Book List 2012

I swear I have read more books this year than this but I did not do a good job of keeping track:

1. Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin, pp 784
2. Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin, pp 1216
3. The Thirteen Tale, Diane Setterfield, pp 416
4. Beneath a Marble Sky, John Shors, pp 344
5. What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty, pp 423
6. Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult, pp 496
7. A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin, pp 784
8. The Rock Star’s Daughter, Caitlyn Duffy, pp 318
9. 50 Shades of Grey, EL James, pp 528
10. 50 Shades Darker, EL James, pp 546
11. 50 Shades Freed, EL James, pp 592
12.  On the Island, Tracey Garvis Graves, pp 336
13. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
14.  Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn, pp 432
15. Good Squad, Jennifer Egan pp 352
16. Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Cheryl Strayed, pp
17. On the Island, Tracey Garvis-Graves

Jax was having problems with his math homework today and asked me for help.  I completely BAULKED because I do not remember any math beyond very simple algebra (Dex's grade 7 math is getting difficult for me).  However, we had a busy night planned and Stephen was going to be getting home late so I decided that I would turn to the internet for help so I could help Jax.

I went to www.khanacademy.org which is a great site for math. They offer FREE lessons on just about anything and their goal is "changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere".  I first heard about the site from Ted Talks (http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html) and thought it sounded like a good idea.  I had Dex logging on from time to time to do some extra math work but then he got busy with REAL homework.  And I wanted Cars to do some too but he has required math homework on IXL.com and his time and results are sent to his teacher.

Anyway, so tonight I went to www.khanacademy.org to learn (or relearn) how to do The Substitution Method so I could teach Jax how to do it  so he could do his homework and study for his quiz tomorrow.  I am not sure why he did not understand it during math class today but after watching the videos with me and practicing, he is completely understanding it.  I even had Stephen watch the video so he could help Jax while I went out to take Dex to his bass lesson. 

It is a wonderful resource and I highly recommend that you check it out.  Especially if you have a high school student who needs help with math.

More Resolutions

Another resolution that I have is to be more creative again.  While I am doing woodcarving, I still feel as though I haven't been creative in a long time.  I have been considering picking up the paints again as I have a couple of ideas for some paintings.  And I have even thought about knitting again.  It really has been years!

Happy New Year

My New Year's Resolutions

1. Regain an active lifestyle.  I have become quiet sedentary over the past year and half and it is showing on my body and my attitude of life in general.  Time to step to it!
2. Stop procrastinating.  I realize know that at least 50% of the anxiety I feel at any given time is due to me putting off things that I am either afraid to do, don't want to do or cannot be bothered to do when it should be done. 
3. File important items away NOW (see above)
4. Realize that it is ok to not be friends with everyone or friends forever.  I had a friend who moved away a few years ago (not too far) and we have stayed in contact via facebook but before she moved I realized she was a toxic person so it was a relief when she moved, quite honestly.  A few months ago she called me and wanted to stop by because she was in town.  She came for tea and I realized that I did not enjoy her company at all.  I do not need to stay friends with people just because we have a history.
5. Cut carbs.  I feel so much better when I stay away from bread and pasta.
6. Do one fun family activity each month.  I realize that my kids are not young anymore and soon they will not want to be doing family activities so I want to make sure that we make some more great memories before they up and move away. That time is rapidly approaching!

A good start, I think. 

The kids are out on Christmas vacation.  Today we did our annual "day of giving".  We took tons of clothing and household items to Goodwill.  We donated 101 pounds of food to the food bank and Stephen gave blood.  :)  I do not give blood because I did it twice in my life and I fainted once and nearly fainted the second time.

I had a goal to be finished Christmas shopping by the 5th of December (some random date that I have no idea how I came up with) and I failed miserably.  Most of it is done and there has not been a lot of scrambling around to get it done.  I just have a few more stocking stuffers for Stephen and to get something for the mail lady.  Stephen always takes care of the kids because he loves rushing around the last week and getting it all.  And he loves to spoil the kids so I let him do it.

We won't be having anyone over for Christmas dinner for the first time in 10 years or so.  So it will be a nice, quiet day with no mad dash to stash the opened boxes and get all of the wrapping in the recycle bin immediately.  I am looking forward to having a quiet day.

O Tannenbaum

Christmas trees in our house always manage to be quite an ordeal. We always seem to have issues with stands and I cannot tell you the number of Christmas tree stands we have purchased in the past 10 years.

A few years ago, after our Christmas tree had fallen down, we bought one of those swivel stands which we thought was pretty great but the next year out Christmas tree was too big (the trunk was thick!) to fit in the stand so we had to buy another stand. Of course the tree fell down again that year too! I think we have had trees fall 4 or 5 times in the past 8 years!

This year we managed to have to go buy yet another stand after buying what we thought was an awesome tree. It was tall and very full with branches that swept right to the ground. Of course the trunk was thick and there was a knot in it so it did not fit in either of the two stands that we had so I ran out to buy yet another stand. We struggled and strained to get the tree up (it is 8 and a half feet tall and very heavy). Stephen kept askin if I were sure that it was straight (he was under the tree tightening the screws on the stand ) and I was staring at the top of the tree which was perfectly straight. Then it was a up - voila!

Stephen then trimmed off some of the bottom branches an I put on the tree topper the sat down on the couch to admire our lovely tree.

Then I saw it. Can you see it?

 

Our tree has scoliosis! OMG how could we not have seen this?  Of course we had not seen it - the branches went straight to the ground and all we did was admire the height and fullness of the tree.  So, this tree is balancing precaiously in the new stand.  It managed to stay standing while I strung lights and while the kids and I hung the ornaments.  I guess those are good signs.   We hope that it does not fall over sometime over the next two weeks. Mostly I am worried about any water ruining the new wood floors but of course I am concerned about broken ornaments. 

 

And for Christmas I have added this tree stand to my Christmas list.  I hope it is the last one I will ever have to buy:

 

http://www.premierchristmastreestand.com/

 

 

The Reveal

Here is a photo of our newly redone living room. We had the walls painted, the fireplace painted, hardwood floors installed, bought a new floor lamp, couch and chair. We also had shelving installed on either side of the fireplace. Oh and a new area rug. I am very pleased with it!

We also had a console and shelf custom made for the front hall/foyer. This hallway and the kitchen already had hardwood floors so we just had them stripped, stained and finished.

Winner!

One year ago this month I started taking a wood carving class.  We carve in the "Northwest Native Style".  I enjoy it although I am pretty slow at it because the perfectionist in me is so afraid of making a mistake.  So I do not carve at all outside of class.

I finished my first project. A relief carving of an eagle (stained and painted as well).

Then I had to think about my second project.  I loved the signs up at our city hall and I asked my instructor if he knew who had carved this great sign:

 And it turns out that it was my instructor!  He lives in the city too and he teaches the classes in his workshop at his home.  So, I decided to carve it but instead of being a relief carving, I made it three dimensional.

It might be hard to tell in this photo but the orca's tale flips up a little bit. This piece took me 4 months to shape, carve and paint.  But it was worth it because I entered it in the Northwest Wood Carvers Association show that was held last weekend and look!

I won!  First Place for beginner, Best of Beginner and Best of Division!  And I also won $100!  What a delightful surprise!
It was nice that I won because it made me double down on the piece I am working on now. I  am not in love with it so I haven't been working that diligently on it.  Now I want to hurry and get it finished so I can work on my next piece. 

It is great to be creating again.

Thank God that we have excellent health insurance.  Of course it is changing in January (not quite so excellent but still very good).  I had to go to the ER two weeks ago and my 2.5 hour visit was billed to our insurance company in the amount of $10477.00.  Of that, after the insurance company's "adjustments", they amount paid to the hospital was $2361.35.  Quite a difference.  Fifty-five percent of the bill was for a CT scan!

The ER visit was during a lull in the illness that swept through the family.  Dex and Cars had the fever/sore throat/cough and the day Dex was better and I sent him the school was when I got violently ill with a raging bacterial infection resulting in an inflamed colon (and and blood loss).  The ER doc got excited that I might be patient 1 of a new E. coli outbreak but no pathogens were found and a huge dose of antibiotics and three days of bedrest had me good to go.  Of course on the 3rd day of bedrest, DH came down with the same sickness that Dex and Cars had and he was out of commission for three days (two of them work days!!).

The month of October was a write-off and while I was happy to have lost 10 pounds in 3 days, I have gained back 5 of them already.  I am fortunate that neither Jax nor I did not get the high fever illness.  So far November has been a healthy month for us!

One funny thing about the whole situation was that when I got to the ER they said I was in their system but no information on why.  The ER doctor was puzzled and said "I see that you are in here and it says I treated you in the ER in 2010 but there is no information".  I reminded him that I was the "bat family" that had come in two years before and were sent to the regional trauma hospital for "treatment" since the rabies vaccine was only available there.  We had a bit of a chuckle then he told me that they county had changed things and this hospital now had the vaccine (not that we will ever have a need for it).  Anyway, you can read the post here (I wrote it but never published it until tonight:  http://pezblahg.blogspot.com/2012/11/if-you-find-dying-bat.html)

If you find a dying bat...

***this was originally written in October 2010 but never published until November 2012 ***

...in your bathtub, you might want to get it out. You'll probably get a ziploc container to slide it into and stick it out on the porch. You'll probably look up how to dispose of the bat and will find information on your country's animal control site. The animal control site will tell you to call the county's public health department. You'll call the public health department who will be closed but will give an after hours number. If you call the after hours number, they will tell you that they only deal with bats from emergency rooms after hours. You will ask for clarification and be told that you should go to the emergency room in case the bat had rabies. If you are told that you will quickly google information about bats in houses and see that it is recommended to go to the emergency room. You will think this is over kill so you will call the nurseline provided by your insurance company.

If you call the nurseline, they will call you back after contacting a doctor. When you get a call back you will be told to go to the emergency room because they have a zero tolerance when it comes to dealing with bats and they assume they all have rabies. You will probably have to get the nurse to repeat this information to your husband who is skeptical and things you are blowing things out of proportion.

Once your husband is told by the nurse in no uncertain terms to go to emergency, you will probably have to call your friend's house to arrange to pick up your son who is planning to have a sleepover there (long overdue and emotionally charged which is another long story). You will get the rest of your family in the car and pick up said son.

You will probably drive to the closest emergency room. Once there you will have your whole family registered and be thankful that it is early on a Friday night and that this emergency room is small and in a suburban area, not the big city. Once you are checked in and triaged, a doctor will come in and explain that before we go any further, the county has taken all rabies vaccines OUT of emergency rooms with the exception of the trauma centre in downtown Seattle. He will tell you that you need to proceed to this trauma centre for treatment and promise that you will not incur any emergency bills from this ER department since they had no way of treating you.

At this point, your husband will be PISSED but you will all get back into the car and travel downtown Seattle on a Friday night. Your children will also be confused and have asked several times what they are going to do to us. You calmly tell them you don't know as this has never happened to you before (but know that vaccines are a very real possibility but do not say this so they do not freak out).

After sometime in the ER, the doctor will come up to you and explain that after consulting with several people at the health department, they think it is worth the risk that you do not get innoculated for rabies and your husband will have the health department repeat this to YOU over the telephone (since he is still pissed that you had the nurse repeat it to him to go to the ER a few hours before). 

You will probably go home with the bat in the container and instructions to freeze it the FedEx it the next day (overnight!) to Oregon for rabies testing  which you will have to pay for and the total for that will be about $120.  A week later you will probably find out that the bat does not have rabies which is a good thing becaues if it did and you had been exposed and waited a week there is a good chance that you would have acute encephalitis by this point if you had been infected.

Then, when Halloween came around you would make yourself a bat costume and have a good laugh at it while your husband is still pissed off and won't find humour in the situation for a long time (if ever).**this last line added in November 2012

Cars' fever finally went away Thursday afternoon but he was too weak from not eating all week to go to school on Friday.  And now Dex has a fever and sore throat.  Here we go again...

Our living room is just about finished being redecorated. It has taken positively AGES.  I got the call today that our area rug will be delivered the week after next.  And then the console and shelves should be installed around the same time.  I will finally be able to share photos!  Now, what project is next?

So yeah, stress does suck.  I do not handle things well when I am stressed out. I become paralyzed and I do not function.  Then I get more stressed because I haven't done what I need to do.  Procrastination feeds my stress.  Stress paralyzes me and I procrastinate.  And so on and so on without end.

The thing is, it isn't just one particular thing that has led to this particular stressful time.  It is everything.  And when I sit down to write about them they seem so petty and trivial and "first world problem"-atic that I then get embarrassed that I am even stressed about them.  We have food.  We have shelter.  My family is (relatively) healthy. I do not ~have~ to work outside of the home.  So what the fuck am I so stressed about?  Why do I let things get to me?

Waaaay back when I worked at Big Computer Company, I took a class where you assess what kind of person you are.  I remember the RED was for attention to detail and I scored a big fat 0 on that.  I am not a detail person.  And right now I am doing two big projects that require me to pay a lot of attention to detail and I SUCK at it.  I have had sleepless nights.  I have been comforting myself with food and I have been thinking of hitting the bottle of Xanax (and I do not want to touch it!).  I hate this.

And the things that would make this better (eating healthier, exercise, sleep, NOT procrastinating) are not even on my radar. 

And, right now when things are so overwhelming, my baby has been sick for going on 5 days (and in the morning I will call the school to let them know he will miss the 4th day of school in a row).  Fever, malaise, vomiting, cough, congestion, losing his voice, etc.  I missed a PT appt today and was made to feel guilty because I asked my dh to stay home this morning so I could go to my annual mammogram.  Nice.

Ok, off to bed.  I know I won't sleep but at least I can pretend that I might.

Stress sucks.

Today we are celebrating Cars' birthday with a party at a bowling alley.  Yes, his birthday was in August.  Yes, this is the second year in a row that he is having a really late birthday.  The kids are off school today and everyone he wanted to invite (but one) lives in our school district so it was a good day to have it.  About the other kid?  I just told Cars that it was too bad he had to go to school or else we could have invited him.  Fortunately, it is not a super close friend.  :)

I have been going to PT because I have bursitis and tendonitis in my shoulders again but this time they are also working on the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.  Perhaps it is all connected anyway?  The exercises are killer because I have done virtually NO arm/shoulder exercises/stretches in months and month and months due to the pain.  Hopefully I will be healed soon.  I have been very good about doing my PT homework.

We have had three months of almost no rain.  While it has been enjoyable, I am starting to lose shrubs and even a couple of small trees.  I haven't been able to keep up with the watering.  Well, I could but I cannot imagine the water bills!  Hopefully the rain will return soon.  I need to transplant some trees to replace the plum trees I had to take out this summer.

School starts next week and I am a little out of sorts.  I thought I had everything in place but I found out that Cars does NOT have school on the first day of school.  School that day is for incoming freshmen/sophomores at the high school, 6th & 7th graders at the middle school (converted from junior high) and kindergartners.  Why is it the first day of school then?!  This not-the-first day first day has screwed up my schedule because I was to start my woodcarving class that day and Cars is still too young to stay home alone. 

Also, even though Dex DOES have school that day (7th grade), he does not start school at regular time that day but 3.5 hours later than usual.  It is not really clear how he will get to school - is there a bus at that weird time?  When will it pick him up?

The insurance company sent me a robocall last night that they have issued me a check for the damage (less deductible) of my car (ok, I guess I did not post about this but I hit a parked car in the parking lot of the orthodontist when I took Jax in to get his braces last week.  I had not entirely decided I was going to go through insurance rather just pay it myself to keep my premiums from going up (or just not repair it at all - just a (not small) scratch).  Now Stephen is concerned that our premiums will skyrocket.  It is not as though I was caught drunk driving or texting and caused a major accident! 

And the wood floors we had installed need to be fixed a bit tomorrow (cracked boards and missed stain in a couple of places) so we need to stay out of our house overnight.  More $$ that we had not anticipated paying.  Part of the rush to get it done when we did was that we were on holidays and did not have to incur extra costs of staying overnight for a few days due to the fumes from the finish.

I guess it is just a busy time.  We've had a (mostly) relaxing, laid-back summer so getting back on a schedule and having a lot of things going on a once seems daunting.  Time to reframe my outlook and get it done.  Things could be worse.  We could be in New Orleans dealing with a hurricane...

I've just found out that a boy from Jax's grade committed suicide.  He was 14 years old.  I have no details and he was not a friend of Jax's (although Jax did know him) and the thought of it is so scary to me that I want to throw up.  His poor parents.  And poor soul for being so distraught that he thought that suicide was the answer to his problems.

I remember being so distraught over boys when I was Jax's age that I wanted "to kill myself" or so I wrote in my diary at the time.  Of course me saying those and going through the actual actions of doing so were miles apart.  There was one girl in school who tried to kill herself because she was gay.  This was in 1980.  So different from today, at least I hope so.  Of course I have no idea why this boy killed himself.  I pray for his soul and for peace and understanding for his parents.

Jax got braces on his teeth the other day.  He is still in a bit of pain but overall it will be worth it. He has spacing issues and an overbite but overall his teeth were not ~that~ bad I guess.  I think if he had my parents he would not have gotten braces.  None of us had braces. None of us had perfect teeth - mostly all had spacing issues and I have an overbite.  Actually, I think my youngest brother has a bit of a cross bite too but not severe enough to correct.  The other thing it that my parents did not have the money to pay for braces.  I guess they would have found them if we had had severe dental issues. 

DH, on the other hand, had braces as did both of his brothers.  DH's teeth are now very crooked from his wisdom teeth that came in a year or so after we got married.  Well, the wisdom teeth ~tried~ to come in but just really pushed the other teeth around so it was off to the U of MN dental school to have surgery to remove them.  Gah, we were so broke then.  We paid a couple hundred dollars then had to pay in installments for the next 6 or 8 months to pay off the rest.  Thank goodness we had that option!  I'd like DH to consider getting invisilign or something to re-straighten his teeth but he is appalled when I bring it up.  He'd rather get lasik for his eyes, I think (also a good idea as he cannot see worth a darn without his glasses).

Cars goes back to the orthodontist in October to check on the status of his lateral incisors.  One is in but one stubborn one will not move.  I wonder if we will find out that it is impacted.  Time will tell...

School will be starting in less than 2 weeks and I thought I was so on top of things in the allergy department.  I took the forms to the allergist early (the school emailed the forms at the end of the school year rather than snail mail paper forms so I printed them at my expense ;).  I called the mail-order prescription drug service that we have to use and had new epi pens sent to us.  I just need to pick up new packages of Benadryl.  But when going through the cupboard I realized that I do not have any epi pens for use at home!  Well, there are two in my purse but I like to have one or two in the kitchen, you know, where we eat!  And I have no "extras".  So I will have to wait another month before I can order another set for the boys. 

Now, I know I am lucky that I have a prescription drug plan and can afford to have "extras" hanging around.  I sometimes worry about when my boys are older and if they do not have a job with drug benefits and they may not have the option to have more than one epi pen if they cannot afford it.  Oh, I hope that never happens.  In fact, I hope they find a "cure" for food allergies so they would not even have to worry about an anaphylactic reaction.  Dreaming, I guess...

Doing some "minor" renovations in the house (install hardwood floor, refinish existing hardwood, painting living/dining/hallway/kitchen) but it seems like it is so much more!  There is so much to do and we've hired out all of the labour!  Picking paint colours, stain colours, moving EVERYTHING out of the living/dining/hallway/kitchen and trying to find temporary homes for them.  I will be so happy when it is all done!  I will post before and after photos.  :)

Summer o'Fun day???

This summer has been very low-key.  My in-laws came for a visit and were here for our 4th of July party.  We showed them how Americans party!  Then we took them to Victoria BC for a couple of days as they had never been there. We walked along the inner harbour and toured The Buchart Gardens.  I think they really had a good time.  My FIL drives me crazy sometimes and I will admit that I did have a couple of hissy fits which was not becoming.

Cars went to Harry Potter day camp through the Boys and Girls Club with our neighbour and he had a great time!  He is totally into HP which is awesome since the older two have no interest in it anymore.  They did not even appreciate it yesterday when I reminded them that it was Harry Potter's birthday!  ;)

Dex spent a weekend with Spy and her dh and their oldest son sailing in the San Juan Islands.  He had a fabulous time.  He and C really get along well.  I hope their close friendship continues into middle school.

I took the kids to the dentist last week (Summer o'fun activity!) and Jax has sealants put on his new molars.  Some of the etching compound that they put on the teeth to prep it for the sealants leaked out and gave him a chemical burn on his face.  The dentist's office first denied it but then I took him back in again today to see the dentist who owns the practice and she admitted that is what it was (after I showed her the photo that I had taken of his face last week and after he told her exactly when it started to hurt).  I think they were worried we would sue or something but I just wanted to know what the hell happened to him (at first I thought it was an allergy to latex but they are latex-free in there).  The hygenist swore up and down that she did not do it and the dentist who was in the office that day said it looked like a scrape when clearly it was a burn.  Anyway, we are still switching dentists.  That was the final straw (other things like one of the other dentists being mean to Cars, sending my kids home with 3 tubes each of "free" (insurance-paid) $11/tube toothpaste).

Oh and I guess I should give an update on dh.  He had 2 xrays, 1 MRI and 2 CT scans to determine that his back was fractured a long time ago and while that is not causing his pain right now, they could not let him start PT until they were assured that it had not broken during his fall down the stairs.  So, he will start PT next week (he is "too busy", he says, until then).
I took the kids to Archie McPhee's for their annual trip.  Normally we go to the locks too but I wasn't feeling it this year so we did not go.  I'd like to go later in the month when there are lots of salmon in the salmon ladder.

Hope to update this blahg more. I spend too much time sharing too much on Facebook.  Yes, I am one of ~those~ people.  ;)