Summer (week 2) but then left the 10 copies of the list at home in my rush to get out the door. Doh!

The kids entertained themselves by digging in mole holes, collecting sticks and counting the piles of horse droppings as we walked along the trail. Ah, to be a kid again. ;)

Stephen has been watching and re-watching RUSH in Concert: 30th Anniversary World Tour. The songs bring back so many memories from high school. And then this week my brother sent me a link to a huge list of 80's Videos. Some great memories there too.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 21

Wow - looks like we are just about the only place in the USA which was not sweltering today. In fact, I don't think it even hit 70*F today. That's ok though because the kids went to golf lessons so they were comfortable.

This weekend, we went to Nosy Neighbour's new house. It is really lovely home. However, the drive there SUCKED. According to Mapquest, it should have taken 1 hour and 6 minutes. It was *2* hours and 10 minutes. All due to traffic! And it seems that the traffic delays are permanent. Driving through Tacoma, I-5 has *permanent* signs that state "SLOW TRAFFIC NEXT X MILES". We drove maybe 20 miles hour for about 30 minutes. Then as we approached the Tacoma Narrows Bridge we were in stop-and-go traffic for 40 minutes. And OMG, when I realized that we had to cross the bridge (how the h*ll did I not realize it?). Mercifully, Nosy Neighbour's house is just off the first exit so our drive finally ended. And thankfully, the drive home was not nearly as bad. We stopped about half-way home and played a round of mini-putt at a family fun center.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 19

Not much fun the last couple of days. The weather has changed and I have had migraines two days running. Today I think I will need a nap to get rid of it because I have book club tonight.

I did take the kids to the school to ride their bikes. Dex is a whiz on his and I am so proud of him. Not quite as stable as Jax at his age but still great. Cars sat on his new bike for a moment but he hates, hates, hates to wear his helmet so he doesn't stay on it for long. I won't even let him sit on it without the helmet.

Ok, off to pop some Excedrin, pop a movie in for the kids and hop into bed for a nap.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 17 - Best Day Yet!

Today, we went to a beach in Seattle during low tide. It was the lowest tide of the season and right in the middle of the day (11:30-3:30), the temperature was cool (about 68*F and a little overcast) so it made for a perfect day of exploring the Tidepools.

The Seattle Aquarium provided some Beach Naturalists to answer questions and help people find the sea creatures. They were very helpful and the kids loved learning about the sea life.

We saw clams, heart cockles, blue mussels, barnacles and other rock dwelling creatures, periwinkles, dungeness crabs, hermid crabs, shore crabs, purple sea stars, mottle stars, sunflower stars, red sea cucumbers, tidepool sculpin, anemones, and lots of different types of seaweed. I think the highlight for me though was a Moonsnail that was laying an egg collar. The Naturalists had never even seen on before that was not at the aquarium (they had seen the snails and the egg collars but not one that was in the process of making one during low tide). It was very cool. I did not take a picture but you can see one here (page down a bit).

Here are some pictures from today (click for larger if you wish):

Purple Sea Star and Anemone

Dungeness Crab

Purple Sea Star

Jax Finds Red Sea Cucumbers

Kids in Tidepool

Sand Castle


Then this evening, Stephen took the kids swimming at the club while I worked out. A fun-filled, action-packed day.

How will we top this?!

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 16

Today it is overcast and threatening rain so I did not take the kids to golf. I hate golfing when it is wet so I won't do that to them. Fortunately, we pay as we go so we aren't out any money. I think Ash is disappointed with me though because she wanted her kids to go but Gav won't go if Jax doesn't and so she is stuck with her kids today and tons o'clean-up after their weekend camping trip.

We took the training wheels off Dex's bike yesterday. My God, you would think we were torturing him the way he wailed about it! Stephen then took him to the school so he could ride on the soccer field (dirt) and he did fine. He came home all proud of himself and got to sit in the celebration chair at dinner time.

We are having NO luck in the potty-training department. I think I will just need to bite the bullet and put regular underwear on Cars. Time to pull out the carpet cleaner!

Now I will try to figure out what we will do today. I'll check out Katie's 50 Days of Summer for inspiration (we did all-day Movie Day on Friday, which was SoF Day 15).

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 14

Today we went to a park for Stitch N'Bitch. The park happened to have a beach volleyball court (well, just a sand volleyball court I guess since it was not actually on a beach) and the kids had a blast digging in the sand and trying to play volleyball with a big 18" diameter ball that we brought. It was pretty cold today too but they had fun.

I got lost in my pattern and may have screwed it up. Aargh!

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 13

Happy 5th of July!

Our Annual 4th of July BBQ was a smashing success, in spite of the downpour from 9pm-10pm. I had some games and crafts for the kids (BINGO was a huge hit). Way too much food and of course, some illegal fireworks. Our city banned fireworks this year but Stephen was determined to light some off anyway. He and Gar (Ash's dh) spent way too much $$ of fireworks and they lit off many while it was still light. We took a break during the rain (the kids watched a movie and the adults played poker). When the rain stopped, back out they went. I did not watch much of them because I was very concerned about getting caught and the fine. Anyway, at about 10:45, some friends popped by to pick up their son who had stayed when they left after dinner to go to another party. When they showed up, we all started gabbing then a police car drove by while Stephen and Gar were trying to decide what to blow up next. OMG! I hustled all of the kids into the house and put an end to the fireworks. Stephen called me a killjoy (I guess I *AM* my mother).

So, no more fireworks. It is not worth the stress to me.

Today, Summer O'Fun day 13, we just hung out, cleaned up and then I took the kids to the club to go swimming. It turned very chilly and will stay this way for the next day or so.

And here is a picture of the Jax, Dex and Cars on Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 12, the 4th of July:

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 10

Today was not much fun for the boys apparently. I had a MOPS Steering Committee meeting so they ahd to hang out in the MOPS Leader's backyard with the other kids.

Tonight is movie night so at least that will be fun...I hope!

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 9

I took the kids to the park today for Stitch N'Bitch (they played while I stitched). They are getting bored with it, I am afraid. It is the same park they play everyday during the school year. So, next week we will go to another park that is not too far away but is a change of scenery for them.

We are starting to play out our 4th of July party. Looks like we'll have 4 families here so lots of chaos and fun. Next up is a trip to Costco for supplies.

I read an article today about a boy who had a peanut butter sandwich thrown at him by a kid in his school and he went into anaphylaxis. OMG, it made my stomach turn. I pray that Jax never deals with situations like that. Here is the article if anyone is interested in reading it: A lunchbox killer

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 8

Dex was invited to a playdate today so I dropped him off and he said he was nervous about going inside because they have a cat. Playmate's mom said there was nothing to be afraid of so off he went inside. Playmate's mom asked me to pick him up at 3pm. At 12:58, I received a call from her saying that he wanted to go home. I packed up all of the kids and went to pick him up. He had been crying and just kept saying he wanted to go home and that he didn't want to talk. Playmate's mom said "He was fine until I made pb&j sandwiches for lunch. He said he doesn't eat pb so I offered to make him a jelly sandwich but he said he would not eat". Then, just as we were to get into the car, she said "I guess there was something to be afraid of after all". Huh? Not sure if she was joking or not. I really do not know her ~that~ well.

Of course I realized that it was pb that had upset Dex but I wanted him to tell me. I asked him why he was so upset. He told me that he was afraid the pb at Playmate's house would make Jax ill and make him die.

[hanging head] Shit. I have made my six year old frightened of pb. I again reiterated to him that if he ever ate pb or peanuts, he must then carefully and thoroughly wash his hands and face so Jax would be safe. I thought he understood that but evidently he did not. I need to make sure that he understands what can and cannot hurt Jax.

In the meantime, we definitely need to reconsider playdates away from home.

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 7

We went to the beach today. It was a glorious day, hot but not unbearable. The lake wasn't too cold. The kids had a blast. Jax and Dex spent nearly 2 full hours digging a huge hole. Not sure why they wanted to do it but it kept them busy. Cars would not wear a hat which completely irked me though.

I am off shortly to drop the kids off with Stephen at the club for more swimming while I work out.

Edited later to add that I did not apply sunscreen evenly on Declan's shoulders and he is burned! OMG I feel so horrible. I have a burn too on my back/shoulders but it is splotchy. That's what I get for assuming that an 8 year old could apply the spray-on sunscreen evenly. :\

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 6

Thanks for weighing in on the colour choice for our house paint. Stephen has decided that the Olive is "less puky" so looks like we will go with that.

Today, Jax and Dex went to their golf lessons at the course. Cars and I came home and did the Hokey Pokey and read Head to Toe by Eric Carle - about 7 times each!

It was a scorcher of a day so when I picked Jax and Dex up they were all hot, grimy and sweaty. Then they spent 40 minutes on the slip'n'slide and in the little kiddie pool. Tomorrow, we are braving the beach (I hope the hot temperatures we have had the last two days have warmed up the lake!).

It's Not Easy Being Green

So, remember how I said I had picked out a paint colour for our house? Well, I bought a sample of it from Benjamin Moore and slapped it up on the side of the house. Ooops - definitely not the right colour. So I ran back to the store and bought two more sample colours. Again, they were not what I was looking for. I went back today and purchased another sample and then a quart of another colour (they did not have the samples in that colour). The last two colours are the ones I like the best.



Now, do I go with Tate Olive or Wethersfield Moss?!
(Ignore that image of me reflected in the glass)

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 5

Ok, we made it through week 1. Today, Nanny came and watched the kids while I worked out and went shopping for groceries and to Sears for a fridge water filter. While I was gone, the kids broke the toilet seat lid and the screen door on the new patio door. Was Nanny even watching them?! Geez!

Jean-Paul and Marilyn are due to arrive in a couple of hours. They are just staying overnight but will arrive with our stash of Smarties, Canadian Cheez Whiz and Tetley Tea.

Here is an article about a promising treatment available at Duke University for peanut allergies: Can Deadly Peanut Allergies Be Cured?

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 4

This morning we went to the park and met fellow Stitch N'Bitchers and their kids. I was going to hold it at my house but then I realized that everyone would have their school-aged kids with them along with the toddlers so our group of 7 kids would balloon to 14 or 15. So off to the park we went. It was a little cool but the sun was shining and the kids had a great time.

Now it is movie time (Ice Age) and I am doing laundry (it cannot all be Fun).

Here is a picture of the boys in their tie dyed shirts. Dex was less than thrilled that I wanted to take his picture rather than feed him since he was "starving!".

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 3

Yesterday we tie-dyed t-shirts. Cars would have none of it so I did his. Jax did not put enough dye on it but he likes the shirt. Dex did it but I think he really could not care less about it. We did have fun though.

Today was just a hang-out day (it is cool and overcast) then we went to Costco this afternoon. Oh, we did stop at Big 5 to buy a slip'n'slide in the event that we actually get some hot weather this summer. Good thing I spent that money on new windows that we have not had to open. *sigh*

Summer O'Fun 2006 Day 1

Today was the first day of summer. I registered Jax and Dex in a local youth golf program. They attend every Monday from 10:30-2:30 for golf instruction and lunch. Today, I hung out there the whole time to ensure that lunch was peanut-free (there were candy bars with peanuts available for purchase but no included in the lunch provided). I had Jax carry his Epi Pen from his golf bag to lunch and back.

The kids had a good time. Dex started spouting out all of the golf rules he learned today, especially the etiquitte about the golf green. Seems they teach them early to ensure the greens do not get chewed up! lol Anyway, this will be a great program for them for the summer.

The rest of this week will be filled up with Tye Die (tomorrow), swimming at the club (Wed) and Stitch N'Bitch (fun for me, not necessarily for them, on Thursday morning).

My New Motto

Father's Day

Today for Father's Day, we just hung out in the yard, planting flowers in planters on the deck. The kids played and the sun actually came out for a few minutes. We are having steak, potatoes and mushrooms for dinner (some other veggie or two thrown in there).

Seven years ago today (well, on Father's Day - the actual date is 6/20), my dad passed away. I always miss him so much at this time of the year. I haven't called my mom today as I usually do because she is in Minnesota visiting for my brother's family (it is Melissa's high school graduation party today). I will give her a call on Tuesday when she is home.

We are planning to have the outside of our house painted this summer. Stephen does not want to do it so we are hiring our neighbour to do it (he is a house painter) however, he is very busy refurbishing a yacht (his other job) so he is not sure when he will get to it. Also, the colour I had picked out - saybrook sage (you can find a sample here - about 1/2 way down, right about in the middle of the page) - is too light, according to Stephen. So, I am not sure if I should just go ahead with it or check out another colour. Hmmm... We also need some wood trim replaced on the house but again, Stephen does not want to do it so I will have to hire someone to do it. I guess I will call Handyman tomorrow to see if he is interested in doing it.

One small step...

Remember last June at Dex's preschool's End-of-Year Carnival? Where the cake walk consisted of tons'o'peanut cookies/candy bars and other treats at the "Peanut and Nut-Free School"? Well, this year, they send out note after note reminding people to keep all items for the cake-walk nut/peanut-free. The note even said "We will only accept items that are nut/peanut-free". I know this because Kins goes there and Ash told me. She said that after the f-up last year, the owners of the preschool were very careful at this year's carnival. I like to think that I had something to do with them making certain to keep it peanut/nut-free this year. :)

I had a migraine last night so I went to bed at 5:30pm. Woke up at 9:30 then I was awake until after 3AM! I was then up at 6:30 to go to the club to work out with Terry. So, I am looking forward to having a nap later this afternoon.

School's Out!

Jax's last day of school was today. They got out at 11:30am. Because of the half-day schedule, Dex's last day was yesterday (no P.M. kindergarten). I am so very glad the year is behind us.

Their report cards were good (nothing stellar though). At least Jax improved in the "speaking in a respectful manner" to the teachers. Yikes, that was embarrassing last term. Dex's comments said he was a funny kid but doesn't know when to stop when he is on a roll. Oh dear.

Jax's teacher told me today that there was a meeting with the guidance counsellor about Jax and a 504 plan. It was agreed by the teachers that it was a good thing to have in place so hopefully that will make things go smoother at the beginning of the next school year.

We are still waiting for the summer-like weather to reappear after its brief visit in May. So, no summer activities yet. So, for the rest of the day I plan on taking a nap and letting the kids play Nintendo.

What's the Frequency Kenneth?

Can you hear this?

It is a high-pitched noise that apparently people over a certain age cannot hear because they have lost the ability to hear some high frequency sounds. Teenagers are downloading the sound to use as a ring-tone for their cell phones. That way, they can receive calls/text messages at school because their teachers cannot hear the sound. To read more about it, click here.

I cannot hear it but my kids can (Dex started to cry when I played it again and again because I was "torturing" him!). Can you hear it?

The Final Stretch

This is last week of school! I cannot wait. I just need to get the kids through this week then I don't want to think about anything for at least a week.

The potluck went well yesterday. I showed up and asked to see the ingredients of food as people brought it in. There was nothing there with peanuts on the labels and while there were some home-baked goods, nothing with peanuts. I did tell Jax to avoid any home-baked goods. There was also a kid in one of the other classes who did not want a hot dog but had brought a pb sandwich from home. He was instructed to eat in his classroom. Of course I had no problem with that because it would be like a normal day.

Thanks for all of your comments of support. I am happy to know that I have helped raise awareness of food allergies, specifically peanut allergies.

Dear Readers

Sorry for my outburst. I know that some of you do not like to read profanity so I would like to apologize for that.

I am continually amazed at people's ignorance and inconsiderate behaviour towards food allergies. I do know that if I did not have a child with a food allergy (nevermind two children!), I would not be as well versed to what they can or cannot have or about cross-contamination issues. However, I know I would definitely have compassion for them. Imagine how carefully they have to live their life, knowing that just one bite could kill them. The trust that they need to have before taking just one bite. Trust that the labels on food are correct. Trust that someone did not forget to mention that the item to which they are allergic is not present in their food. Trust that the person who is shaking their hand did not have that allergen on them. And think of the trust that a child must have. A child who, although he can now read, must still look to others for reassurance that a food offered to them is safe for them to eat.

This past week has been a disappointment for us in this way. The classroom function with the peanut butter cookies, the lack of warning about peanuts on the notice about the luncheon today, that hag with her precious peanut dessert...all reinforces just how much we have to fight for Jax every.single.day. It is exhausting. It is frustrating.

But there are some triumphs.

I was speaking to the school psychologist the other day in my pursuit to get a 504 Plan* in place for Jax for the next school year. She told me that Jax was a great advocate for himself and gave me an example of when he had asked that a certain food item be removed from a Leadership class because he suspected it had peanuts. Another triumph was when an acquaintance told a certain hag that just being around peanuts could possibly kill him. And when Dex told me that he will never eat peanuts, even when he is a man, because he doesn't want to ever put Jax in any harm.

So, off to battle another day in our small, personal war on peanuts. And hope that there are no casualties along the way.


* Section 504

No otherwise qualified individual with a disability...shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973

Section 504 is a civil rights law. To meet the criteria for Section 504 protections, a child must...
- have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
- have a record of such impairment, or
- be regarded as having such an impairment.
Under Section 504, a plan may be developed to assist students with disabilities that require accommodations in order to access the general education program.

What is a Major Life Activity?

Major life activities include: walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, working, caring for oneself, and performing manual tasks.

Open Letter to Mom of other Second Grader

Dear Mom of other Second Grader

Your panties are in a wad because the teachers asked that no peanuts or peanut butter be served at the Second Grade lunch tomorrow so you cannot send in your special dessert. Boo-effing-hoo. And saying "That kid should just bring in his own food" when you were referring to my son with the life-threatening peanut allergy just shows how ignorant you are. It is not that he might just EAT something with peanuts or peanut-butter, rather, he can react to just being around it.

It was not my idea nor his to have this frigging potluck lunch with all 80+ Second Graders. In fact, I would prefer if they did not have it because of stupid bitches like you. However, it is a school function during school hours so my son has as much right to be there are your child. And he has the right to not be exposed to something that could potentially kill him, or, at the very least, make him extremely ill.

So f* you and your "that kid" attitude. Seriously. F* you.

Regards,
Pez

First Holy Communion

Today was Jax's First Communion. I am so proud of him for all of the hard work he put into learning everything he needed to do for today. They had the kids all line up and then proceed in before the procession. The kids then joined their families throughout the church and went up for communion with the congregation rather than separately as some other churches do it.

Afterwards, my MIL took us all out to brunch (she is visiting BTW but that is a whole other story...).

Here are some photos. Click for larger views if you wish.

Jax before Mass.



Pez Family photo before we left.



Kids after we went to brunch.

Today was Dex's last baseball game. Thank goodness that is over. Now we just need to finish up Jax's next Saturday. I am so going to look forward to not spending Saturday at dinner time at the ball park! The season was so long!

Tomorrow is Jax's First Communion. I am so excited for him. We made a f e l t b an ner to hang over the edge of the pew that we will sit in tomorrow. He is happy to be able to partake in communion. Dex is more than a little jealous that he cannot do it yet.

This morning I got up early to work out at the club. Turns out they do not open until 7am so I spent 20 minutes in the parking lot listening to NPR. Anyway, then I had an awesome workout today. I am starting to feel strong and my legs are less flabby. My arms are getting toned too which is nice. Now why won't the big belly disappear?!

Meme

I was tagged by Ramona so here goes!

5 Items in my Fridge
* four ears of corn
* perfectly ripe cantaloupe
* opened can of Pillsbury icing
* "Cars" yogurt (soy yogurt)
* lunch meat (ham and turkey)

5 Items in my Closet
* filing cabinet (yes!)
* old computer
* tons'o'out-of-style clothes
* blanket
* long, purple wool skirt that I bought in 1989 but I love too much to part with (even though it is about 3 sizes too small!)

5 Items in my Car
* car seat
* hands-free adapter for cell phone
* several open bottles of water
* doctor's office stickers stuck to the doors of the car
* broken sunglasses (I sat on them!)

5 Items in my Purse
* cell phone
* wallet
* referral for CT scan
* Safeway receipt
* Epi Pen (actually attached to the handles of the purse in a medical pack)

Six!

Yesterday was Dex's 6th birthday. Six is huge! On his birthday he tied his shoes for the first time! It was like he decided he was finally old enough to try and he just did it. What a terrific kid!

Yesterday, I took Jax out to buy his First Communion outfit. We decided to nix the suit so we just purchased a pair of navy dress pants and a white shirt (with clip-on tie!). I also have a navy vest that he might wear too. Anyway, I had to buy size 10! Granted, the pants are size 10 slim, but still size 10!!! Where did my little boy go?

We have had pouring rain for the past three days so baseball games have been canceled (Dex's was on Friday night and Jax's was yesterday). Today, we were invited to a picnic bbq at a local park and it pissed rain. Fortunately, the park has a large pavillion that had a fireplace so we stayed relatively warm and dry. It was fun but would have been great if the weather were nicer. It is so cold that I might have to turn the heat back on in the house!

O.M.G.

Someone please shoot me if I ever say that I will host a home birthday party for a six year old again. Seriously. It was so challenging (what a nice word) to keep these kids from killing each other or wrecking the place. The good part is that Dex said he had a great time and did not want the party to end. :)

Here is a picture of him:


(please disregard the toothpicks that I forgot to remove before the photo).

And here are all of the wizards:



Again, I do not know why these pictures look so grainy. Click for bigger if you like.

Things that made this party interesting are:
- the kid who showed up after his mom said they were not coming
- the kid who arrived one hour late because his parents mixed up the party time with a party for next weekend
- the lone girl who wanted to go home because the boys were "Too loud!"
- the milk allergic child who insisted that it was ok for him to have ice cream (after his grandma called me and told me he could not have any).

Thankfully the rain held off during the party so they were able to go outside for a bit. Now it is raining on and off so we are just waiting to find out if Dex's baseball game is canceled. Oh, I hear thunder. Now I will just wait for the call...

Early Weekend

The kids have Friday off school so I decided it was the day to have Dex's birthday party (his birthday is on Wednesday). He wanted a Harry Potter theme. I tried to talk him out of it since I have BTDT (Jax's 5th birthday) but he was adamant. So, I made black robes (capes). Again. I did find some little glowing wands so I did not make wands this time. The activities will be Divination Class (guess the number of jelly beans in a jar), Potions Class - I made purple cabbage juice and it will turn red when we add vinegar and greenish/blue when we add laundry detergent (I got that one from here. Last will be Spells and I will have them practice some spells and we will have them make a bottle of pop explode (same as Jax's science experiment. They will also pin the scar on Harry's head then eat pizza and cake. I hope Dex enjoys it!

The rest of the weekend will be filled with baseball (Friday night and Saturday afternoon) as well as a bbq on Sunday. Let's hope the rain eases up some.

MIL is arriving on Tuesday. She really wanted to come for Jax's First Communion but it will be nice that she will also be here for Dex's birthday.

Mom Is So Mad

Dex has been walking around for the past couple of days singing "Mom is so maaaad!" in a kind of familiar tune. I finally asked him today why he is singing that.

Dex: I saw "Drake and Josh" singing it.
Mom: When were they singing it? I don't remember that song.
Dex: Well, do you know "The Blues Brothers"? They dressed up as "The Blues Brothers" and sang it over and over again "Mom is so maaad! ba-da-da da-da Mom is so maad!"
Mom: (spits her tea) Dex! They are singing "I'm a Soul Man"!
Dex: Oops! (walks away singing "I'm a Soul Man!"

Ramblings and Rumblings

Busy weekend for us. I took the kids to their school's jamboree (fun fair) on Saturday then we had two baseball games (overlapping at two different fields, of course). After the second game (ended at 6:45pm), the team set up a camping grill in the parking lot and we had a team bbq. It was a lot of fun.

Today, after church, I had to run Jax over to have his baseball team picture taken. It was originally scheduled for two three weeks ago but was canceled due to rain. Afterwards, I took Dex to a birthday party at a skating rink. He had a blast! At first he said he was not going to skate. Then he did get on the ice but would not let go of the wall. The rink had 5 gallon buckets that kids could use to keep their balance. So, after skating around for an hour, he was able to skate unassisted (not well, but he could skate!). See for yourself!

The next week is still very busy. I am so looking forward to June. Tomorrow, I have a doctor's appointment (just a check-up). I will have to boot home to get Jax to swimming lessons on time. On Tuesday, Dex has an allergist appointment. Friday, the kids do not have school but I am having Dex's birthday party that day. I need to sew 10 black capes (Harry Potter Robes) before then. Oh, and plan the rest of the party. I have no idea what the kids will do besides pin the scar on Harry's head (yes, this will be very similar to Jax's 6th Birthday Party when he too had a Harry Potter theme).

Oh, and Stephen told me that his mom is coming for Jax's First Communion after all. She wanted to come then said no then she called today and said she was coming. She arrives next Tuesday. Stephen said he is not sure how long she is staying but it will at least be a week.

I still do not know exactly what Jax will wear for First Communion. I will need to take him out shopping next weekend. Oh, and we need to make a banner for Jax to hang on the end of the pew by next week.

I am behind on my blog and forum reading. I have completely knitting and felting that big booga bag but have not yet finished putting the handles on it! I have to start the next book club selection too. I am so looking forward to the end of this month so I can take a breath!

Here is a photo of me with the lowlights and new cut:

I don't know why it looks so grainy. Click on the picture to see it full-sized.

May has got to be the busiest month of the year! I swear it is busier this month than December!

So I caved. I went six months, one week and 3 days without colouring my hair. And it looked it! But today, I went to a salon and had some lowlights put in my hair to blend in the grey. I hated that line of grey/brown hair so much. The lowlights are subtle - you can still tell that I have grey hair but it blends in so nicely and that line is pretty much gone. I will go back in a couple of months for lowlights again but she will put in fewer. I also had a haircut to chop off the bottom 2" of my hair because it was dry-dry-dry! And it was too heavy for summer. But now it looks so much nicer.

I cannot believe I waited six months to do this.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Thought I would share some photos today.

This is a family picture taken yesterday (Mother's Day). Notice the bad hair day had by all (Gray hair for me and too long, Jax needs a haircut desperately, Cars and Dex need to brush their hair and Stephen is just losing his:


This picture is of a big booga bag that I am knitting as a gift:


This is the stepping stone that Dex made in Art Start:

Happy Mother's Day

It is early but so far my day had been wonderful. I slept in until almost 8am! Whoo-hoo! Then, I came downstairs and all three of my boys rushed over to hug me. Then I opened presents - stepping stone from Dex, Still life pastel drawing from Jax, Pez dispensers from Cars and a new cell phone from Stephen.

Not sure what else is in store for the day but I know it will be a fabulous day!

And here's a picture of my phone!

My friend put her dog down today. G-dog was 13 years old and was almost crippled. He could barely walk and he often fell down trying to walk across the floor. She struggled with the decision and after consulting with a friend (who is also a vet), she decided it was time.

The problem was that her dh did not think it was time. He accused her of rushing it and making the decision because G-dog was an "inconvenience" to her (yes, true it was inconvenient for her to carry a 60 pound dog up and down the stairs). He then told the kids that their mom was making a hasty decision and last night told them that maybe it was not yet time. How unfair to those poor children to do that to them knowing that their dog was going to be gone the next day.

Then he told my friend that he resented her for making the decision, that he probably will hold it against her for a long time and might not be able to forgive her.

Ok, the guy is obviously hurting and upset that their family pet is being put down but that is just so cruel and mean to say to someone who has to make the decision on her own. He refused to see that the dog could not walk down the hall without struggling or falling. He is the one being unfair to the dog for making G-dog suffer because he is not ready to say good-bye.

And my poor friend is then going through this alone. Well, she of course has her friends but not the support of the one person whom she really needs support from.

This has opened my eyes too because I can see that I have such a wonderful husband. There is no way he would ever say such cruel and hurtful things to me. Ever.

Extinction

Polar Bears have been put on the endangered species list. So why the hell is some "Big Game Hunter" allowed to pay money for a licence to shoot them? This guy paid $45K for a chance to bag a polar bear. The weird thing is that the bear he killed is actually a Polar Bear/Grizzly Bear cross that they have never seen before in nature. Wow - how cool! Bears who have a very slim chance of ever crossing paths and their mating seasons overlap a little bit managed to get along for a short time to mate and produce an offspring. And some dumbass shot it!

I am not morally opposed to hunting. If you eat what you hunt then great...but to shoot an endangered animal is morally wrong. Wrong. So this guy manages to hunt and shoot an animal that is a cross between two endangered animals (grizzlies are endangered too).

I am not an animal lover, normally. I mean I like cats, can tolerate dogs, am in awe of horses but that's about it. Spiders and bugs are for squishing only. Cows and pigs are for eating. But please leave the polar bears alone.

Ack!

1) A bear was sighted going into the small wooded area that borders the north side of the school yard. No recess for the kids all day.
2) Tuesday afternoon = baseball practice for Declan. I remembered at 7:45pm - three hours late.
3) Incisional Endometriosis hurting like a bugger today.
4) A friend is putting her dog down on Friday and I cannot stop tearing up about it. I don't even particularly like dogs.
5) I signed up to deliver a meal to someone who recently had a baby. I remembered about it on Sunday night at 11pm. The meal was supposed to be delivered the previous Monday.

I need a vacation.

Ok, I think I am over my spider scare. Thankfully, I have not seen another spider - big or small - all weekend!

Book club is to meet this coming week and we are in for a tense meeting. Long story but host first asked to have the meeting in a restaurant then asked to change the date. Now one cannot make it because her dh will be out of town. Another is ticked off that it got moved to a date she would prefer it not be held so she is going to boycott it - maybe. Another told me she thought there was bad blood between the host and the boycotter anyway (I did not suspect that) so she thinks boycotter will diss host.

OMG! I cannot believe this is all happening. I do not want our book club splintered like this! It feels so high school. Let's hope that it will all blow over and we will be back to smiling, reading and laughing by next month.

Oh and the book? "The Virgin's Lover" by Phillipa Gregory. I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Shaky

No kidney infection! I just must finish out my round of antibiotics and I shall be all better. :)

I wish the cure for embarrassment was as simple. I have just a moment ago realized that I did a complete bone-head move for Museum Night last night. I put up the wrong description of the art work for the kindergarten class. I described the art and "based on" artist for a different project! And about eleventy billion people read it? OMG - I am blushing as I write this. I feel like a total moron! ~breathe~

And to add to my moronic state, I had to have my neighbour come over this morning at 7AM to kill a enormous, gigantic, monstrous spider that was in my house. Jax woke me up just before 7:00 to tell me that there was a big spider downstairs. I asked him if he could get it but he said it was too high. I asked him to tell Stephen to get it. I thought Stephen was in the shower but it turns out he had left for work already! YIKES!

I bravely crept downstairs and almost swooned in fright at the sight of the monstrosity. It was up on the wall right where the wall and ceiling meet. There was no way I could get it myself. Not because of its location. Because of its size and location. I went as far as getting the fly swatter but I knew that I could not get it. What if I nicked it and it ran off (these suckers are FAST)? What would I do?!

So, I had to bite the bullet and wait until 7AM to call the neighbours. I got washed and dressed (there was no time for a shower!) and I called over there. Tom said he would be right over but I knew he was shaking his head in disbelief at me (backstory: I called him once about 4 years ago to kill one of these huge buggers, then another time to kill one but that time he was in my house painting it so it is not like he had to come far - only down from a 10 foot ladder, then last year because I saw what looked like a rolled up rubber band in the corner of my kitchen counter but almost fainted when I realized it was a spider).

Anyway, just after I called, Tom's wife, Lynn, arrived home from driving her dd to high school so she came over to kill the spider which was pretty humiliating. She was taken aback at the size of the thing but managed to squish it with seven kleenexes, then two damp paper towels to clean up the wall.

Ok, so just HOW big was this spider you may ask? Huge! The body was about an inch and a half long and the thick, meaty legs were about 2" long. ~shudder~ I frigging hate spiders. I had arachnophobia. I would sweat and swoon at the sight of spiders. Eventually, since there are always a billion spiders all over our rhodies and our deck in the summer, I was able to go outside without shaking to squish them, and in fact, I don't usually kill them anymore unless they are in my way (like on the bbq or in a chair). So, in one fell swoop, I have become a jumpy, nervous coward. All day long I have been flinching when, out of the corner of my eye, I spy a mark on the wall or the floor only to discover it is a piece of lego or a scratch in the paint.

I will probably have nightmares about them too. Time for a visit to the Crazy Doctor, I think.

In Over My Head

Why is it that everything always comes to a head at the same time on the same day (or close to it?). This is always the busiest time of the year for me and I always forget by September or whenever and commit to doing too many things that all end up occurring at the same time.

First Thing: Mother's Day tea and MOPS and I had volunteered to decorate our table. I bought pretty blue flowered paper plates and napkins for our table and a new blue (plastic) tablecloth which I spend 1.5 hours hot-gluing blue flowers onto until the wee hours of the night last night (word to the wise - hot glue MELTS plastic tablecloths and it burns skin very quickly!). The party store where I bought the paper goods also had these pretty blue flower-shaped lollipops so they were a nice touch to the table.

Second (and third and fourth) Thing(s): Art Start Museum Night. What a HUGE PITA. HUGE! I spent this afternoon while Cars napped creating name tags for the kindergarten class' Art Start projects (granted, I could have done this sooner but I knew I would have the time today so why not wait until THE LAST MINUTE?). After Cars awoke, we rushed to the school to put up the art. Ash watched Cars and Dex as the park for 1/2 hour while I put the art up (Jax was on a playdate). Except after 30 minutes, I was no where near done. The only thing I was near were tears! It took ONE POINT FIVE HOURS to put everything up and that was with HELP! I did Jax's class fine (it took 30 mins to tape up coloured butcher paper and then the projects) but then I had to the same thing for friggin *40* kindergarten classes and then glue on name labels (I was stupid not to have done this beforehand).

Anyway, I had to call Ash after the 30 mins and tell her to drop my kids off at the gym (she was just at the park beside the school). She came down and started helping me which I really appreciated. Then a really sweet couple (their dd is in Jax's class and they go to my church) came over because they were done putting up the art for one of the other classes and they spent 30 minutes applying pieces of tape to the art projects so I could just slap them up. OMG, I was soooooo grateful for their help. And like I said, that took 1.5 hours! I had NO idea that we would have to put up the butcher paper borders ourselves (we are talking two 4x8 feet sheets and two 4x12 feet sheets).

Fifth Thing: First Communion classes for Jax. Ok, no stress for me, right? WRONG! I realized he had not yet done his homework for the class. Also, because of the time of the class, we had to have dinner a little earlier. I was so exhausted and ready to drop that instead of driving home after dropping him off, I sat in the car and read a book. It was heavenly! A friend from book club, whose dd is also taking the classes, did the same thing. Ok, it seemed indulgent, spending 1.5 hours away from everyone and just reading reading reading, but really I was doing it to save money because the price of ga$ is nuts (at least that was my excuse to Stephen). ;)

So, this fall as I am signing up for school volunteering, MOPS volunteering, Religion classes and Little League for spring 2007, I will remember this day and hopefully have the sense to at least chose things that will not all culminate at the same time.

Now it is 10:30pm and instead of going to bed since I am exhausted, I am writing a very wordy blog entry. Ok, off to bed now.

Back Pain + Doc who is Out of the office =

Another trip to Urgent Care this afternoon.

I started having back pain today in the general area of my kidneys (on the left side) so I called my doctor who is out of the office and her receptionist told me to go to Urgent Care. Pfft! Right. So I called the nurse line provided through dh's work and they told me to go back to Urgent Care. So, I did. The infection does not seem to be cleared up according to the tests they ran. I am now on Cipro (so I am well protected against Anthrax!) and I have instructions to call them back on Friday afternoon because they should be able to tell from the tests they are running if I have a kidney infection (Forget them calling *me* - "So many people look at these results we cannot be sure if you will get a call or not so you should call us").

This is exhausting.

Recovering

Ok, the bladder infection is gone but the anti-biotics have caused another problem. Nothing that won't be better in a few days.

Stephen arrived home safely on Sunday. He had a great time. He lost money, ate well and enjoyed the company of his oldest and dearest friends. An all-around successful trip.

Today, I am going to take the stepping stones out of the moulds and wrap them in small-sized pizza boxes. The kids will get to take them home for Mother's Day this week...or maybe we should wait until next week since Mother's Day is not until the following Sunday? I will take a picture of Dex's and post it.

This week is "Teacher Appreciation Week". The kids were to take something in everyday this week for their teachers. I have lost the list of what goes in which day (like a flower one day, a small gift, a letter of appreciation, etc) so my kids' teachers have received nothing yet. I am so disorganized. Oh and trying to get Jax to write a letter of Appreciation for his teachers will be like pulling teeth. I will just get him to write "Thanks!".

Ok, I haven't had a shower yet today and I have to pack lunches (the Cars and Dex will eat at school while I take out the stepping stones, then Dex will go to class at 12:30).

I am doing much better today. Thank God for antibiotics. I spent most of today just resting. Ash took the kids for baseball photos (although right after Dex's they canceled the rest due to rain so Jax's will be rescheduled). I did venture out to get some McD's for dinner for the kids.

Killjoy ordered me not to tell Stephen that I had to go to Urgent care less I "ruin his good time" in Vegas. WTF?! I did tell him, of course, when he called today to check in with us. Turns out all was not well in Vegas either. His friend, Paul, was not feeling well all of last week and felt sicker once he got to Vegas so he flew back home on Friday night. Dan and Mike are still there though and they are having a great time.

I hope I am feeling well enough to take the kids out tomorrow. We all have cabin fever!

So, Stephen is in Vegas and of course things here are falling apart.

Dex started crying at school today while I was working his classroom, saying he had very bad stomach pains. I brought him home and his stomach was churning and it hurt for a few hours then magically disappeared.

Now it is the middle of the night and I have a UTI or something and I would love to go to urgent care to find out why I am peeing blood but I have no one to watch the kids! I called Ash about 30 minutes ago but there was no answer (they turn their phones off when the go to bed). I am sitting here wondering how long I can sit here without working myself into a tizzy and deciding my kidneys are malfunctioning or something. I am sure it is just an UTI but I have never peed blood before so I am freaking out. I wonder if I should call my neighbour...

Ok, six more hours until the kids will wake up and we can spend our morning at Urgent Care. I can do this...

edit 2.5 hrs later - I could not wait until the morning because I started having back pain so I called E (Z's dad) and he drove down from Redmond to stay with the kids while I went to a 24 hr Urgent Care. I have a UTI but it is bad and they were worried that I might have a kidney infection already. If the back pain is not better by tomorrow night I need to go to the hospital. Now I am wide awake in the middle of the night. Thank God tomorrow is Saturday.

Stephen is in Vegas. He was so excited before his trip. I had not seen him so excited about anything in such a long time. He did go and exchange the watch for the blue-faced one and he is much happier with it. He is now in Vegas with his new watch which I hope he won't have to hawk to cover his gambling losses. ;)

Stitch N' Bitch today was fun. Again though, there was more bitching than stitching going on.

I met with a personal trainer today to do a body analysis and man am I fat! I am still below the "obese" category but just barely. One good thing is that I do weigh 3 pounds less than I thought - our scale at home must be wrong. ;) I have set a small goal which I plan to reach by June 4th then I will go back to meet with the trainer and will set a new goal.

Jax had his initial First Communion class tonight. I am getting so excited for him to complete his classes and have his First Communion!

Stephen liked the watch but when he went to have it sized, he saw another that he liked a little more. Funny enough, it is the one I had originally picked out for him but I kept second-guessing myself and went with the one that was "safer". Rats! Anyway, he asked me if it would be ok if he exchanged it so he will run back to the jeweller tomorrow before he leaves for Vegas.

My back/neck is stiffening up again so I think I had better call the doctor. I feel like an old granny walking around hunched over and not moving my neck much.

Jax started swimming lessons this week after a 2 year hiatus. He is not as strong as the rest of the kids in the class but he is pretty good. Anyway, today he told me he wanted to quit because the teacher yelled at him twice. She did yell at him ("KICK THOSE LEGS, JAX!" and "JAX! WATCH WHERE YOU ARE SWIMMING!" as he was about to swim into some other kids) but I did not think it was that harsh. She yelled at other kids too. Anyway, I told him he did not have to take more lessons after this session is over if he does not want to and I think he has already decided that this is it. Oops.

Tomorrow, I have Stitch'n'bitch here in the morning then in the afternoon I am going to the club to meet with a personal trainer for the first time. I am so not looking forward to finding out how much body fat I have. Or how out of shape I am. But, I do look forward to someone showing me what I need to do to lose weight and get fit.

Today is Stephen's 40th birthday. The kids and I made a poster for him with a big photo of him (I printed it using the poster-printing option and made it 3 sheets of paper X 3 sheets of paper). It also says "Lordy Lordy Look Who's 40" then with 4 birthday greeting from each of us on it. I am baking a cake for him at the moment. Not sure what we are doing for dinner. We were going to go out but now he is leaning towards pizza (no doubt a pizza with chicken which I hate because chicken does not belong on pizza!).

Today is also my dad's birthday. If he were still alive he would be 75 today. This year it will be 7 years since he passed away. I cannot believe it has been that many years. It doesn't seem that long ago.

Oh I am in a much better mood today. No headaches. The sun is shining. Church was mercifully short. Things are looking up!

I glossed over this but I ended up buying Stephen a watch for his birthday. It is nice (I think) and I hope he likes it. I told my neighbour that I bought him a watch and she asked me if I bought him a Rolex. HUH?! No! She thought that was the kind of watch you buy someone for their 40th birthdays. Uh, only if you are rich, I think. Her dh bought her one a few years ago as a thank for you supporting him while he finished up school (and I think it was around the time of her 30th birthday). Stephen thanked me when he finished school by getting a full-time job!

Ok, off to take the kids out to buy gifts from them for Stephen. He wants some flip-flops, a couple of basil plants (I think it is a tad too early for them since it still gets quite chilly at night) and a rake. Is this man practical or what?

Migraine Hangover

I have a migraine hangover today. Slow speech, sensitivity to light etc. Plus now I think I have a sinus headache (pain is on the "wrong" side today and I feel congested). Woe is me.

Jax and Dex both had baseball games today. They both had fun and the sun was shining so it made for a pleasant day. I just wish it would get a little warmer.

I hope Stephen hasn't figured out what I am getting him for his birthday. I went to amazon.com and had been doing some searches. When I went back today, the first thing you see is "Customers with similar searches purchased" with three pictures of similar watches! YIKES! I had to do some quick searches on things that I know he would not be interested in to get it off the page. I know he was using the computer just before me but I hope he had not going to amazon.com. I guess I will have to wait to see if he lets on...

Ok, off to take some advil cold and sinus and to tidy up. After Jax's game, Stephen invited Ash and Gar et al over for dinner tonight. He has run to the store for supplies and to refill the bbq propane tank.

Migraines suck

Today was an Imitrex day. I have been trying to not take Imitrex but to manage the pain with Excedrin Migraine. I had to lie down for 30 minutes after I took it and I almost threw up twice while driving the kids to a birthday party (really, I probably should not have been driving and I am mad at myself now for that). I am completely wired now from the Imitrex.

Jax and Dex are at a sleepover birthday party. I really do not like sleepovers but it is Z's birthday and besides Jax and Dex, there is just one other kid sleeping over. Z has had a hard time with friends this year in school partly because his Aspergers is a little more noticeable as he gets older and the other kids are starting to notice and are keeping away. So, when T asked if the boys could sleepover, I said yes. I hope they do well. It is almost 10:30pm and we haven't had a call yet to ask us to pick them up so that is a good sign. Cars of course was devastated that he did not get to sleepover at the "burr-day paw-dee" (I love the way he says that!). He cried and said he was a big boy so he needs to sleepover too! lol

Ow

I worked out at the club for the first time in FOREVER and boy am I feeling it tonight. I did several lunges and OMG. Burn baby burn!

Stephen's birthday is in 5 days and I still do not know what to get him. I was thinking of a nice watch but what if he doesn't like it? He thinks I am buying him a guitar. I have absolutely NO idea where he got that from and I hope he isn't expecting one! Man, he is going to be so disappointed.

Jax has been busy making phone calls to thank family and friends for his birthday gifts. He is worried that if he doesn't thank them then they won't send him more gifts next year. I just shake my head at that kid. I wonder if he is using his watch to time each call?

I am so excited - our new kitchen windows (and door) will be installed on Friday! Whoo-hoo! As soon as the weather turns warm, I will have FRESH AIR circulating through my kitchen for the first time EVER! And we will have a better window in which to exhaust our room air-conditioner. Yeah!

The kindergarten Art Start project has become such a huge ordeal. The kids painted ceramic tiles which we had fired. Now we are making stepping stones with them and some tumbled glass. I had to drive to Seattle last week to buy the glass ($50 worth of broken tumbled glass) but we realized today that we do not have enough so back to Seattle I will need to go. Also, the cement is a big PITA to mix up. We did practice ones today so hopefully they will turn out ok. I finally was able to get two other moms to help out with the project because there is no way I can mix and pour cement for 20 stepping stones and supervise the kids as they place glass around the tiles. Anyway, this project is just way more than I had signed on for and I definitely will think twice about doing it again. But I hope they turn out because they are Mother's Day gifts.

Today (well it is after midnight so yesterday...) was my nephew's 20th birthday. I do not have any contact with him (he is my sister's son) but I do think of him often. He works on the pipeline (or something like that) in Alberta. I hope he is happy.

Piss and Moan

I found out last week that my cousin (shown here with Ramona and I), will not be coming to visit me this summer. She and her family were going to fly to Edmonton, drive to Vancouver then to Seattle for their summer holidays. They cut out a week though and that week is Seattle. I am so bummed. And I don't know why on earth they want to go to Edmonton then drive *24* hours to Vancouver. I mean Edmonton does have the World's Largest Mall but that's about it. My sister also lives there and I know she will not see my cousin. Seattle, on the other hand, is just a *3* hour drive from Vancouver, we have mountains (vs. flat prairie), lakes, Puget Sounds, shopping, the Space Needle, BigSoftwareCompany, EMP and ME! I am very disappointed and to be quiet honest, a little hurt.

Ok, onto more disappointment...Dex has his throat-clearing thing back again this year. I know it is from allergies. He has been on Zyrtec and Flonase for the last three weeks due to the "blinking" (maybe allergies, maybe a tic but we don't know for sure and he screams like we are putting his eyes out with hot pokers when we try to give him the antihistamine eyedrops that we gave up on them) but now the throat clearing has started. This went on for months last year and it was a sinus infection that would not clear up. So, tomorrow he is going to see the ped but I cannot get him in to see the allergiest until the end of May because he is not a current patient (he has not seen her since he was tested for peanuts and milk allergies when he was an infant). This throat clearing is so annoying for him and for everyone around him. I hope we can get it cleared up more quickly this year. And I hope the eye blinking thing goes away.

I hurt my neck and upper back sleeping funny last week. I slept funny because Cars was sleeping on my head. Yesterday, it hurt so much that I thought I would throw up. It is a little better today but I am so very stiff. Last night, I made Stephen take Cars into the spare bed after he woke up and tried to climb in our bed at 2am. I was finally successful in getting Cars to go to sleep in his own bed but I cannot get him to stay in his own bed all night! It is killing me!

And since I have complained about two-thirds of my children, I will complain about the third and make it complete. Jax loves the watch we bought him for his birthday. He is always telling us the time. "It is 9:47" and "It is 10:01" and "It is 1:32" ad nauseum.

So, yesterday was Easter and we went to 11:30 am Mass (because I still felt sick from my sore neck/back and I could not get to an earlier Mass). Well, before Mass, Jax asked "How long is Mass". I told him it is usually 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes but it will be longer because it is Easter and there will be a gazillion people there. So beginning at the 1 hour mark until Mass ended (blissfully, it was only 1 hour and 25 minutes), I had a minute by minute recap of the time. Jax would say "It has now been 1 hour and 1 minute. Is Mass almsot over?" and "It has been 1 hour and 6 minutes. Is it time to go?". I was so ready to rip that freaking watch off his wrist.

So, combine Mr. Timecheck with Dex's incessant questions about (again) why he does not get to have chips like everyone else, Cars fighting with other kids over the Little Tikes Kitchen (we sat in the crying room) and my throbbing back, it was a very long Easter Mass. Oh, and then it took us 10 minutes to get out of the church parking lot so by the time we arrived home we had been gone "Two hours! We were at church for *two* hours!" Jax complained.

Happy Easter.

Jax is now eight years old. I cannot believe it, really. I started telling him his birth story and got so choked up. He wanted a "real" watch for his birthday so I bought him a Timex that has an analog face (along with a digital reading and an alarm). I can tell he feels so grown-up wearing that watch.

Today is his party. We are going to a movie then back here for pizza and cake. Oh, and the timer just went off so it is time to take the cake from the oven!

We spent a whole 10 minutes discussing the book at book club tonight. Only 2 people had even finished it (I was not one of them). Let's hope the next book is more interesting.

Jax's 8th birthday is tomorrow. I cannot believe he is 8. Wow. He is not a little kid anymore. Makes me so proud, happy and sad at the same time. He is a great kid with a wonderful imagination. I am so proud to be his mom.

Blogger lost my long-winded entry so I will just list the highlights:

- Art Start today in Jax's class - fun and great art
- Meeting with friends for dinner tomorrow night
- Thursday will be 1st time I have gone to book club without having completed the book *yawn*
- I need a 40th birthday present for Stephen.

We arrived home from Vancouver today. Highlights from the trip are:

1) Mom leaving (love her but 9 days of togetherness is enough. I almost called her Killjoy to her face)
2) Keg-sized Caesars
3) Westin's Heavenly beds
4) Stanley Park
5) Seeing JP's house "before"
6) Swimming in a warm hotel pool
7) Meeting and internet friend (L'R)
8) Grocery shopping for Canadian Cheese Whiz, ketchup chips, Tetley Tea and Smarties
9) My very first pleasant encounter with a US Border Guard

My bags are packed

We're ready to go. We are off to Vancouver tomorrow. I am packing pretty light so I am hoping the kids do not spill food on their clothes. I do have a clean shirt for every day for them but only 2 pairs of pants (and they will be wearing one of those pairs).

We will check into the hotel then head to JP's house and out to dinner at a resturant around the corner from there.

Thursday we will take my mom to the airport for her flight back to T.O. Then we'll meet my internet friend L'R who moved to Vancouver a few months ago from Arizona.

Friday we come home.

I can't beleive I ate the whole thing

What a great weekend for food!

Friday night: Sushi for lunch, veggie pizza for dinner and chocolate birthday cake.

Saturday: Beef tenderloin skewer with steamed broccoli and garlic-Parmesan mashed potatoes at Pogacha with homemade pecan pie for dessert.

Sunday: Stephen made rosemary-garlic lamb chops with garlic-Parmesan mashed potatoes (inspired from dinner the night before), steamed broccoli and cole slaw. My mom made a lemon meringue pie for dessert.

I.am.stuffed. I am certain I have gained five pounds this weekend.

Today was my birthday. Nosey Neighbour offered to take me to lunch and suggested Todai which is a sushi place. We get there and turns out that lunch is free for someone with a birthday. LOL She is gloriously frugal and she did know that lunch was going to be free in advance. Anyway, I enjoyed the free food. :)

Stephen baked me a yummy chocolate cake for dinner and we had pizza and bread sticks. I was spoilt rotten by my dh. He rocks.

So we finally settled on a windows guy. This was a friend of a friend and he owns his business and runs it out of his home not too far from here. His bid was competitive (ok it was cheaper than the others but he was not installing Milgard windows like the others - he said this window brand was good but not as expensive because you are not paying for the name). He gave me a list of references and they were all GLOWING.

Oh, and he is handsome.

So, I decided to go with him. Handsome Window Guy come out with his window installer to get precise window and patio door measurements and he brought his window installer. The installer said "This door is not a $tandard $ize". I looked at Hand$ome Window Guy and a$ked him what that meant. They discu$$ quickly knocking out the drywall to fit a $tandard $ized door in but quickly di$mi$$ it because of the addtional work (drywall, $iding, electrical). Hand$ome Window Guy then $aid that would mean an additional co$t. We all $tood around looking at each other. Hand$ome Window Guy apologize$ profu$ely. He now realize$ why hi$ bid wa$ lower than most of the other$. We $tood around looking at each other $ome more.

Finally I a$ked "Exactly how much more?". He $aid about $600. I blinked. I $tared. He $aid he would eat the co$t of $ome of it $ince it wa$ hi$ mi$take. I blinked. I $tared $ome more. $o he $aid he would eat the co$t of half of it $ince it wa$ hi$ mi$take. I a$ked him to $ign the bid, $tating that we would pay an additional $300 and he would pay the balance. Hand$ome Window Guy'$ in$taller mumbled $omething about $800. Hand$ome Window Guy winced. I quickly do the math and agree that $800 is probably right, compared to the other bid$ I have received (and subtracting any co$t of a name-brand window).

If Hand$ome Window Guy had not come so highly recommended, I would have told him I had to think about it and then had hired one of the other bidders. I hope I do not regret my decision. We'll know in two weeks or so.

Oh, and my mom arrived safely tonight. Jax stayed up late to greet her. Dex tried but he was too tired.

Sophie again

I made another Sophie bag:

It is black, not charcoal as it looks. I used Brown Sheep Company Nature Spun Worsted in Pepper (#601). I am thinking about making some sort of button closure for this bag but I am not sure what...think-think-think.

Mail Call

My mom sent me a package last week (birthday present and a whole stash of peanut-safe chocolates for the kids - ah, yeah, for the kids). Also in the box was a big stack of letters, cards postcards and tags from way back that I still had at her house. There were some cards from Ramona written in the early 1990's and mailed from Saudi Arabia and her other countries from her travels (Thailand, Berlin) and some postcards from ex-boyfriends (I cannot believe I kept them!).

The bulk of the stuff was from Stephen. Cards, love letters, Valentine's Day cards and little notes from when we were first dating (late 1986/early 1987). Oh my God he was soooo mushy! And cute and sweet and funny! I loved re-reading them and remembering that new love feeling - all gushy, mushy and warm. *sigh*

Batter Up!

Opening day of Little League today. Jax's team (AA Ball Cubs) had their game at 9:30 am. They were home team. Jax was fifth up and he was the first kid in the whole game to strike out. He was so dejected! He walked back to the dugout like he was Charlie Brown. I walked over to console him and saw he was just barely holding back the tears. Poor boy. He kept wiping his face with his hand and ended up with hives on his face (from the grass on his hands) so on top of feeling so bad for striking out, he had to eat a Benadryl chewable in front of the whole team! The next two times up to bad he hit the ball on the first pitch and made it safely to first base. Yeah, Jax!

Dex is playing A Ball (Angels!) so if they swing 5 times and do not hit the ball, they get to hit the ball from the T. Dex had to use the T during his first at bat but he hit the ball well the second time (they just played 2 innings).

Both boys had a great time playing and we are looking forward to a fun season.

Stitch N Bitch

I have been trying to start a Stitch N Bitch session with some friends to meet every other Thursday (opposite weeks from MOPS). Today we finally were able to get a group together but some came just for the bitch, not the stitch. It was very fun though. There were six of us (six of our 11 in book club actually) but still nice to meet and blab.

Tonight I went out with Deb from book club. She belongs to the same fitness club as the one we just joined. It felt good to work out since I haven't been walking because Neighbour is on vacation.

My mom is coming for a visit. She arrives on Tuesday and will fly home from Vancouver 9 days later. She loves me more than JP because she will spend more time with me. ;)

Ho-hum Hump Day

Nothing much going on today. Swimming lessons for Dex this morning, Art Start this afternoon in Dex's class - I had to take Cars because Neighbour is in Japan and she usually watches him. I could not ask Ash because she is busy painting her house so I had to take him. He was so good until the end of the hour when he pooped. :
Stephen is working late trying to get all they can crammed into Vista (which they just announced will be released later than scheduled).

I haven't walked in a week I think and I can feel it. I need to make sure I am getting more exercise.

Ok, off to change a load of laundry before I go to bed. Ho-hum, yawn.

More Tears

This is our week for crying. Let's see...yesterday was me and Dex (I didn't write about me crying over frustration with Jax's report card etc). Today is was Jax's turn. We were at the Science Fair at the school tonight and Jax said he wanted to go off to see the Mad Scientist demonstrations. I told him to go ahead while I waited for Dex. When we got there, the three classrooms with the demos were packed and we looked all over but could not find Jax. We stayed put while Stephen went out to find Jax.

Turns out Jax "got lost" and then could not find us. He wandered around and then decided to go to the office but it was locked. He looked around for a "trusted" adult but could not find one but then he spotted Ash. He ran up to her and said he was lost. She told him he was at school so he was not lost but then she saw the tears in his eyes and realized he meant he could not find us. She was just dialing my cell phone when Stephen found them. Poor Jax was so upset. I am so proud of him for doing all the right things but I am concerned because the school was full of parents and teachers yet he could not find one whom he trusted. I knew of at least 6 or 7 who were there whom he could have turned to. Poor thing.

Other than that incident, the Science Fair went well. The boys enjoyed discussing their projects with the judges (the kids are not graded nor were there winners). Some of the projects at the Fair were so creative and again, lots that the kids did the project themselves so that was refreshing. One of my favourites was "Peep Jousting".

Tomorrow is Art Start in Dex's class. We are painting bisque tiles which we have fired and then next month, put them in cement stepping stone for a Mother's Day gift. Since Neighbour left today for a vacation in Japan, I don't have a babysitter for Cars so I hope he will play quietly in the classroom (or if luck is with me, he will nap in his stroller).

Mean Mom Yet Again

Jax has been asking a lot about if we had a girl in the family, would I like that? Am I sad that I don't have a girl? etc... Tonight at dinner the topic came up again and so I said I heard that I could trade in three boys and get myself a girl. Jax of course knew I was joking but a moment later he asked Dex why he was crying. Dex sobbed "I don't want Mom to trade me in!". Oh my goodness! I felt like such a heel! He cried for a good 10 minutes. Then he crawled down from my lap and under the table and he did not come out until a couple of minutes later when Stephen came home. I asked Jax if he knew I was joking and he said "Yes, I did. But I think Dex is too young for jokes like that". Man, even my soon-to-be 8 yr old knew it was not an appropriate joke! I apologized to Dex again. He became teary-eyed again at bedtime about the joke. I am so mean!

Ok, I met with Jax's teachers today and I feel better about things. Jax will be doing the "Leadership" classes after all. The class is just 5 Mondays in a row. Jax said he had a good time on Friday at the one that the counselor held and he was looking forward to going again. I made sure that Ash said that Gav could go before I gave Jax the go-ahead because I did not want to say OK if no one else whom he wanted in the classes with him would not be there. We also discussed a couple of his "Lifeskills" ratings on this report card that was sent home on Friday. If his table or his class has to stay in for a few minutes at recess then he will say "It's because you hate us!" to the teachers. OMG! I am so embarrassed that he does that! He tries to make a lot of jokes too, often at inappropriate times. Gotta get him to stop that.

Anyway, I do feel relieved after meeting with the teachers. I even feel a little less crazy so looks like Crazy Doctor will not be hearing from me after all.

Busy Weekend

We were busy this weekend with baseball practices and science fair projects. The Science Fair is this Tuesday. Jax did an experiment using a 2-litre bottle of Diet Coke and mentos mints (pour the mints in and the whole thing explodes!). Dex did experiments with pop too. He took 5 bottles of Diet Coke and did things to them (shook, dropped, rolled, threw and dragged) to see which one would explode the most. It was fun. Not super hard experiments but the kids had a great time doing them and we had a blast!

Here was Jax's explosion:

Here is Dex's biggest explosion (after tossing the bottle back and forth with Jax:


Tomorrow is a busy day and I am freaking out about it already. Swim lessons at 10, then Ding-Dong girl needs to come over to do some art start stuff because she is going to be away on Wednesday when I teach it. Then I have to get Jax from school at 11:30 (half-day, no PM Kindergarten!). Then I need to be at the park for 1:15 to watch Ash's kids while she meets with Gav's teacher then she will watch mine while I meet with Jax's teacher. Then rush home and off to baseball practice. Thankfully we finished the Science Fair projects tonight else we would have that to do tomorrow night. I seriously need to consider calling the Crazy Doctor.

Ok, breathe.

And Neighbour is going to Japan for three weeks so no walking in the evenings. I will have to try to squeeze it in during the day. Wish me luck!

What a Day

I worked out this morning with Ash then I went to Michael's to buy two presentation boards for science fair projects. I lost my AMEX card somewhere along the way. They are going to re-issue me a new one but I won't get it until sometime next week.

Then the school counselor called and told me she had Jax in a session with Gav, Mat and C. WHAT? I said she could talk to Jax, not hold a "leadership" or "friendship" session. Then she told me it was all arranged and they would meet every week on Mondays. I was so angry because I thought she had not listened to me at all! Then I was upset because Gav and the others had been dragged into this. After I picked Jax up from school he said he had a good time so now I am torn. Just on principle, I don't want to let him go but he seemed to enjoy it. Then Ash called me and said Gav liked it too and is looking forward to it. So now what do we do?!

In the whole scheme of things, this does not seem like a big deal so I don't understand why I am so pissed off about it. I guess because this week it seems that things are happening that are outside of my control.

And just to add another thing outside of my control today, we received the results of Jax's blood test and his peanut allergy antibodies has increased. F*ckity-f*ck.

I think I need to call and make an appointment with Crazy Doctor.

Ramblings

I am officially the MOPS Craft Coordinator for next year. I just submitted my budget and I hope I get the money I want. Now, how do I come up with 14 different crafts for 48 women at a cost of no more than $2.50 each?! Any and all ideas welcome!

I was showing Cars a picture of Jesus that was on the front cover of the "I Am Special" teacher guide for Sunday School. I said "That is Jesus" and he said "That not Jesus! That Qui-Gon Jinn!". Then he looked at me with a puzzled look and said "Where's him lightsaber?". I could not stop laughing! Can you see the similarity? (For those unfamiliar with Star Wars, Qui-Gon Jinn is on the left in the right-hand picture).






Today I received a call from the guidance counselor at school telling me she was scheduling Jax for "Leadership" classes because his teacher requested it (see this post for history). Ok, it is *4* months after we had first discussed it with his teachers and I told them we would get back to them if we decided to go that route (we did not). As far as I was aware, Jax has had no more problems at school making friends so where did this come from all of a sudden?! I gave her permission to speak to him tomorrow but that was it. She may not enroll him in the classes until we find out exactly what is going on. I then emailed his teachers to find out if they thought there was still a problem with him being friend-less and if so, why did they not let me know there was still a problem (parent/teacher interviews are next week and they said none was needed for him). Anyway, I am irked by all of this. I kind of got the impression that the counselor was trying to justify her job and was grabbing at names to fill up a class (she asked who Jax's friends were and when I told her she would say "Oh, they would do well in the Leadership classes too!").

So I will wait impatiently for a reply from his teachers. I have asked for an interview with them next week now. Hopefully it will not be at the same time as the one Ash is going to for Gav because I am to watch her kids at that time.

Waste of Time

My appt at the GYN yesterday was a waste of time. He confirmed that the "nodule" is smaller now than when it was and he told me to come back again when it gets bigger and hurts more. He is still sure it it incisional endometriosis (or whatever the technical term is). Laproscopy to remove the nodule is what he is suggesting. Not sure if mentally I can handle another surgery at this point so I guess I will just live with this pain for now. At least it is cyclical so I do have just a few days when it is really bad.

The power went off a short time ago so I need to go around and fix all of the clocks in the house. I was just mentioning to Stephen that we have had relatively few power outages this year and look what happens!

Oh but first:


Get your own!
Word Cloud

Thanks,Kimmer!

Bummed

Jax had an appointment with the allergist today. We were hoping that he had outgrown his egg allergy. No luck. She did send us for a blood test (RAST) to check the allergy levels of egg and peanuts.

One good news item is that he is not allergic to any new items that he was tested for (lots of trees and weeds). But he remains allergic to grass and birch trees.

Off to my GYN to check out the lump by my c-section incision...

HP4

We watched "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" for movie night last night. I thought it was pretty awesome. However, it took nearly three hours to watch because I had to pause it about eleventy billion times for 1) potty breaks 2) "More chips please, Mom?" 3) Dex's jabbering so loud that we could not hear. I *will* see the next Harry Potter movie in the theatre...ALONE!

Huh?

In today's mail, I received the official letter from the Breast Center with results from last week's mammogram:

Dear Ms. Pez:

We are pleased to inform you that your recent breast imaging examination (mammography and/or breast ultrasound), performed at our facility shows that the area of your previous biopsy has remained stable, confirming that it is almost certainly benign (not cancer).

"Almost certainly" doesn't really sound as reassuring as they probably intend it to be.

The Winner is

Chloe!

I have loved watching this show and I am already looking forward to next Fall when the next season will start!

Today was a "Teacher Appreciation Lunch" which the PTA puts on once each month on an early dismissal Wednesday. The theme was "International Lunch" so parents brought in dishes from countries of their heritage. I took in Nanaimo Bars (but my recipe uses Vanilla pudding rather than Vanilla custard). Yummy!

Anyway, I arrived at the school during morning recess and in the teacher's lounge was one of Jax's teachers (he has two who job share) chatting with his former 1st grade teacher. Miss 1st Grade Teacher was eating peanuts in the shell. Ok, so here is where I cannot figure out if I am being rational or irrational. I became so pissed off at her because she has a PEANUT ALLERGIC child in her class again this year. In fact, he has had at least two anaphylactic reactions to peanuts! Ok, so she is pretty hip to peanut allergies and would probably wash her hands before returning to the class but I think about all the dust from the peanut shells getting all over her clothes. And those same peanut particles became airborne in that room and possibly landed on Jax's teacher who will go back into the classroom. And because of it, I am so disappointed with that 1st grade teacher.

The school is not peanut-free but the classrooms are. So I should be thankful that the teacher ate them in the teachers' lounge rather than in the classroom. And, I do not even know if Jax's teacher was teaching in his class today (she works full-time, in the class Thursday, Fridays and every other Wednesday so it is possible she was doing her other job today which is Reading Specialist for the school). Plus, I am wondering if 1st grade teacher do the same thing last year when Jax was her student? He is highly allergic to peanuts (but no anaphylaxis - touch wood).

I did not say anything. I wish I had had the nerve to say "Miss 1st Grade Teacher, don't forget to wash your hands before returning to class!".

So, I need to think about this some more and process it and decide how I really should feel about this (shrug it off or what, I don't know!).

And Jax has an appointment with the allergist on Tuesday. I think I will ask her what the chances are for the peanut dust causing a reaction. I have read about reactions from peanut dust but that has been in restaurants and bars that serve peanuts in the shell and you just throw the shells on the floor (do any restaurants or bars still do that?).

Food allergies suck.

Old Grey Pez

I think I have mentioned before that I have decided to stop colouring my hair and go old gracefully. Well, I am not sure about going gracefully but I am certainly grey. It has been 4 months since I last coloured my hair (I did it the night before we left for Ramona's wedding in Vegas).

I knew I was "going" grey - I started colouring my hair in 1994 because it was long and grey and I was looking for my first job in the States (my work permit had just been approved). For years I went to a salon to have it done but about three or four years ago I started doing it myself.

I would spend all of my time watching my hair and calculating when the next time I could safely do it. Since I started doing it at home, I have ruined a half dozen towels, our flooring in the master bath (which has since been replaced), two bath mats, stained a toilet seat, three t-shirts and two bras.

So I decided after my 40th birthday, I was going to stop colouring my hair. But, I would stop right after my trip to Vegas with Ramona and Leah Ann to celebrate our 40th birthdays:


Ok, Vegas was over so NO MORE COLOUR...but then it was summer time and I didn't want to look old during the summer. Then, I had to colour it again for Ramona and Greg's wedding in November.

Finally! I was Free To Be Me and here are the results after four months:






So, even though I knew I was going grey and had some patches that were more grey than others, I am still shocked at how grey I am at the the temples (ok whole side of the head) but much less grey on top!

So my plan is to grow out the grey some more then cut my hair shorter (blunt cut or something). We'll see if I have glorious silver locks or dull grey frizzy hair.

Stressed Out

For some reason I am feeling very stressed out and I am short-tempered with my children. Do I need to go back to see Crazy Doctor to figure out what is going on and how I manage it? I am beginning to think so.

Lsat night was so much fun. There were 8 of us from MOPS being fitted and I think in total we bought 22 bras (I purchased just two) so that was $76 dollars donated to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Boobies

Today at MOPS, our speakers were two bra fitters from Nordstrom. They told us about the benefits of a good bra fitting. I was already won over. My online friend, Jill8102 (hee, I don't think of her as just "Jill", isn't that funny?) convinced me about 5 years ago to go to Nordstroms, get fitted and buy myself a Wacoal bra. So I did and I have been in love with those bras ever since and only buy them after a proper bra fitting.

Anyway, tomorrow and Saturday, Nordstrom is having a Fit for the Cure event and for every bra fitting, they will donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and if you buy a Wacoal or DKNY/Donna Karen bras, they will donate another $2.

So, I am off to Nordstrom tomorrow evening with a group of ladies from MOPS. We have an 8pm appointment for bra fittings. Then we'll head somewhere for dessert. :)

Oh, and today I had my 6 month follow-up mammogram and all is ok (the radiologist view the films right away for any follow-up mammograms so no waiting - yeah!). I go back in another 6 months and if all is ok then, I will be back on a yearly schedule.

Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return

When I lived in Canada, no one ever commented on ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday. I don't know if it is because more than 40% of the population is Roman Catholic (vs less than 25% of Americans) or if people just knew what it was about.

After a six year hiatus, I returned to the Church 1.5 years ago and this is the second Ash Wednesday where people have come up to me and told me that I had black smudges on my forehead. Last year, my friend even reached over to rub it off! I didn't have that same reaction in Minneapolis but then I would usually go to an evening service and then go directly home (although come to think of it I do remember getting a funny look from the cashier at the grocery store one year).

Anyway, for any non-Catholics out there, if you see someone with a smudge of black ash on their foreheads today, you can be sure that they do indeed know that it is there. And they do not need you to rub it off for them.

Thankyouverymuch.