"To Where You Are" by Josh Groban, and "Tears in Heaven" by E.C.
2. Last thing you bought?
Canned foods for our donation to the Food Bank, part of our entrance fee to last night's Girl Scout Cookie Rally
3. Last person you argued with?
Rob and I had it OUT the other day about where we're going to live after he retires in 1½ years from the US Navy, but I'm going to keep mum this time, until we actually make things happen. Sorreh.
4. Do you put butter before putting the peanut butter on?
Huh? Butter with peanut butter? Huh? Is you crazy?
5. One of your stuffed animals’ names as a kid?
My Cabbage Patch Kids were Aubrey Lenora, Tiffany Jacqueline, and Andrea Jeanine.
6. Did you ever at one time own a Barenaked Ladies CD?
Well, of course. "If I had a million dollars" is one of "our" songs...
7. Favorite day of the week?
Any day that Rob is home with me, sap sap, mush mush, gag.
8. Favorite sundae topping?
I can't eat it anymore, but if it's going to be a sundae, it better have nuts, hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry. Good stuff, there. Mmm.
9. Did you take piano lessons?
Yes. Well, my mom played the organ, so when she died, I took organ lessons to honor her. When the piano teacher came to my house, I played the organ. When I went to her house, I played her piano. So, kinda.
10. Most frequent song played?
Right now I'm overplaying "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5. There are boobs in the explicit version on YouTube, you know. I discovered this the other day. Who doesn't like boobs? I was told recently that even gay guys like 'em. Who knew?
11. TV show you secretly enjoy?
I enjoy Phineas and Ferb, which we stream on Netflix, since we don't have 'real' TV. Rob and I laugh more than the children do, I swear.
12. Would you rather play basketball or hockey?
Hockey. I can whack the shit out of some puck, dude.
13. Date someone older or younger?
I prefer them older. I don't want to teach you new tricks. I want you to know the tricks. Kwim?
14. One place you could travel right now?
Could, or would like to? I mean, I could travel to Williamsburg or the Outer Banks. I would like to travel to Japan or Australia. Say what you mean, and mean what you say, dammit.
15. Do you use umbrellas?
We have a Britto umbrella, which I bought for Rob as a gift during a trip to Charleston, that mostly sits unused. I prefer to just get wet, unless my hair and make-up are done, and then I'm using that mofo. I like getting rained on.
16. Do you know all the words to the Canadian national anthem?
Yeah, I know all the words to all the national anthems, dude. Duh. :\
17. Favorite cheese?
Velveeta. Sike! (Although I admit, I'll use it when it suits.) Hmm... I do like my Muenster.
18. The Smiths or The Cure?
Depends on the mood. Whatever, I like it all but country.
19. Do you prefer blondes or brunettes?
I really don't give a rat's ass. I like arm muscles, though. Not that you asked that.
20. Best job you ever had?
You should expect me to say the current one, mothering my three bebes. Which I do love, of course. But aside from that, I'd say it's a toss-up between my internship in Fisheries Biology at Mote Marine Lab and my stint working at the dive shop Diver's Paradise on Key Biscayne. Times of my life, both.
Well, that wasn't exactly never-ending. Twenty questions, really? I was prepared for fourscore. Ah well. More fun next week. Ciao, thieving peeps.
Okay, so the mail has brought in packages lately that are of major delightfulness, so the stars of them have been photographed and are ready to share. I've been a busy little bee lately, so I have't had a chance to edit them 'til now. Wanna hear about it? And see some pictorial evidence? Awesome. Read on, then, ye three followers of me.
I totally stink at keeping presents from their recipients when I'm excited about giving them, so I've been, uh, kind of giving the kids the Christmas presents I swore I wasn't going to get (because we're doing Great Wolf Lodge again this year and, you know, I wanted to make it about memories and not stuff and all...), but since I have gotten them, and since, well, they were there when I opened this box from Disney, I couldn't really not gi-- oh, I'll just stop babbling and say that I got a kick-butt deal on these fleece blankets, with free shipping and personalization of their names, to boot! Jack got a Cars-themed one, Chloë's is Cinderella, and Sophia's was Tinkerbell. They LOVED them and carry them around all. the. time. WIN!
Mamacita, which is what MIL and I have decided I shall call her (after 10½ years or so) henceforth, sends us Hallmark Christmas ornaments each year. We have an awesome collection of them, thanks to her. This year's package arrived last week, so we all gathered 'round to see what she chose for us this time. Jack always gets a Santa in some sort of transportation, which thrills him to no end, and this year it was hot air balloon. So cute!
I will say two things: these pictures were taken in my cluttered, messy office-slash-craft room, but my excuse is that things are ALWAYS happening in here, so cut me some slack, will ya? And also, I did a poor job of focusing on the ornaments in several of these photos, but I didn't realize that until today, so since they're already put up in the attic until we set up the tree, I can't fix that. My bad. Chloë usually gets one to do with the year or her age, ever since birth, and she loves her little snowman guy!
Sophia's was, appropriately, a gymnast - with her name on it!! Love it!! Also, the tiaras the girls are wearing in these two pictures are from the same Grandma package, which is why they're wearing them here. They light up, too!
This one appears to have been handmade, but if there was a note about that, I missed it. Mamacita? I'm guessing it's from the childhood of Rob, at least, since we've gotten a few of those in the past as well. Isn't it cute?
Rob's an angler of great enthusiasm, so he's gotten lots of fishing-related ones over the years from his mama. Too bad the expression on his face took precedence over the ornament, because it's The Awesome. So many of these ornaments have such great detail, and this one is no exception!
Ditto the above, about his (hehe) expression and the clarity of the ornament. Boo, me. He always gets a Navy/military/patriotic-themed one, since he's been in the US Navy for about 18½ years, so this year he got a flagged-out Santy Claus.
I love, love, love, love, LOVE the ornaments Mamacita chose for me - not this year, but every year - because she puts such great thought into them (well, everyone's, not just mine, but you know what I meant, right?). IMHO, I saved the best for last, because look! Apropos of the baking business I started this year (which is on hiatus for the time being, although I'm starting to reconsider that idear), I received a Christmas-themed cupcake ornie. Sweet! (Heh. Sorry, pun-haters.)
Also, since we homeschool, Mamacita gave me this "World Class Teacher" one, with a laptop on the, well, top. I adore this!! So very cool. Thanks, Mom/Grandma, for the wonderful additions to this year's tree!
But that's not all that was in the box. There were a few things I forgot to photo, like the Thanksgiving tablecloth and napkins we put away already, but not this train set for Jack! He immediately opened it and started choo-chooing it all around the office and living room:
(Again, 'scuse my mess!)
Oh! This guy was in the box, too! He'll grace our table this Thursday. Mama-jamma, did you make this?
Oops, speaking of trains, this mini-set of ornaments (or should I say set of mini-ornaments? Yes, pretend I did) was included also, for the whole family's enjoyment. Isn't it darling? Maybe it'll go on the fireplace this year, all set up. Of course, Jack thought it was just for him, since he and his gram share a love of all things train.
I got this fabu book of recipes in the box, and don't you think I should make that gingerbread house? I've never made one, but I want to and think about it every single year. This might just be the one. We shall see, we shall see.
And last, but certainly not least, the kids received another one of these recordable books from Grandma, in which she reads the story aloud to them. This year, it's Under The Same Moon.
Sophia immediately sat down to enjoy the book, but the other kids, who had already danced away to other adventures downstairs, heard it and clamored for share-age. So she traipsed on down there, where they all sat around the book and listened to it approximately 18 times. And no, I'm not exaggerating. For once. They love these books from Grandma.
My dad sent a small package of trinkets and things for the kids and us, but I only managed to get this one of Sophie with the toy maze things - you know the ones? - she opted to get. She also chose the mini-Bible he sent, which the girls have sat down together to read on several occasions since then. Isn't that lovely?
I got a package I ordered from Old Navy, but it didn't contain the Christmas outfits I bought, so boo. They better come soon, because they're awesome. I mean, so we can take our holiday card photos ASAP, y'know?? Anway, there were a bunch of shirts I got myself on clearance, as well as four fleece hoodies for the girls, in this package. The lady-babies insisted on trying them on straight away, which is the sole reason I took their picture. Plus, they're cute, are they not?
And these are the other two. No, I didn't pose the girls; they linked arms of their own volition. ♥ Yes, Sophia is now taller than her sister, who is 3½ years older, which Chloë definitely does not appreciate. Sorry, darling.
Okay, so technically these three sundaes I made for the chirren didn't come in the mail, but the ice cream, caramel sauce and whipped cream did get delivered by Oberweis, so I'm including them in this post. Can you stand it? They look so good, I want to make (them?) some more right this minute!
Okay, so I made one for myself, too. I got about five bites in before I passed it to Rob - not because it wasn't delicious, because it was, as is every-dang-thing we have gotten from Oberweis. I didn't want to overdo it, though, because I have such a grumpy pouch!
And that is all. I have to go break up an argument. Oy.
Y'all did know that's, like, a palindrome, right? That's not news?
Anyway. Not where I'm headed. Nor is this collage of silly pictures I took of myself early this morning when I meant to be writing up plans and writing down lists:
I also seriously LOVE these Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers, which are so good I can't stand it. I got a case of them from Moms Meet to share with my mommy group today, but I've literally eaten like 10 ½-oz bags myself since they arrived. They're addictive! Perfectly crunchy, wonderful texture, delicious flavor, and just the right touch of salt. Mmm. I can definitely endorse this product! Bonus: They're gluten-free, for those of you needing such a product (but they do contain soy, though it's low on the ingredient list.)
ANYWAY.
The plan. The plans. That's why we're all gathered here together today. And no, we're not moving to Panama. Or Thailand. Or Florida, Or Hawai'i, or Australia (boo-hoo). Nor are we going to live on a boat.
No, we have decided that, all things considered, those ideas just aren't going to work out for us, right now. Maybe in the future, but not right now.
Instead, here's what:
Rob'll retire in about a year and a half, after 20 years of service to our great country.
Then a lot of this will happen. Hopefully our shithole house will sell sooner rather than later, and we can high-tail it out of here shortly after retirement.
...After which, we'll end up here, this being a marina in downtown San Diego. Okay maybe not *exactly* here, but somewhere in this neck of the woods. And by "neck" I mean Southern California, and by "woods" I mean United States. It all depends on where we can find affordable (please, God, let it be four-bedroom) housing in a safe place, but the closer to SD, the better.
Now you may be asking, in your grammatically-incorrect way that I love so much:
???
Well, there are a few reasons.
#1. Process of elimination. After deciding we couldn't expatriate for medical reasons (my bipolar disorder and Jack's growth hormone deficiency, chiefly), our list narrowed down to Hawai'i, the Florida Keys, or San Diego. It had to be somewhere warm but NOT the Deep South, and I didn't have much interest in the Southwest, either. No particular reason, just, meh.
#2.
The whole reason Rob got into the Navy in the first place was for the G.I. bill, so he could go to college, never intending to do 20 years. But that's neither here nor there anymore, and now he's ready to get that degree. Between the GI bill and Voc Rehab, he hopes to get his B.S. in Nursing, become an R.N., and then continuing ed. to become a Nurse Practitioner. I think that's great. I'm all for it.
So why San Diego?
a. Proximity to MTFs (Military Treatment Facilities) to minimize our out-of-pocket post-Active Duty medical expenses. (Our prescriptions add up, dudes.)
b. Proximity to family, vs. Hawai'i. As Rob pointed out, "our parents aren't getting any younger..."
c. Quality and quantity of accredited institutions of higher learning, vs. the sole Florida Keys Community College (which, by the way, is supposed to be competitive for nursing, but then he'd have to commute to Miami after two years, and .... nah)
# 3.
There's so much for families to do there! We've heard lots of great things from friends and fellow military members who've lived there, so it will afford many opportunities for exploration, discovery, and fun.
So that's pretty much the whole ball of wax, in a nutshell. Maybe we'll be able to live out Plan B of The Retirement Dream, which includes
Oh. When I first read that, I thought it said "OUR," not "ORR." Heh. Whatever. Sorry I stole your banner, Orr Family Farm.
We'd love some of this:
because we go through, and desire plenty of fresh, healthy, organic:
If the place is big enough, we might even have a goat or even a cow, for milk, and cheese, and yogurt, and all sorts of things I'd learn to make.
Dang. Just dang.
And hopefully a big, beautiful vegetable garden will keep us occupied in the growing season (or is it always the growing season there?), so with the chickens and goat/cow and veggies and whatever else, we can be pretty self-sufficient and organic, food-wise.
In the dream/fantasy, I'd also get an alpaca or several, to raise for the fiber.
Of course, I could either sell the fiber outright, or learn to spin it. Or both. Yes, probably both.
And I could learn to dye it with natural materials, and I would produce the most beautiful yarns.
And of course, I'd keep homeschooling the kids, and they'd learn so much from the farming and the husbandry and the learning. All the learning, every day, from doing. And behold, it would be very, very good.
And in a perfect world, I'd have her body.
So it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Whether any of it does, whether it all does, and we get to grow old together and live happily ever after.
That's the plan, Stan!
Fin.
P.S. I forgot to mention one final "plus" that San Diego had going for it: proximity to
,
should Chloë (or even Sophia, but never Jack) decide to pursue that avocation after all.
P.P.S. Today is Rob's 39th birthday. Happy birthday, Rabbi/Rupert/Ribbon/Rabbit/Robin/Ruben and everything else I call you!
Earlier in the afternoon on Tuesday, we had to be down the road at the Naval Hospital for a referral appointment for Jack and Sophia. That's when the earthquake hit. The whole hospital shook. It wasn't scary - not for me, at least. It's the first quake I've felt in my almost-35 years, and I thought it was pretty cool. Once the kids understood what was happening and that it wasn't one of them trying to annoy the others by shaking their table and chairs, they thought it was exciting, too. But I digress.
After the hospital, we took a field trip over to the above-referenced Naval Shipyard Museum, which was literally three minutes away. (I planned it that way. I'm so smart.) The museum is part of the Blue Star Museums Initiative, which provides free admission to participating venues for military families. If you're military, take a look at the site now, because the program ends on Labor Day! It started on Memorial Day, but I forgot about it, so now I'm trying to make up for lost time. D'oh, me!
After I carefully parallel parked - which I'm not altogether great at, I admit - behind a local police officer (without hitting the car, whew), we headed across the street to the museum. I was prepared to be completely bored out of my gourd. Despite being married to a sailor, military things don't interest me much, sorry to say.
After we were let into the somewhat-teeny museum by the lovely Katie, who diligently checked my military ID to make sure we were freebies, the kids were given scavenger hunt papers to find things around the museum. I guess this was in an effort to make the trip more interesting to them, but my kiddos didn't need it. Their excitement was engaging and contagious, and I even found myself having a good time going 'round all the maritime exhibits.
Jack's favorite things were all the various ship models. This should surprise no one. Chloë snuck into the picture at the last moment, because she is a camera whore. This should also surprise not a soul.
Sophia's favorite things were all the cannons. She kept pretending to operate them.
The girls had no idea what they were posing over (a stone block to memorialize a purchase of land by the U.S. government from a private couple), but they felt it was a Kodak moment, anyway. Or, shall we say, a "Nikon moment"? Nah. That's cheesy. I'll probably say it again in the future, anyway. Heh.
Oh, Sophia's found another cannon to run.
Chloë, finding the bell on her scavenger sheet
And now it's her turn to pose with the cannon. Hey, who can resist a giant cannon? Another joke I'm not going to pursue.
Jack, entranced by another model ship, left nose-breath marks on the glass. That's what I see every time I look at this photo, anyway.
Sophia makes a scavenger hunt find!
I kept telling them not to sit on this wagon thingy, but they wouldn't listen to me. I mean, why should they? I'm just the mother. *le sigh*
This diorama was actually 3-D, so it was pretty cool. Hard to tell from the pic, though. Jack loved looking at that thing. He kept going back to it.
The girls thought this Fresnel lens was absolutely beautiful. I guess it is, too.
After the lens, they discovered a little side partition where a video was being shown about old-timey Naval life. They actually sat and watched it, shocker of shockers.
This kid was completely entranced. That's his "TV face."
These two thought the old shipyard fire alarm system was awesome. I had to read to them all about it, from the plaque. They asked me lots of questions to which I didn't know the answers, but no matter. They were soon off to the next thing.
Chloë was way too excited about this old Naval uniform. I do like the dapper hat, though. Er, "cover."
Uncle Sam wants YOU - and Sophia wants Uncle Sam.
I asked Chloë if she was playing Vanna White, the way she posed next to this excavated silver stuff, and she responded, "Mooooommmm, I don't even know what that is." I felt old.
I took this photo of a Mark V dive helmet for Rob, who would love to have one himself.
After a quick perusal of the small gift shop wares, the kids were ready to head back outdoors. I voluntold them to pose in front of this ginormous anchor. Hey, they listened to me for once! Where's the calendar?!
There's a joke here about Jack being a little dinghy, but apparently I'm all out of funny at the moment. Three points if you can make one, in the comments.
Meanwhile, the girls were entertaining themselves (as well as the folks relaxing nearby) running up and down, scaring off the gulls and pigeons. Normally, I wouldn't allow such a thing, but I was tired and wanted to sit for a minute. So I did, right there on the stone pathway, and I burned my butt, thanks to my short shorts. Hmph.
Jack wanted to know what that ship was out there. I told him it looked like a small aircraft carrier to me, but I didn't really know. Later, Rob told me the name of it, but basically, he said, it was like a mini aircraft carrier. Ha!
So while I was sitting there, burning my butt and thighs (hey, I was tired), I felt this tickling on my leg. Turns out it was this poor little spider who'd lost SIX of his eight legs. What a trooper. Looks like some are growing back, though. Good for him, persevering like that in the face of adversity. No, I didn't squash him after that. Would you have?
"Time to go!" I hollered out presently. We headed back to our van, but not before one more look at yet another well-patinaed cannon. This one was Spanish, in case ya care.
Back at the van, the Littles called out, "A tugboat! Look, Mom, a tugboat!" so I was obligated to photograph it, natch. Chloë then insisted it couldn't be a tugboat, because it was pushing instead of pulling, but I informed her she was wrong and it was, indeed, a tugboat. Back at home, our authority on the subject (Daddy, obviously) informed her that it was, indeed, a boat of the tug variety, and that they usually do push more than they pull. She was not happy about being wrong. Nyah, nyah.
Well, I should do something of the sleep variety, but I don't know if I have any in me at the moment. I do have a meeting in six hours, so maybe I'll go lie down with Rob and drool on his chest a little. (I'm so sexy like that.)
I keep feeling like I had this unproductive weekend, because I didn't accomplish my singular goal at all, so here is a run-through of what I actually did do, to make myself feel better. And to share with you, because I know you hang on the edge of your seat, waiting for me to post these scintillating things I talk about, right?
First, like I mentioned, there was desire to paint in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Now. So I painted the pantry door. And the little bitty corner of wall next to it, which of course meant that more painting in the kitchen would need to happen, or else that little green section of wall would like mighty curious, all by itself.
Well, the real first first was making the pizza cake, from Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning.
And the second thing, immediately after finishing the cake, was scooping up the leftover cake and frosting and constructing these cake pops. These are long since gone, sold right away, but like I (think I) posted yesterday, more can be made if you need parting gifts for Teacher, or a special graduate, or Dad, or, well, anybody, because I really don't care whom you give them to, as long as you buy some. Heh.
So the third thing, then, was painting the door.
I went back and forth all day Saturday after that, moving kitchen furniture (that would be the full baker's rack, the deep freezer, and the table and chairs), scrubbing sections of wall piece by piece, paint first, second, and the exasperatingly always-necessary third coat... and coming back here to play on Facebook and run my stupid Farmville. (I call it "stupid," but I really like it. It gives me a quick opportunity to take frequent breaks from whatever I'm doing, and I've always been a girl who likes taking frequent breaks. Maybe I do have ADHD, but that's how I manage it. Whatever. Moving on.)
As part of this parenting course we're doing right now (more on that later), Rob and I are each supposed to spend 10 minutes of true quality time with each of the kids, twice per day. So Sophia and I spent one of our ten-minute sessions painting the back of the kitchen wall. I did all the cutting in around the edges, and she painted in the middle. I guided her with the correct way to hold the brush and move it back and forth, back and forth, and then she went and did it her own way. Which is fine. You can lead a horse to water...
Chloë wanted a painting turn after that, too, so I spent another segment of quality time showing her the same things I'd shown Sophia. She did it more exactly like I showed her, because that is her way. She, being a Virgo like me, is quite a bit of a perfectionist. I am doing my best, now, seeing this, and knowing how difficult it is to be that way, to guide her away from that tendency. It's not easy. Anyway, so they helped me paint the walls.
Jack wanted to paint, too, but he was never available when I was ready for him, because he spent a great deal of the weekend outside with the neighbor kids, riding his bike, driving his Cadillac Escalade Power Wheels, using the girls' scooter, and generally getting dirty and having a ball. So I didn't force the 10 minutes on him, although I do think it's especially important that he and I connect for those 20 min per day. I'll work on it, getting it in.
So eventually, the bottom half of the kitchen got painted, as far as I could go without moving the refrigerator. Luckily, I have plenty of paint left, for whenever Rob gets around to helping me with that. (I tried, but I'm a weenie.)
In the eight-plus years we've lived here, the kitchen has always been at the top of my "gotta change this" list, but for some reason, it has escaped my ministrations thus far. I even have the paint for the top half. Well, now that we've had to keep the windows open all the time (no AC), the cats have scratched out half the screens in the house, and they've all but shredded the café curtains covering the kitchen windows. I hate it. And I hate the country-cottage-y wallpaper on the top half of the kitchen walls, too. That's fine and good, but I am just not a country-cottage-y type of person. I like bold, striking colors that pop.
So I got up on the chairs and started to RRRRRRRRRIP the wallpaper off the walls, tossing big strips of it onto to floor, to the kids' shock and dismay. "Mom! What are you DOING?!" they demanded.
I just laughed and let their father explain. That's often the way things go around here. I laugh, and he's left to explain why.
I pulled off all the copper molds from around the top of the walls, too. I'm going to sell them. I collected them years ago, when we lived in Panama City, FL. And while I still absolutely adore copper - it's my favorite precious metal - it's just not the look I'm going for anymore. So they have to go. I don't have them listed anywhere yet, but I do have some interest. Let me know if you, too, want to stake a claim. I'm willing to break up the lot.
Because we didn't get Rob's Navy paycheck the first of the month and things are uncomfortably tight right now, and also because I'm trying to walk more and drive less in the interest of Saving The Planet, Chloë and I walked to the grocery store late Saturday evening. The kids were begging, crying, for milk, so I decided to break down and spend some of our very little money on a gallon. I mean, it's milk, and they're kids. Not exactly a luxury.
Chloë and I had the best talk on our way to and from the store. We discussed physical beauty and why that might not be the most important thing about a person, and what things might be more important. She decided that being healthy was the most important thing, and being safe, so we talked about ways she could be healthy and safe. She came up with lots of fantastic answers, like eating junk foods in moderation, always wearing her helmet when she rides her bike or scooter, and getting the proper amount of sleep. I was impressed.
At the store, she "helped" me shop, and by that, I mean she pushed the little cart around and mostly observed as I made decisions about what to buy and what to leave at the store. We talked about the importance of shopping the perimeter - she remembered what "perimeter" meant from her studies in math - and, like eating junk food, using the processed foods in the center aisles in moderation. I had decided to make a Key Lime Pie for dessert, to use up the Key Limes I'd picked up at a roadside citrus stand in Florida a few weeks ago, so we bought the condensed milk and graham crackers I needed for that, comparing prices-per-unit and all that we always try to do.
And since I have a partially-made batch of hummus in the freezer, I decided that I should get a lemon or two (of which there were none, so I'm going to try Key Lime hummus instead!) and the tahini I need to finish it. We spent about six years looking for the damn tahini, which used to be much easier to find, back when they had a separate section for "health foods." (Now it's next to the mayonnaise and other condiments, in case you're wondering.)
Having "gone green" by walking to the store instead of driving, I'd have felt pretty crappy about getting one of those God-awful plastic grocery bags in which to lug our loot home, so I bought yet another 99¢ canvas bag, too. I just can't stand those plastic bags. They, among other things like inconsiderate smokers, people who drink copious amounts of bottled water and don't even recycle the bottles, and folks who take nine hours to make the right turn in front of me, are the absolute bane of my existence.
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So we walked home, me lugging the bag full of milk-and-schtuff, and continued our nice, Mom-to-Daughter talk. Somehow it morphed into what life will be like as she eases into her teenage years, and how it's natural for girls to butt heads with their mothers frequently in those times. That really upset her. I made her promise to remember one thing: that no matter what she said or did, and no matter what I said or did, I would always love her more than she could understand until she was a mother herself. That eased her mind a bit.
Then that translated into a conversation about the pressures of being a teen and experimenting with things like drugs, alcohol, smoking, and sex. I told her my hopes and expectations, and she asked good questions. Overall, it was a very productive conversation, and I'm so delighted we had the chance to have it.
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So we got home, and I made the pie, and oh, my word, it was freaking delicious. Beyond expectations. I still have plenty of Key Limes, so I plan to bring another pie to our Gardening club this Thursday. Assuming I still have the gas to get there. Jack didn't like the pie, but everyone else devoured it with gusto. I had way more than I had any business having, but after cheesecake, Key Lime Pie has to be my fav... well, no, there's Dutch Apple Cream Pie, and Chocolate Chip Cookies, and... Uh. I just love sweets. I'm in the right business, I think. (And I'm glad I've discovered the power of prunes to help me take off any extra weight I might gain from sampling my own wares! Phooo, do those work well. Golly. *ahem*)
So that was Saturday.
Sunday, we didn't make it to church either, which was sad, especially since I'd visited their food pantry on Thursday after Girl Scouts, and they serviced us quite nicely. (That's something I've never done before in my life, and it's quite humbling. Thank you, to any and all of you who donate to the Food Bank. We haven't needed it before, but with this paycheck snafu, I'm certainly glad it's there for us in this time of need. Now if only there were a Gas Pantry, eh?)
I napped a lot on Sunday. Rob napped a lot, and Sophia did, too. The other two mostly watched Nova shows on the Wii, from Netflix. Jack is especially fond of the Nova programs, and particularly the ones that feed his transportation and mechanically-oriented brain. He'll watch the same ones about plane crashes or rockets taking off over and over, always going upstairs to get a toy that goes along with the program, and making-believe he's part of the action. It's pretty cool. Rob gets a huge kick out of his doing that.
For my evening 10-minute session with Sophia, she just wanted to play with the discarded boxes I'm trying to get rid of on Freecycle. She's decided she needs them for her tiny toys instead, like finger puppets and the Squinkies a friend gave her at her birthday party in April. Here she is admiring the bunk bed she made for her bunny finger puppet.
This is her favorite box, though, because "it's the biggest, and it has a window, so I can see what they're doing in there." She asked me to punch holes in the window with my knitting needle, so her bunny could breathe. And so I did, until she told me, "enough."
While Sophia had been napping earlier, I got started training Jack and Chloë on the way we do laundry, from beginning to end. They collected all the laundry in the house, sorted it into the proper piles, learned how to run the washer and the dryer, and then I showed them how to fold their own clothes. For now, I'll leave it at that, until I feel they're ready to start folding Mom & Dad's, and the towels and sheets. I've just always done the laundry myself and only had them run and put away their things. But with the parenting course, I see the error of my ways. I don't know why I didn't, but I guess I figured they would just pick it up eventually. Foolish. So now I'll be working on their "training," and we don't call them "chores" but rather "contributions." It's working out well. They feel important and significant, and Jack even commented that doing the laundry was "fun." (Not to me, but to his big sister. No way he'd let me hear such a thing on purpose!)
After dinner, when I wanted some knitting time on my sparkle! dress, and Chloë wanted a break from folding laundry, I asked her to spend a little quality time herself with Sophia. The two of them have been fighting a lot again lately, so I asked Chloë read Sophia some stories. She grumped and grumbled about it at first, but in the end, she read three stories to Soap without me asking her to go past the first one. And I made lots of progress on my dress:
Pretty soon, I'll be at the placket, which is my new favorite word to say. I can't wait to finish the front.
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Jack went to bed first tonight, so again, I didn't really get to spend my QT with him. I'll give him extra tomorrow. After story time between the girls, Chloë wanted her ten minutes with me. Sophia and Dad spent those ten minutes together, too, playing and Soph telling cute, six-year-old stories to her Daddy. Chloë and I went for a moonlit walk around the smaller lake.
I took the Nikon along, just in case I found anything cool to take a picture of, but most of my pictures didn't turn out. I liked the way these branches stuck out far into the light of the street lamp, so I snapped it.
Halfway 'round the lake, I spotted a "frog" hopping off the path, toward the water. I managed to catch it for Chloë, who immediately squealed when she felt it and dropped him. So I caught him again, and then, of course, I could see it was really a toad and not a frog at all. We agreed to bring him home to show Daddy and Sophia. We took turns holding him and talking about what we learned months ago when we covered Amphibians, about the differences between frogs and toads. Chloë surprised me by remembering quite a lot of them without my prompting her, and I felt a lot of pride inside me.
There were a lot of ducks and drakes pairing up along our walk, but those photos didn't come out. I'm glad this one of Mama and her four ducklings did, though - how cute are they?! I just adore baby aminals of all flavors and varieties. I'm definitely a Woman in that regard. Baby people, baby ducks, baby anything, and my heart melts.
Chloë could barely wait to burst in the front door and show them the toad. We had to shh-shh-shh her, because the windows are open, and our neighbors sleep early. Of course, they gave her all the attention she was due, and there was even more fun when Sophia, holding the poor toad, dropped him in the house. I was in the powder room when that happened, but the sounds of them all gadding about, trying to catch it, were amusing to hear.
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Chloë went to bed shortly after that - no, she had her ten minutes of Dad time first, and they looked through an American Baby magazine together, of all things - and Sophia and I shared some more time while I knit. She drew pictures of different things, like Chloë and I taking a walk, and of an "alien monster mouth" coming out of the sky and eating our entire unsuspecting family. I'm not really worried about that one, since she was giggling while she told me what it was. Sophia loves to color and draw, and she has become quite good at it, actually. I'll have to show you some of her drawings next time.
For now, though, I'm going to wrap up my weekend by trying to knit at least to the placket and making my To-Do list for the coming week. I hope yours is a good one.
{Note: I changed the title of this post from the original idea, "Buried Treasure," as tongue-in-cheek didn't seem quite right this time.}
Rob got a few days off of work for my grandpa's funeral, so we headed up there on Wednesday morning.
By "there," I mean Connecticut, even though the services were scheduled for the following day in Teaneck, New Jersey. Our hotel was in CT, because, tacky though it may be, I took a mystery shop to pay for our lodging. I mean, it was an unplanned, un-budgeted-for trip, so if I could get someone else to foot the bill, then by golly, I would do it.
So, we went to Connecticut.
The trip up took longer than it should have, because we had to make numerous stops for various potty breaks and things. I can't remember if someone (or ones) had an upset tummy or just what, but it seemed like we stopped more than went.
Anyway.
After we passed Newark, we were right near Leonia, where Grandma and Grandpa lived throughout my childhood. I spent many days there as a kid, so we quickly decided to take a detour through the old neighborhood to show the kids where I spent some of my happiest times. They lived in 20C, which is the bottom right unit in the photo, there. Their door was the farthest on the right, which meant the doors were out of ABCD order. That always drove me nuts!
I ran all over the place once we got there, excitedly showing my children where Grandma always parked her big, maroon "boat" of a car, and where Grandpa had always parked his blue work van, and the dumpsters that hadn't moved an inch, and the room where Stacey and I slept, and so much else. The memories just came pouring out of me, almost faster than I could speak them. When I say that these were the happiest days of my youth, here at this small condominium village in Jersey, I'm not exaggerating. I loved going there, I loved being there, and I loved returning.
The kids had a blast there, for the 20 or so minutes we stayed, anyway. They jumped in puddles, listened for the faint sound of the ice cream truck that barreled through there when I was a kid, and peeked in the holes in the sidewalk for froggies, just like Stacey and I used to do. Jack summed it up nicely for me when we were walking back to the car; I can't remember now exactly what he said, but it was something like, "This looks like such a fun place to grow up!"
After we piled back into Penelope (our Honda Odyssey), we drove 'round the corner into Englewood, NJ, to see the warehouse where Grandpa worked so hard for so many decades. He installed industrial laundry units for Tingue Brown, though my dad or uncle could explain his exact function better than I could. He took us there many times, when he had work to do in the evenings, and the two of us basically spent the time running around and asking a hundred times, "What's this? What does that do? What's this for?" The warehouse in Englewood closed down about nine years ago, but I did see some places that I remembered along the way.
While we were en route to Connecticut, I found out that an obituary hadn't been placed in the paper for Grandpa. After hearing this and talking to my dad and Rob for a minute, I called the funeral director back and dictated an obit to him for the Bergen (County) Record. I wanted to make sure that everyone from Grandpa's life in New Jersey would know of his passing, and though it was only going to be published the morning of his funeral, give them a chance to make it to the services if they were able. You can see the obituary here.
I didn't know I was going to drive straight through New York City to get to our hotel in CT, which was stupid of me, but I didn't look. I just trust Sue, my GPS, and drive on with confidence. So I got a little quaky in my boots when I was taking the George Washington Bridge, but at the same time, I was excited as all-get-out to be doing it! I have spent a great deal of time in The City That Never Sleeps, but I have never, ever driven in it myself. Lo and behold, we survived!
We finally made it to our hotel, where we had a nice stay and did the mystery shop stuff I had to do. I had planned to stay up all night so that I wouldn't miss our early departure and, thus, Grandpa's entire funeral, but my heavy lids got the better of me and I climbed into the big, comfy bed.
I slept like the just. The just plain tired.
And I slept on, through the 0500 wake-up call, and my 0530 alarm, and all the sleep-snoozes that followed. Finally, at 0726, I opened my peepers and noted that I had wanted to be on the road to Jersey exactly four minutes after that. "WAKE UP! EVERYONE, WAKE UP!! WE'RE LATE, WE GOTTA GOOOOOO!" I shouted. The room was all hustle and bustle after that. I dressed up the kids in their funereal finest, got myself into my own black frock, and watched as Rob donned his dress blues out of respect for my grandpa's Navy stint in The Great War. I zipped down to do the portions of the mystery shop I could only do in the morning, and we were back in the car in record time.
Just in time to sit in traffic. The whole of Connecticut, it seemed, was headed into NYC to go to work at the same time. In an hour and a half, we moved about five miles. I prayed my most fervent prayer that either Penelope would sprout wings or, somehow, some way, traffic would move and we wouldn't miss Grandpa's entire service.
My prayer was answered.
Beep beep beep beep went my phone, in the Morse code-like text sound I have reserved for my Uncle Chris. He sent word that they had moved the service back an hour, to 1100 from 1000, to give my cousin Melissa and us plenty of time to arrive. Words can not express the elation I felt when I read that! It wasn't the exact thing I had prayed for, but as Rob said, God was conserving energy: Rather than perform 50,000 small miracles for all the vehicles on the road, He was performing just the one we needed that morning.
When we got to the funeral home, amidst dozens of questions from the kids about the body, the hearse, funeral parlors in general, and so forth, the girls and I had approximately zero time to greet anyone before the fabulous director, Kurt, showed us the way into the (very nice) ladies room. Stacey came around the corner to greet us, but I blasted out, "Gotta go!" to her and left her waiting outside.
When we came out, of course, there were hugs and kisses and tears all around. She showed us into the room where Grandpa lay in his open casket, and I saw him for the first time since I got word of his death six days earlier. My nose is burning with the tears forming now, as I think of it. He should not be in that box. He should have been around for another 50 years. He loved life, he loved his kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, and he had a lot more joy to spread.
Stacey went up with the five of us. Her girls weren't ready to handle a funeral yet, but my kids were as inquisitive as usual. They asked us a billion questions. Through our tears, Aunt Stacey and I chuckled and answered everything. "Why is he so cold? Why is his skin hard? Why are you putting pistachios (Stacey) and a wiffle ball (me) in there? Why does he have a flag and a cross pin on his suit? Why are his glasses in his pocket? Why why why why why?" I didn't mind. I hope no one else did, either.
He didn't look exactly right to me, but then, they never really do, do they? His nose seemed too pointy and his nostrils were flared, as if he was smelling something he didn't like. I couldn't really get past that. But he was handsome. He still had a full head of hair and all his teeth, and he was proud of that. I sent him some Listerine in a recent package, and he chided me jokingly, asking why it wasn't Scope and telling me the bottle was too heavy for his tired, sore hands to lift. When he died, I couldn't help but wonder how much of that mouthwash was left, and wonder if it would go to waste. Stupid brain, thinking such silly thoughts.
I had briefly greeted Uncle Chris before stepping up to the casket, but I visited with him again after. And my mom's cousin, Ken, who had commented here on the post about Grandpa's death. I had read the comment on my iPhone on the way up there, and it made me happy to know that Grandpa had been Ken's (or Kenny, as my dad had always referred to him) favorite uncle, and my mom his favorite cousin. The two of them were so much alike, so happy and cheerful and quick to share their smiles.
The service itself was sparsely attended, as Grandpa's living family members and friends were few in number, but those of us who were there loved him greatly. We were maybe a dozen in number. I was pleased that the minister from their church, who knew both Grandma and Grandpa so well, was the officiant. He shared several anecdotes about both of them, and I enjoyed listening to him speak so tenderly about the grandparents I loved so well. He said that G&G invited him and his then-wife to dinner at a certain restaurant many times, and it was on the way to one such visit that Grandpa was driving his Grandpa way. The minister chuckled to remember that Grandma asked Grandpa, "Are you sure the car is in gear, Art? I could walk there faster." We all giggled, too. The service he gave was nice, and I felt good about it.
The procession to the cemetery was led first, of course, by the hearse, and then by Uncle Chris. Stacey trailed him, and then me, and then Melissa, and then everyone else. Despite our flashers and slow speed on the highway, the procession was broken many times by rude or ignorant drivers. Stacey's husband irately flashed the bird to one such driver, to my great amusement. That's New York for ya! Somehow, we all made it to the grave site in one piece, and Kurt directed us around a giant mausoleum and told us where to park.
The burial was as lovely as one can be, as the Navy Honor Guard was on hand to play "Taps" on the bugle and present the flag to Uncle Chris. I was very touched by all of that. Rob saluted the entire time, which is his duty in uniform, of course, but I was touched by that, too. He, himself, used to be in the Honor Guard, so he was very familiar with the whole process and told me beforehand what to expect and afterhand (why isn't that a word?) what was different that he had been trained. We all placed roses on Grandpa's casket, and after I placed a kiss on my hand and touched the coffin, Chloë and Sophia did the same. That made me laugh inwardly; I should have known they'd do that.
We said our good-byes at the grave to Ken and the other attendees, and then Chris, my two cousins Laura and Melissa, Melissa's husband, Stacey and her family, and my whole family made our way up the hill to visit my mother's grave. She had been buried there almost 27 years earlier, and I hadn't been to visit since the summer of '99. Stacey hadn't been since she was a kid, and Chris hadn't been in ages either, so we couldn't find poor Mom at first! I kept thinking, "We should ask Grandpa where she is, he would know!"
We fanned out and finally, Chris shouted out to the rest of us that she was found. Her stone has a built-in, pull-out vase, and as we had all taken red and white carnations from the arrangement that Chris had gotten for Grandpa, we tried to yank that vase out of the headstone to be filled. It was impossible; all the men gave it a go, and some of the women did, too. Rob realized it was a futile effort, as it had been pointed out several times that it was bent funny, so he ran off to get some cemetery workers to fix it. One came back with him, and he wielded a tool (don't ask me what it was) to get it unstuck. It took a lot of work, but finally, the vase came free. We all cheered and happily placed our carnations in my mother's vase. The kids took it upon themselves to arrange the flowers, and while no one would pay for their work, we all enjoyed seeing them do it. It was agreed by all then, much to my relief, that our children had provided a needed comic relief to the day's proceedings, and they were glad they were there. Phew!
(I know this is getting so long, but I need to tell all about it. It helps.)
We talked about my mom a little, and then as a group, we bid her adieu. But not before Sophia found an earthwork burrowing into its little earthworm hole at the head of her plot, and "rescued" it. None of us could convince her to let the poor creature go, so in the end, her daddy agreed to put it in a cup, with some dirt and water, and take it home to Virginia with us. I have no idea now what has become of that poor critter!
Jack had asked me a hundred times when we were going to see Grandpa's coffin actually lowered into the ground, so when I saw that Kurt was still standing there, I called out and asked him when it would be done. He told me that he would have it done as soon as we all left. Thinking of Jack, I quickly asked, "Can we not watch?" He asked if we would like to, and, thinking of everyone else's feelings (I do manage that sometimes), I inquired if anyone else would like to see, too. Everyone did! So we all gathered around Grandpa's coffin - sometimes a bit too close for Kurt's comfort - as the workers lowered him, hand-over-hand, into the ground. His final resting place was just above Grandma's. We all peeked into the hole, with Kurt in the background pleading with us not to get too close. I don't think anyone listened. There he was, down there, with roses all over, along with the cross-shaped ashes that the minister had placed there earlier.
I was supposed to have a lunch mystery shop in Manhattan that day, but I decided to stay with my family after all. I was feelin' the love. I suggested the Leonia pizzeria where Grandma and Grandpa took us at least once every visit, but Uncle Chris nixed that as he had just dined there the night before. When Grandma died, Grandpa had eaten there almost every night, and he was close with the owners and many of the regulars. I was surprised none of them were able to come to his funeral, but such is life. In the end, we all gathered at a local diner.
Melissa and Etan were fasting for Esther, before Purim, as they are Jewish, so they did not come in and eat with us. I had never met Etan before, and I found him to be quite wonderful. She married well. He's cute to boot, and isn't she gorgeous? She's my middle cousin. Laura is Chris' youngest, and Stefanie, who was not able to make it up from Florida, is the oldest. We said good-bye to Melissa, and the photogenic pair agreed to a quick pose for me. These two will be making beautiful babies someday soon, I hope!
The rest of us ate heartily and listened to Uncle Chris tell about all of the shenanigans he had put his parents through as a teenager and young adult. He was quite the hellion, to hear him tell it! I'm embarrassed to say, my kids were also being quite the hellions throughout our meal. They had been on their best behavior for Grandpa, so I guess it finally wore off and they just couldn't do it any more for the rest of us. Aunt Stacey sat closer to them than we did, though, and she had absolutely no problem "handling it." She often tells me, though, when I share the latest from Sophia, "I would sell that child if she were mine!"
After lunch, everyone waited out in the parking lot while I bought "a few things" (more like 20) from the bakery section of the Coach House. I just can't resist some good pastry, what can I say? At last, it was time to ease on down the road, so we bid farewell to my sister and brother-in-law, my nieces, and my uncle and cousin. We may never all be together in one spot again. But who knows?
The trip home also took much longer than it should have, because we made many and frequent stops for no good reason other than it seemed none of us was in any rush to be home. On this stop along the Jersey Turnpike, I found a Carvel, which Grandpa loved with a passion (everyone who knew him knew about his love for ice cream and especially Carvel), so I quickly conferred with Rob and decided that a sundae in his memory was in order. I had a bite or two, myself. I mean, it was for the old man...
On another stop, I was in a long line to pay for a Diet Coke and stuff, when I started listening to the conversation going on at the counter. The customer, a frustrated Gringo trying to buy some lottery tickets, was arguing with the heavily-accented Latina behind the counter. I took note of all the other patrons in the queue and decided that none of them spoke Spanish, so I gathered up all my nerve and stepped up to offer my assistance. I told the gent that I was quite rusty, and that I NEVER played the lottery, but I could try to help. He told me what he wanted, and I translated for him to the cashier. She nodded, repeated, and punched the buttons. To my immense relief, we got it right, and the man was happy. Then he handed me two dollars and said, "Get your millions, girlfriend!" as he walked away. So I bought two tickets, with everyone in line behind us egging me on, and gave them to Rob. We didn't win anything, but it would have been a good story if we had!
So, anyway, that was that. Grandpa is gone. Even though I saw it with my own two eyes, it's still hard to believe it. I keep having, "I should call Grandpa and tell him abc or xyz" thoughts, which are jarring. Rob keeps assuring me that they are completely normal. I know they are, but it still makes me cry. I just wasn't ready yet to say good-bye. It's never a good time, I know, but I really wasn't ready.
With love and sadness and my whole heart, and until I see you both again, Grandma and Grandpa, rest in peace.
I've got, like, 75 different things to spew out and no clue what order they'll make it here, so this might be rather like a "Tuesday Fragments."
I'm sick. Being sick sucks, but especially in the summer. It's totally the wrong time of year and therefore extremely unfair. Plus I don't know whom to blame this time; no one around me has been sick. I have a raging sore throat that won't ease up, my ears hurt, I have a headache that won't quit, and today, I added a stomachache. I've spent vast quantities of time "in bed," and by that I really mean "on couch," since I seem to have given up on finding comfort in the bed anymore.
I still haven't bought a new van. I think I'm headed for a Kia Sedona, but the Odyssey is still in the running. It pretty much depends on who will give me the best deal first. I've laid my cards on the table: this is what I want, this is how much I'll spend, I have a billion choices in minivans, so what will you do for me? We'll see who wins.
I think I've pinpointed whyfor I have this latest bout of depression: Rob's schedule, which keeps changing, but particularly when he works nights. I'm freaking lonely without him. I miss him. I never see him, I never have him, and when I do, he is cranky as f**k. And he comes home, eats, sleeps, eats, and goes back to work, repeat. So nothing gets done, and I'm too depressed at the moment to be helpful in picking up the slack, which makes me more depressed and anxious, and there you go. Maybe it's lame, but I think that's what's what.
Big news! Because of the horrible way I've been eating lately (probably thanks in part to afore-mentioned depressive state), I haven't weighed in in a month. So I wasn't too hopeful when I stepped on the scale today, but lo and behold, not only have I hit goal, but I'm PASSED it! Woohoo!! Despite all those caramel frappés and organic milk chocolate with almond bars I've been consuming lately (and pretty much nothing but, it's true, but at least it's only ONE or less a day, spread out), I have managed to fly by 150 lbs and am now at a respectable 147.8 lbs. I'm excited! It doesn't give me an excuse to keep eating this way, and I'm trying to break out of it, I really am. At least it makes me SICK as a DOG to eat that way, so the calories really don't have a chance to stick. I know you're shaking your heads at me over this, and believe me, I am, too! I know what to do, and I'm not doing it. But I will. This month, I will get back on track. I promise... myself. (Psst, my BMI went from something like 65.4 to 27.0 - yeah!)
Rob brought Chloë to camp on Sunday. We were all going to go, but I got sick. She was dreading it for months. Every time I brought it up, she was upset. She did NOT want to go. But he said once they got there, she seemed really excited. What a relief. I hope she has a great time. I already had him drop off letters I wrote to her, one for every day. I'm wondering if this might be the year she finally writes back? The Littles miss their sister. Both keep asking where she is. Aw.♥
Shoot. I still haven't taken pictures of the garden. I've commandeered poor Chloë's camera, since I broke both of mine, and I haven't even taken it out there for pictures. Argh.
Jack slipped and split his head open AGAIN on Monday. We thought it wasn't too bad. Rob went off to work, and I sent the kids upstairs to have a shower. When he was headed for bed, I remembered to have a look at it, and it was pretty gaping, much more so than I'd originally thought. Rob came home and took him to the ER. He got two staples! Poor kid. That's at least the third time he's needed something done to his head, if not the fourth!
I'm looking for an assistant for my giveaway blog, Fishing and Wishing. It's a lot of work, most of which I can handle, but I need someone to do all the link-ups each day with the current giveaways. In return, I would send some of the review items your way, as they apply to your lifestyle. Interested? Email me.
I guess that's it. I thought I had a few more, but... I can't think what else. Might try to sleep, but I don't know. I did nap an awful lot today, thanks to The Sick.
Hope y'all are having a good week. Oh, I know - at Walgreens on Friday, they were putting up Halloween stuff!!!! UGH!
Rob had to work, so I was expecting him to be gone all day. The kids woke me up around, oh, 10 AM, maybe? We had breakfast, and then we were relaxing for a little while before I planned to get started on laundry while they "cleaned" their rooms. But lo and behold, in walked Rob around 1030, finished for the day. Yay!
His annual uniform allowance came in last night, so he had to go back to base to buy all his uniform stuff. It sucks because he has a seabag inspection coming up, but never in the next three years will he use half the things he's required to have in his seabag. We could have used that money for other stuff, if it weren't for the inspection. He does plan to return a lot of the stuff afterward, though, so that might help.
And he surprised me by taking ALL three of the kids with him to base for his shopping trip, without complaining. He must have been in a jolly good mood for getting off earlier than planned, I suppose. Yay for me! I puttered, showered without having to scream around the shower curtain 30 bazillion times, "KNOCK IT OFF!!", and worked on laundry while they were gone. Just the quietude was pure luxury.
When they finally arrived home, some three hours later, we were off to the Farmer's Market to do our grocery shopping. What a fun trip, compared to the grocery store. Unfortunately there's no long receipt, at the end of which is a statement of mega coupon savings, but the knowledge that we're eating fresh, local and organic more than makes up for it. Our first stop was to see Uncle Chuck, the fishmonger. He is one cool dude; on that, Rob and I wholly agree. I try not to go on a weekend day, but that's when payday hit, so that's when we went - and he was insanely busy! We pulled his "menu" - a sheet with all his offerings and prices - outside to look over, and keep the kids out of his small shack, until there was a lull in business. When it was our turn, Sophia wanted to know what everything was, touch it, see it, smell it - and Uncle Chuck was entirely patient with her. Here he is showing her some large shrimp that the previous customer was coming back for after finishing their shopping.
I asked him if I could take pictures, and he was like, "Uh, sure, why?" I said, "Um, for my blog!" and he was all, "Oh. Okay, whatever!" and pulled all the kids in for a photo op. Very cool dude, right??
From his shack, we bought a package of crab cakes (note to Stephanie: If you didnt get my text, I asked Uncle Chuck about his preparation, and he'll be happy to custom-make them for you without the offending ingredients, so shoot me an email!), a huge bag of large shrimp, a gigantic haddock fillet, a couple dozen littleneck clams for Rob, and some ocean scallops for moi. Fortunately, we'd brought our coolers along, so there was no worry about leaving them in the car while we continued our shopping.
I didn't get to take a picture of Michele or her lovely daughter, Erika, from Virginia Garden - the organic food mart at the Farmer's Market, but maybe next time. I think there are pictures of them somewhere on her site, if you care. I knew I was going to way-overspend our grocery budget there, and I did, but I was able to get a LOT of stuff and use the 10% off coupon from their website this time. While I shopped, Rob took the kids out back to run around the field, and I think that was a big relief to Michele! I know it was for me... I had apologized to Uncle Chuck for my kids, and he was effusively nonplussed, if there can be such a thing, hugging me and telling me not to worry, "it's the only way kids learn how to behave!" He's right, of course, but I always feel like they are overwhelming for other people.
After we arrived home and brought everything in, I was left to sort it all out while Rob took Jack back to the base again, for a much-needed haircut. He was getting quite shaggy, and since I trimmed his bangs the other day, he looked like a major dork. Anyway, you'll see that later. Here's our beautiful bowl of some of the organic produce I bought: avocados, oranges, pears, kiwi, tomatoes, lemons... mmm. Rob remarked that if we had the money, he could eat that entire bowl of fruit every single day of his life. It did look quite good, but when he says stuff like that, I always feel bad that we can never quite satisfy his voracious appetite!
Sophia, who hadn't gotten to try a kiwi the other day when we stopped by Virginia Garden, opted to sample one now. Here's her first reaction. What do you think, does she like it?
I don't think so!! I think it was a bit more tart and tangy than she was expecting. Of course, it didn't help that she first bit right into it, peel and all!
But she soldiered on, and bravely went back for another piece.
I think now that she knew what to expect, the kiwi was much more Squish-friendly. Oh, "Squish" is my new nickname for her. I'm not sure she likes it; it might not stick.
In the end, she was quick to hand over more than half of her remaining kiwi to Chloë, who positively loves it, and steal some sips from my organic root beer, which I needn't really be drinking anyway.
Curls was happy to oblige. I think she would have eaten another five kiwi if I'd have let her!
The boys came home shortly thereafter, and Jack insisted on having a kiwi, too. See how he has the whole handful of it, rather than leaving it on his plate? He always eats like that. Maybe he's afraid someone (like Soapy) is going to come along and swipe his food? It's a definite possibility, anyway...
The kids went out to play in the leftover ice from the coolers, while I continued putting away food and tried to get some sort of dinner together. I tried snapping a picture of them splashing around inside the cooler, but they stopped as soon as I held up my camera. Rascals!
I didn't really have a well-thought-out plan for dinner, so I kind of just put things on as I thought of them. Of course, there were Rob's littlenecks, which can't be frozen without losing their texture, so they had to be eaten right away. And since he's left his grill at work for at least three months now, if not way more (!!!), I had to cook them in the house. I just put a little water and a smidge of butter in a frying pan and heated them up until they popped. This always fascinates the kids and, I admit, I like it, too.
While they cooked, I threw together a nice, organic salad. Curls insisted I photograph this beautiful tomato. She simply adores tomatoes, along with her father and, to a lesser extent, Squishy Soapy Sophia.
Pop! The clams were ready. I called The Bob inside, from where he was tinkering on his truck and motorcycle. The man could tinker out there 'til the cows came home, I swear.
Yup. It's a salad. I don't eat 'shrooms or tomatoes, so I nibbled a little at the lettuce (which was a bit bitter) and carrots (which were delightful). This salad was purely for Rob and Chloë. They had requested I add some sunflower seeds, but I forgot. Sorry, guys.
Chloë surprised us by deciding to try one of her daddy's clams. Her reaction was hysterical!
Hee hee hee. It's okay, Honey. I don't like 'em, either!
Jack refused to touch any salad, but Sophia asked for some! She didn't like the lettuce so much, and I can't say I blame her. It really had a weird taste. She managed just fine on everything else, though.
After that, I was in a mood to whip up some OG (organic) hummus. I'd picked up OG chickpeas, olive oil, lemons and garlic at the market, and I already had the tahini. The kids wanted to know why I was putting peanut butter in the hummus, even though they've seen me make it tons of times before. Then they all wanted to help crush the garlic. None was strong enough to do it alone, though!
Rob - who is more muscular than this picture implies - had to step in and help. Jack was fussing about that, but he wasn't getting anywhere on his own!
Chloë gave it the ol' college try, but she, too, needed assistance.
The kids all wanted to use the hand-mixer to blend the hummus, but I did it myself this time. I don't know why; I guess I just wanted to hurry up and eat it! It was WAY too strong on garlic, since I'd let them all try to crush it in and put double the amount I normally would have, so I had to add another half a lemon's worth of juice. Ahh, that's better.
Then we broke out the OG cheese and OG crackers, and I insisted the kids try some hummus before letting them have some without. None of them was impressed with it. Fine, more for me!
We had devoured so much cheese, crackers & hummus, that no one wanted any of the chicken I made, by the time it came out of the oven. Rats and damn. I wanted it, but Oscar the Pouch can only hold so much, and I didn't want to barf. Again. So, we'll have it tomorrow, I shippose.
I'd completely run out of flour during the past week of marathon bread-making, so I was glad to buy some OG bread flour today. Unfortunately, it needs to be refrigerated so it doesn't go (get?) rancid, so that's taking up too much space in the fridge right now, but it's worth it to have such fresh, wholesome bread. Chloë had requested some more sunflower seed bread, so that went into the baker first, with some OG honey and hemp hearts. I REALLY want to have some, but after way over-doing it on bread this past week, I'm abstaining. God, I love fresh bread, though. It's hard. I don't have very strong willpower, either, but the desire to see that scale move back down is going to have to be stronger.
After our non-dinner, Jack insisted we watch a family movie, so we all settled down in the living room to wath Fly Me to the Moon on Netflix streaming. Chloë and I had seen it before at the theater, but she totally didn't remember it. It's cute, but I fell asleep about halfway through and didn't wake up 'til after midnight. Of course, everyone else was upstairs and sleeping by then, and now here I am, alone and wide awake. Kind of sucks; I was hoping to sleep through the night. Ah well, what else is new?
Oh yeah, the picture. The sunflower seed bread was done when I woke up, so I pulled that out and started another loaf. This time, banana bread. I normally make that in the mixer and throw it in the oven, but I saw that my new bread machine has a quickbread setting (and maybe they all do, who knows? Not I), so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I did beat up the bananas and eggs in my trusty KitchenAid first, though. Love that beast!
I had picked up a couple packages of Spiru-tein protein shake mixes at Virginia Garden, since they weren't all that expensive and hey, I need the protein. Oh, my. Do not buy this, ever. WORST protein shake I've ever had, which is saying a lot! Maybe I made it wrong, since it said to add all sorts of honey and fresh fruit and stuff, but it is just nasty. I've managed to choke down about 4/5 of this, and I just don't think I can handle any more. Even after adding a kiwi and six packages of Splenda, it is The Nast. Blech. Ich. Yuck. PUKE.
So that's it for Saturday. I can't wait to see what Sunday brings!
I'm just a leeeeetle bit excited about that. We still have a variety of 12 packages or so to sell, but our Troop Leader took them off my hands and plans to get rid of them herself, and the donations we've received throughout the course of the sale will more than pay for those in the meantime. All I have to do now is collect payments from half the girls, submit the report, and then by Wednesday night, life can return to normal! Yippee!
In the meantime, here's what's up:
Rob worked all day Saturday. The kids were supposed to be cleaning their rooms all day while I cleaned other stuff, but I'm utterly worn-down and exhausted, so I rested for most of the day.
I'd told the kids if they got their rooms clean, they could pick ANY TOY THEY WANTED from my burgeoning toy closet. You'd think that would be a pretty good motivator, since there are some pretty sweet toys in there now, but nooo... Jack and Sophia did diddly squat. Zip. Zero.
Chloë, on the other hand, took that opportunity and ran with it. She cleaned up her room lickety-split, down to every last thing being picked up off an extremely cluttered floor. I had no idea what she might pick, so I was surprised when she chose the kitty-cat Dunk-adoo or whatever it's called, that I got on clearance at Tarjay last week.
The girl is OBSESSED with kitties!! Sophia wanted the same thing, so she pitched a bit of a fit about Chloë getting it, but too bad, so sad - she didn't clean her room! This is the sad, pre-dunk kitty.
This toy is utterly stupid! You put it in a bag filled with water, let it soak up, and presto-chango: NOTHING HAPPENS. Except it gets wet. Haha! Chloë didn't care, though; she kept insisting it got bigger, but really? No. It didn't. At all.
We were going to go to church in the evening after Rob came home, but he didn't make it on time, and I was too tired to go by myself with the kids. So that sucked, since we are seriously trying to go more... as far as the rest of the evening, I have no idea, other than that Chloë became suddenly ill. She had a headache that I'm sure was a migraine, she was dizzy, she puked several times, and had major coughing fits. She may or may not have had a fever... but it was all-but-the-coughing gone by morning, so maybe it was just some odd bug she picked up at school?
Sunday morning, we got up bright and early to do a booth sale. Thankfully, Chloë felt fine for that, since it was the last day to sell and we had about 5 cases to get rid of. I went upstairs to shower and found our bedroom completely destroyed. Sophia was undoubtedly the culprit, and I had a conniption about it. Seriously, I was beside myself! I f**king hate that. It makes me crazy that she ruins her own stuff, doesn't take care of anything, lets it all go to pot... but stay out of MY room and don't touch MY stuff!!!! Needless to say, the locks are now back on the doors.
When I get my energy back, hopefully by Wednesday when I plan NOT to sub, I am going to go into their rooms (including Chloë's which is now a huge mess again! WTF!) and Clean. Them. OUT. Anything that is broken, has parts missing or is just plain a stupid toy, I'm getting rid of. Anything I never see them play with, into the Freecycle pile. Trash, Freecycle, look out - here I come!! They have way too much crap in there, so it's kind of understandable that they might have a hard time keeping their rooms cleaner, but they ... eh, really, never mind about that. I'm sick of talking about it right now!
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So, back to the booth sale. It was at Kroger, which has two entrances, so to maximize our chances of getting rid of all the cookies, I split the two girls up. I had two tables, so we just divvied up the remaining cookies evenly, 30 to each girl. After the two hours, Chloë had manage to sell all but one of hers, including a couple that we ran down and pilfered from the other girl's table! L. had sold all but 8. So, it was a pretty successful last-day sale, I think, since SO many people turned us down for having already purchased their limit.
After a quick run around the corner to deposit some mystery shopping pay checks and mail-in rebate checks (they really do come, so do those!), we drove to the church where the Brownies meet with the remaining 9 boxes. The church was letting us sell there, but I couldn't stay because Sophie had a birthday party to attend. I handed them over to our leader and went off on my merry way without a SINGLE BOX OF COOKIES to worry about selling. Yee-haw!!
In the end, I sent Rob with Sophia to the birthday party, at the bowling alley, for a little boy in her preschool class. I was still so mad at her, for destroying our room, so I didn't want to spend the entire 2-3 hours with her yelling and being upset. Instead, I sic'd Chloë and Jack back on room-cleaning duty and took a nap.
Jack has been asking for this remote-control helicopter for his birthday for the past couple of weeks. I've been reluctant to get it, because (a) I already have some toys for him in my stash and (b) I don't want to shell out the $$ just to have him break it, so I made him a deal: Clean up your room TODAY, and I will get the helicopter you want. Don't clean it TODAY, and you don't get it.
Long story short, I am NOT buying the helicopter. I would have been more than happy to if he would just clean up his farging room, though!!
After my nap, during which time Rob and the demon-child returned, I got to work on the killer deals at the drugstores (CVS, Wags & Rite Aid) for this week. I knew there would be some good ones, and I didn't want to miss out like I have for the past fortnight or so. It literally took me five hours to assemble my coupons, make my lists, and get ready to go. When I think about that, it's kind of redonkulous - but I wouldn't do it if I didn't completely enjoy "the game"!
By 9:30 PM, I was ready to go. That's right, I went out that late, and stayed out 'til nearly 0100! I had to use Swagbucks to research all the stores in my area and see which ones would be open until late-o'clock, so I didn't go to my normal stores. Which was kind of good, because I had a lot of deals to do, and I didn't want to irritate the cashiers who see me all the time. Hee.
That went well, and I only missed out on the deals I couldn't do at all because I'd run out of printer ink. Pretty much everything else was in stock, so it bears repeating for the umpteenth time: Try to go on the first day of a sale! I plan to get some ink tonight after Rob gets home, and then hit up Wags again for the remaining 3-4 thigns I couldn't get. Stay tuned for my Steals and Deals post, next.
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Today, Monday, I didn't sub because I'd signed up to volunteer at the kids' school all day. I've received at least three calls a day since I got my official letter, so hopefully I'll get called for tomorrow, my first planned day to sub (after Friday didn't work out). I've called SubFinder all evening, but there aren't any jobs yet. Fingers crossed - and that it turns out to be an elementary school, my favorite age group!
I got to school about a half-hour late, since I overslept. I didn't even get a chance to shower or change my clothes or anything! Just grabbed my things and walked out the door. I guess I passed muster, though, because at least half a dozen people told me how great I looked! I think it was the clothes I was wearing today; they were rather figure-flattering for me. Everyone wanted to know how much weight I'd lost, and the compliments kept flowing all day. It was pretty great, self-esteem-wise!
Unfortunately, I missed Sophia's class. They were leaving just as I'd arrived. I caught sight of Soap looking around, and I'm sure she was looking for me. :( I'd told her last night I would be there, so I felt bad. When she finally saw me, she smiled but didn't say a word, because her class was expected to be quiet as they walked out the door. She didn't cry, though, and she never mentioned it after school, so I imagine my little booboo wasn't too soul-crushing for her.
On the other hand, when Jack came in... Things started off well, anyway. The librarian started off pairing him with another helper, but everyone jumped in to remind her to send him to his mom! He was quite demanding about it, so it was just another little petal off my he-loves-me, he-loves-me-not flower. He was asked to pick a buddy to also be paired with me, and he picked a little boy who was basically mute and had the personality of a shoe. He refused to talk, refused to look at or touch the books, and had no expression on his face. Poor kid; something is obviously "up," there. I sent him to sit down without putting a single book on his wish list. Oh, did I mention that's what I was doing? We volunteers were there to help Pre-K through 1st graders fill out their Book Fair wish lists.
Jack went through the motions of filling out his list, but he really wasn't into it. Instead, he cranked about wanting to go home, hating school, hating to read, blah blah blah. I guess it just wasn't his day, and when he saw Mama, he gave up! I even showed him some truck and car books, but he had no interest. And then I remembered a book I'd looked at earlier, a bigger and more expensive book that wasn't on the cases the childnen weren't "allowed" to pick from for their wish lists. It's all about the body human and what goes on inside, as well as germs and other things that affect us. A pretty cool book with lots of detailed pictures, and since Jack is always inquisitive about that stuff, I thought he would really enjoy it. I was right. I showed it to him, and he brightened immediately and shouted, "I want that one!!" It's only $10, and I get a $5 credit for volunteering, so completely worth it. I'll pick it up on Thursday, the Book Fair's Family Night, and either stick it in his Easter basket or give it to him for his birthday in a week.
(Holy cow, he's going to be SEVEN in one week!!!)
The rest of the time passed quickly. I really enjoy this particular volunteer opportunity the most, out of all the things I've done for the school. Especially when the neighborhood kids come in and request to be paired with me! That makes me feel good. This one little boy, John, who came up to me at the Burger King cashola night last week and said I was beautiful, walked up to each of us women there and said, "You're beautiful!" He was a riot; we all got a real kick out of him.
Afterward, I had about an hour and a half before the kids came home. I'd planned to clean and be productive, but after talking to my gran'pappy for a half-hour (he'd had another 4-day hospitalization recently, which I was unaware of because of being so busy with cookies) and assuring myself he was fine, I crashed again on the couch. If I didn't absolutely HAVE to get up and got to the bus stop to meet the kids, I would have stayed there, too. It was hard to pull myself up!
After they came home and had a snack, I let them put in a movie so I could lie down some more. Sophie and I snuggled up tight under the blankets on the couch, to watch The Swan Princess, and I fell fast asleep again. I was hoping she would, too, but no such luck. I was vaguely aware that they put in a second movie, Aquamarine, when that ended, and feeling grateful that there was no Cub Scouts meeting tonight. Homework and dinner could therefore be delayed, and my nap extended.
Until, that is, our troop leader showed up to bring me the rest of her daughter's cookie money. Oops! I had a hard time shaking the cobwebs out of my brain, but she was completely understanding, since she's in the same boat with the exhaustion right now. (She's got four kids ranging from 5 to 16 or 17, and her husband is deployed, and she is constantly busy with both Boy and Girl scout duties.) We chatted for a little while; I enjoy her loud, outgoing personality a whole lot. It's easier for me with that kind of person, when they are not a close-close friend, since I tend to be more quiet and reserved in those cases. Plus she's really just very nice!
When she left, Sophia popped in a Veggie Tales and opted to ignore my requests to clean up the living room. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have stood for it, but I was too tired to demand it. Chloë and Jack worked on homework in the kitchen, so I could help them while I made dinner for them. Jack did really well tonight and got his done quickly, but Chloë took forever and a day to finish all her work. She has a science test tomorrow, but by the time she finished all her homework, it was half-past-bedtime, and I didn't want to keep her up to study. That really aggravates me, though... so, I'm not expecting a fantastic test grade tomorrow.
I really have a ton of things I could be doing, but I'm going to blog last night's deals instead. I'm too tired physically, and mentally, I'm once again in Effexor withdrawal mode. Rob picked up my prescriptions the other day, but somehow or another, they have gone missing. I discussed this with the kids, none of whom seemed to know what happened to them, but I gave them the "this is life-or-death for me" speech. Still, none of them knew where they went. So, it's a mystery, but at least Rob managed to get another emergency fill for me this afternoon. Hopefully he'll be home soon to give me one and get me back on track, but in the meantime, I'm virtually useless. Bah.
I'm off to eat a quick salad and then post about the deals. Sayonara, arrivederci and ciao!
So it's been another busy week, and I haven't had much time to post. I'm going to give you the abridged version here, since even though I have some time now, it's already almost 0200, and I have a trillion and one emails and blog posts to catch up on, too!
Tuesday
Okay, seriously, I don't remember what I did during the day, because I didn't put it in my calendar, but I know I was busy every day but today! Chloë had math tutoring after school, but like most days, I had to pick her up early for Ballet. (Once, she told me that her tutor said, "How are you supposed to learn anything?!" but really, no one asked me if Tuesdays and Thursdays worked for us - and they don't!)
I was going to bring my crocheting to Ballet, but I couldn't find the red I was using (thanks to the cat, I'm sure), so I just played Scrabble on my iPhone and read a magazine. Jack napped, Sophie played. After dinner and homework at home, we worked on laundry. Yay.
Wednesday
I had an 0900 appointment to pick up cookies from the cookie cupboard, which I did. I hate to pick up more cookies at the end of the sale like this - it's over on Sunday night - but we had orders to fill. Hopefully we can get rid of the remaining cases tomorrow, but I'm worried about it. We have a booth sale at Kroger, plus the church where we hold our meetings is going to recognize Girl Scouts that day and said we could sell cookies there, PLUS Steph is going to hold a booth sale with her troop and said she'd take some of our cookies to sell at that, too. So, fingers are crossed!
At home, Rob was just getting ready to leave to take the kids to school. Their tardiness has been an ongoing problem since he has been on that job. After that, I decided to take back the job and let him sleep. After all, he has been getting home around 0300-0500 most days. And while it's true that I usually stay up the entire time to wait for him, and it's also true that he can usually go right back to sleep after bringing them to the bus stop/school and I can't, I don't have to stay awake until he gets home. So from now on, I plan to go to bed when I'm tired and get the kids up for school - on time! Except when I don't, like today - but somehow he managed to get them up!
While he was gone, the contractor who we called to get an estimate on some home repairs we can't afford came. I had just gotten out of the shower, so I ran down in my towel and asked him to wait five minutes for Rob, which he did. The fecking homeowner's association, which I absolutely hate, is now fining us $10 a day until we get it fixed. Our only hope is to do the repairs and then appeal to the HA to waive the fines. Only, we still haven't gotten that estimate... guess we'll be going with someone else! As for why Rob doesn't do the work himself, he spent $40 to rent a super-tall ladder (since all the problems are on the second story; he's done the first-story work) from Home Depot, only to get it home and not be able to extend it himself or with my help. That thing was a bear! I was super-pissed about the 40 bucks thrown away, too. Argh.
After he mostly bullshat with the contractor about motorcycles, we went to my 1015 doctor appointment with the shrink who prescribes my meds. Rob usually doesn't come along for those, but since we rarely spend time together these days, what the hey. Everything's going well with my current drug cocktail, so we didn't change anything. Haven't for a long while, now. Hopefully things will stay good going forward, too. Lord knows I need some mental stability, even if it has to come in the form of a pill or three! Anyway, apparently one of the drugs throws off cholesterol and blood sugar, so I have to go in and get more labs drawn for that.
We drove down to Oceana (another Navy base in town) to do a mystery shop at a restaurant in the Food Court. Rob got a steak sandwich, and I had a tuna wrap. It was SO good, and huge, so I took most of mine home. Rob brought the leftovers in the house, which I assumed meant that he was going to put them in the refrigerator... so I was really mad that night when I found my bag of food on a kitchen chair, pushed under the table! Hello!! More money down the drain.
After that, he went to work, and I did whatever I did around the house. I actually think I took a necessary nap until the kids got off the bus. Then the girls went to dance class for two hours, and I still couldn't find that yarn, so I played more Scrabble and read magazines. And played with the kids. It was a really nice day - we've had weather in the 70s this week!! - and the kids wanted to go to the park. I should have taken them, but I was so tired. I remember now, I didn't read, I mostly lay back and snoozed while they played games on my iPhone and listnened to kids music on my iPod.
When we got home, I started making dinner (just mac & cheese and some green beans) for the kids, when Stephanie showed up to babysit. I didn't feel like bringing the kids to Bunco night this time - after all, it's supposed to be my "break time" from them, a night out for ME! Steph and I had negotiated; instead of paying her cash, we were going to swap babysitting for the six My Little Ponys and a Schick razor I'd gotten from my deals and steals shopping recently. Works for me, and for her!
So after we chit-chatted a little while, and I held the wee cute man, she reminded me that I needed to bring dessert to Bunco. Oops! I was going to bake chocolate chip cookies, but I'd forgotten and no longer had time. I sent her up to our very messy bedroom to get something for a snack out of the snack stockpile bin. She came down with two packages of Keebler cookies, and we called it good. (They were not a big hit; I'll have to stick with baking!) Tabitha teased me about bringing cookies that weren't of the Girl Scout variety... I didn't even think of that!
I carried the five chairs she (Tab) asked met to bring, and the cookies, out to the car, said goodbye to the chillens, and left for a couple hours of fun. At Bunco, I had two cups of full-caffeine Diet Coke, which I normally don't drink, so I was in rare form that night! Everyone was laughing at me - I was cracking jokes, dancing, and generally being silly and a bit obnoxious, too. But it was fun, lots of fun, as usual.
Steph and her boys (Tim had come to pick her up) left right away, so I gave Jack his shot and sent the kids to bed. I got more of his meds in the mail, so he's back on the nightly injections again and not liking it one little bit!
That night, I didn't go to sleep at all. The caffeine had me COMPLETELY wired, and I was hyper all night long. I hadn't had a chance to go deal-shopping, so I stayed up and worked the weekly deals for Target, CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. Several of you have asked me to keep doing those posts, so I will continue just for y'all! ;) (And hopefully I will get to your emails this weekend, too.) Look for a post on that following this one.
Thursday
Rob got home really late, like 0500, and I was still up, so I got the kids ready for school. Unforch, I couldn't find any more juice boxes for their lunches, so I had to wake him to get some out of the stockpile for me. I also had to write a quick letter to Sophie's teachers, so that the neighbor-lady can get her off the bus on the days that I substitute teach, now that I'm good to go.
After they left, I showered and got ready to go deal-shopping. The stores I go to are near Little Creek (the Navy base in town where I go to the doctor), so I was going to go get that lab work done, but then I remembered I was supposed to fast. I hadn't done that... it'll keep 'til next week, I suppose.
I hit Rite Aid and was pretty successful there, and then CVS across the street. Another good trip, although that store is always out of half the deals I go in for. The other CVS in town is too far away to go to on a regular basis, and I don't know if Wags and Rite Aid are nearby, so it's not really cost-efficient to do that. But, I saw recently that a new CVS is coming in just down the road, in the same shopping center where I used to work at Harris Teeter. Woohoo! I can't wait; am I silly for being excited about that? ;)
I did a super-fast Walgreens trip and missed out on half the deals there (go on Sunday, I'm telling you! I keep saying it but not doing it, gah), but still made out pretty well. When I got back in the car, where I'd left my phone, I saw that it was 1257 - and I was due at the school for a meeting at 1300! Eek! I quickly called up and said I'd gotten stuck but was on my way...
Everyone was waiting for me when I arrived. Oops. Couldn't really tell them I was out shopping, so I made another excuse. The meeting was for Jack's IEP eligibility meeting. I had hoped that Rob would be able to attend, since this was the first time he'd had the full scope of evaluations done since he was a two-year-old. After a synopsis was given of the results by his regular teacher, his special ed teacher, his occupational therapist, the social worker, the counselor (not sure of her actual title) who ran his IQ tests, and the vice principal, it was determined that Jack is no longer eligible for services, because he doesn't qualify as "disabled." This is a good thing - it means that the little tiny 31-week preemie who was so far behind at two years old is all caught up now, five years later!
His intelligence testing showed, suprisingly to me and his teachers, that he his completely average across the board, except for slightly above-average in spoken language. We were kind of expecting him to "pop" on the gifted testing, because he really shows an incredible depth of thought in the questions that he asks. To have him be "average", well... I admit, I was disappointed. Hard to say why, exactly, other than that his father and I are both quite intelligent, and it's natural, I suppose, for us to expect that our children would all be the same way. On the other hand, Jack is in no way your average boy, and he certainly has his own gifts. And shortcomings! As do we all.
The difficulty, now, lies in the fact that he is seriously underperforming to his abilities. He seems to possess, I believe, no intrinsic motivation for getting his work done and done well. Granted, he's not even 7 years old and will hopefully develop that over time, but there is no sign of it at this point. He has a terrible time attending to directions given and focusing on task. So, our next step is to get him in to his pediatrician, with the assessments his teacher and I have filled out, and see about a dx for ADD. I'm extremely loathe to medicate him - I really don't want him to be a zombie! - but we will take it one day at a time and see what's what. If he needs help, I'm damn sure going to get it for him, but it won't be without many reservations. Stay tuned...
Halfway through the meeting, I started getting weepy. Not outright sobs or anything, but my eyes kept tearing up like crazy, and I couldn't get them under control. I just feel thoroughly responsible for any of the issues and problems Jack faces, like it's 100% my fault he is the way he is. I don't know whether that's completely irrational, but it's just the way I feel. I don't think Rob has any such ideation, so maybe that's just the "Mom Guilt" that all of us mothers have. It was completely embarrassing to be crying in front of a room full of professionals, though. I hate that! I am so emotional, and I can't stand it. I felt like saying, "I can't help it, I'm bipolar - just ignore me!" but of course I didn't. Everyone was really reassuring, too, telling me they'd be more concerned if I was unemotional about it and didn't care. And when I said that it seems Jack butts heads with me more than anyone else, and it's the hardest for me to get him to "do" things, like his work and reading and stuff, they all reminded me that this means he is most assured of his mother's love. I'll always be there for him, no matter what - and they won't. That helped.
Anyway...
In tears, I left and called my father back. He has long been telling me that he and his soon-to-be-fifth-wife, Kathy, would come up for Jack's 7th birthday this month. First, it was going to be the weekend right before his birthday. Then, they planned to get married that weekend and would come the following week. So I finally booked his party for the following week, only for Dad to call and tell me that they'd come the first week after all. What! I asked him to make up his damn mind (not in so many words) so I could get the invitations out... only to talk to him today and find out they're not going to come up until April now. Watch they don't even come at all. Whatever. I've long since learned not to tell the kids when he plans to come...
I didn't have much time until Jack and Sophie got off the bus - another tutoring session for Chloë - so I puttered until then. After the arrived home, I whisked them off for more deal-shopping! We went to the Walgreens down by Target to see if I could hit some of the deals that I couldn't get earlier, but I only got one thing. Oh, well, that's the way it goes, especially when things are on clearance. We ran to Target after that, where I had quite a long list as you will see. I managed to get all but two "deals" off that list in about an hour's time. Chloë had nothing after school, so I'd told her to stay the whole time and come home on the late bus. Normally, it takes an hour for her to get home on that bus, after dismissal, so I was counting on that. We raced home afterward, but she still beat me by a few minutes.
Luckily, I'd left the door unlocked just in case that happened, but I really need to go out and make her her own key. At 8½, we feel she's more than ready to be home by herself for very short periods of time, and she was completely fine when we arrived home. She bounced out of the house to help carry in the bags, smiling and talking all about her field trip that day do the Chrysler Museum in downtown Norfolk. She'd enjoyed it immensely!
Since I'd stayed up all night, I was tremendously exhausted by that point. I'd had Rob make me some coffee in the morning, which I haven't drunk in over a decade, and wowee!! That sure did the trick for long into the day, but it wore off. I fixed the kids a quick dinner out of some food from the Target trip, and then sat down on the couch to watch a movie with them. I forgot all about doing Jack's homework, and I fell sound asleep during the movie. Next thing I knew, the kids were heading upstairs for their bath and bed, kissing me goodnight. Such good kinders. (Not really; they can be so naughty! But they were good that night, at least...)
Friday
Rob got up with the kids, since I was dead to the world. I'd fallen asleep around 2000 Thursday night, and I didn't rouse until just before noon Friday. I had no idea what time it was, because my phone was dead, so I was worried I'd missed the kids' bus! I stayed awake for an hour after that, but I could barely keep my eyes open the whole time, so I went right back to sleep until bus time.
It was actually a big disappointment for me, since I'd planned to take my first subbing job Friday. I remember being called three times during the morning call-out period, but I just couldn't wake myself up enough to take a job. Hopefully I won't pull any more all-nighters anytime soon. If it means taking my sleeping pill, I guess, so be it, because I just can't do that anymore. Not a spring chicken, y'know!
After the kids came home and had a snack, we went upstairs and worked on our rooms from 1600 'til 2200. Jack napped most of that time, but the girls helped me with the laundry and putting away all the stuff for our toiletry and toy stockpiles. I didn't even stop to cook dinner! I just sent them down to eat some of the huge yogurt stash we have going on... the girls were willing, but Jack fussed about it. He wanted mac & cheese, dammit! But no, nope, and nuh-uh, so yogurt it was. I even ate it myself, plus some salad. The Littles went to bed around 2100, but Chloë stayed up a little later to help me with the laundry until she was practically falling asleep sitting up! She wanted to keep helping, but I steered her toward her bed, poor sweet thing!
I kept working until Rob texted me at 2200 to say he was on his way home. Woohoo! I was supposed to host the 2300 hour in my monthly crochet-a-thon thing online, but I begged for someone else to do it so I could spend some QT with my guy. They happily took over, so I fixed him a quick dinner of salad, dirty rice and turkey sausage, which was a surprise when he came home. Usually he's left to fend for himself and has a bowl of cereal or a can of soup. We smooched a whole bunch, too - I'm so happy he's here!
Of course, the reason he came home is he is to go right back in to work all day Saturday (today), so not too thrilled about that. But the good news is, he's qualified to be promoted to Chief on the boards he took in January, which is GREAT news. He didn't think he did well on the test at all! Hopefully the rest of the qualifying stuff will go well, and he'll actually get promoted this time as he should. Fingers are tightly crossed and prayers are being said!
Also, he may be getting his LPO job back and switching back to days in a few weeks. More great news!! I seriously can't wait... the kids miss their daddy, and I miss him - and the normalcy, too.
With that, I'm heading off to bed. I was going to post the deals, but I'm tired now. Even though we've got no Saturday plans for once (woohoo), I still want to get up at a decent hour and be productive all day. So look for that post tomorrow, if it interests you!
Have a great weekend, y'all.
Fin.
P.S. Can you believe this was originally intended to be a "bullets" post! Pshaw.
That title doesn't mean anything. It's just the song that's on my iPod right now. Yes, it's the Black Eyed Peas. I'm still listening to their The E.N.D. album constantly. It's catchy, y'all!
I haven't been productive this week. I've been sleepy. Today was no different; I slept until 1300 after being up 'til 0500 or so. I can't do that tomorrow, because Rob is on days just for the day for a Safety Stand-down, so I think I'm going to be staying up all night. It's the only way. I haven't been hearing my alarm at ALL. The lunches are already packed and ready go, so I just have to get the chillens up, fed and dressed.
Anyway.
After I got up, I sat at the computer to try and work out the weekly deals for Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Farm Fresh and Kroger! Dude. It's like a full-time job keeping up with everything! I don't know how I'm going to be able to do it when I'm subbing every day, seeing as how it's already Wednesday (well, Thursday now) and I haven't even gone to get the stuff that started on Sunday.
I already decided that I'm going to take off every Wednesday, though, because there's no way I can finish a sub job, get home, pick up the kids from the after-school house where they'll be, and get Sophie to her dance class on time. We'd be lucky to get there by the time it ended! So I won't work Wednesdays, and that will allow me to shop the weekly deals, too.
I didn't get much done on the deals, just because it really is a time-consuming task, before 1500. I had barely just enough time to shower, get dressed and run a comb through my hair, grab a magazine and the dance bag, and drive down to the bus stop to pick up the kids. We flew to class and got Sophie there five minutes late. Now that school ends 20 minutes later every day, it's going to have to be like that.
The plan, as usual, was to have Jack and Chloë work on their homework while Sophia danced, but neither of them had a pencil or anything with them, and I forgot to bring the "homework box." So none of it was finished in the whole two hours we sat there, between both girls' classes. Suckage. Jack covered his head with his coat and fell asleep for most of it, and Chloë read her library book. I read my magazine and alternately played Scrabble on my iPhone. I think have 22 games going at once right now!
Oh, did I mention (I know I didn't, so why am I asking?) that Sophia cut her hair again last night? Yeah. A third time. I sent the kids to bed, waited about 3½ seconds, and then went to lie down myself. I wasn't really tired, but I was super cold, so the only thing I could do was get under some blankets. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep. I woke up a couple hours later and found that the kids (Jack and Sophia, I later determined) had come down and eaten up almost all of those Ghirardelli chocolate bars I'd saved in the freezer for Rob! Then I went to the bathroom and found locks of little blond girl hair all over the floor. ARGHHHHH. And Sophie drew all over our yellow sheets with purple marker, too. That's where Rob found her when he came home - asleep in our bed, on top of her "artwork."
This is what she looked like after her last haircut, when all three of the kids went to get their hair fixed just a week and a half ago:
And this is what she looked like after dance class, outside the hair salon where I brought her for a fix-up tonight:
Ohhh, Sophie, Sophie, Sophie! You really did a number on yourself. Here's after the newest fix:
I have to admit, except for the extra-short piece where her bangs are screwy, it's actually pretty cute on her. But don't tell her that, please!!
Our box from The Children's Place was waiting for us on the porch when we came home after the haircut. I'd gotten 18 shirts (sizes 4 & 5 for Jack and size 7/8 for Chloë, for the future if they ever grow that big...) on clearance for $2.54 each! If you know TCP, then you know that's an excellent price. People mock those of us who like to dress our children in TCP and Gymboree, and the like, but if you shop the deals and clearances, you can pay less than what you'd spend on less cute and, often, lower quality clothes at Target and Wal-mart! I showed the kids all their new clothes - none for Sophie, since she mostly gets Chlo's hand-me-downs - and they were very excited about everything. Coupla clothes horses I've got here!
Chloë had decided to cash in 105 of her 108 Dad Dollars to treat herself and her siblings to kids' meals at Wendy's, so we had hit the drive-thru on the way home. I'm glad she did that, because she's had so many in her envelope, she wouldn't do anything for me, saying, "I don't need any more Dad Dollars." Of course, I haven't been making them spend them as much lately, letting them just watch DVDs and play games on my iPhone without "paying" me for them, so it's my own fault. Time to crack the whip again!
After the kids ate dinner, I helped with homework while working on the Double-Dollar Wednesday Farm Fresh deals. There were a LOT of excellent deals this week! It was after 8 by the time we got in the car to go get 'em, but I really couldn't pass up the goods. I'll spare you all the details (just this time, 'kay?), but I'll say I spent a grand total of $37.59 on all of the above! I saved a veritable crapload of money! And let me just tell you, those ZonePerfect bars, which I got for 19¢ each, are NASTY. I took one bite of one and, after gagging a little (not really), left the rest for Rob. His opinion was the same, but he ate it anyway! If you want the breakdown on what I got, I'll tell you, but it won't do you any good since (a) you probably don't live where there's a Farm Fresh and (b) it's no longer Wednesday, anyway!
{If you DO live here in Hampton Roads and want to get the Double-Dollar Wednesday deals each week, be sure and subscribe to The Coupon Consultant in your blog reader! That's pretty much all she's good for, but it's worth it not to have to work it all out myself.}
After Farm Fresh, we actually tried to go to two other FF stores, because although I managed to get the four packs of yogurt above for free (two Dan-o-nino and two Activia), I could have also gotten four more (two DanActive and two Danimals Crush Cups - Jack's FAVORITE) for free. Every store in the area was sold out! So 2100 is definitely not the time to go out and shop the deals. First thing is the best thing. Oh, well - win some, lose some.
{I'm finding it seriously hard to type this up and listen/sing to the Peas at the same time, so if it's all crazy, forgive me!}
We went back home, and the kids helped me carry in the food. They always get so excited to see what I bought, even when they were there with me! It's so funny. I kind of feel the same way, though. Before my surgery, I'd get so excited about all the fun new food, I'd eat way too much of it that first night. They were all hungry again, so I let them each have a yogurt before getting ready for bed.
I was cleaning up the kitchen when Rob came home not long after that. He got off early tonight; I think he was home before 10, whereas he normally strolls in sometime between 0100 and 0400. That was nice, even though I was sorta cranky with him! I don't care how mad I am at him, I still love it when he comes home and is near me. And he knows it, the punk.
Okay, back to my deals for tomorrow. And my tunes.
Fin.
PS I spoke to the person in charge of new leaders over at the Girl Scout council today. I'm getting the ball rolling already on being Sophie's Daisy leader. I'm so excited to begin my training!
PPS When Rob got home, I set him to work fixing the Hoover FloorMate I got from Freecycle, because the dog has pretty much painted the ENTIRE downstairs flooring with her muddy footprints, and I do not relish the idea of cleaning the entire thing on my hands and knees. Welp, it's beyond repair. Man, I was really excited about the idea of a simple clean every single night, too. Maybe I'll get one off Amazon, since I just cashed in my Swagbucks for my fourth $5 Amazon gift certificate! Between SB and Deal Seeking Mom's Coupon Database, I have $45 in free money already, since mid-January or so. Woot!
Ugh, so much to do, so little time. There just aren't enough hours in the day, especially right now!
Bullets for Tuesday:
Slept 'til noon after Rob got up with the kids and came back to bed to cuddle
Did 3 mystery shops over the phone
Did a billion things at my desk, paperwork stuff. (Have a billion things to do right now instead of this-here blog, but I hate updating four days at a time!)
Showered & started on the laundry
Got the kids from the bus, begrudgingly let Jack go play at new neighbor kid's house while the girls and I worked on more laundry
Really begrudgingly let Jack STAY at new neighbor kids' house - after checking out his dad and making sure there are no guns in the house - while Sophie and I took Chloë to ballet
Dropped Chloë off and all the way home (half-hour round-trip) after realizing I forgot my purse, wallet, phone, shop folder, everything
Stopped at party store to do a mystery shop, added to the stockpile of "40" birthday decorations for Rob's big bash in 2.5 years (ya coming?!?)
Nearly ran out of gas & stopped for that, too
Got back to dance class 5 min late, found a worried Chloë waiting, and paid for Feb dance lessons
Ran back home to collect Jack from his friends house, which put him in a pissy mood because he wanted to stay and play... forever??
Took the kids to BK for free dinner because I never bothered to plan or make anything else
Berated Jack for cutting holes in his pants with scissors at school and grounded him - my first time being the grounder and not the groundee! - from going to new neighbor kid's house for the rest of the week
Home to continue working on laundry with Soapy's help while Jack and Chloë did homework next to me
Sent kids for bath, worked on laundry, and welcomed Christine and David (Chrisvid? Davitine?) over to hang out for a few
Sent kids to bed, had lots of laughs with Davitine (I like that one better) while we finished folding and matching up the kids' clothes
Said good-bye to Davitine, welcomed Rob home from work, fell asleep early instead of doing all the crap I had to do
Today, Wednesday:
Realized last-minute that I had a consult with the plastic surgeon this morning at 0900
Forgot about Wordless Wednesday. Oh-freaking-well
Let Rob get kids ready while I showered and got ready for appointment
Took Rob with me to hospital, to kill 2 birds with one stone
Met with plastic surgeon. THRILLED to learn I could get a panniculectomy (basically, in his words, an "amputation" of what I call my "fat skirt" aka "hangy belly" aka "saggy baby belly" aka you get the point) at NO COST to us!! Woohoo!! Listened as surgeon tried to explain I would rather have the cosmetic procedure abdominoplasty to make things look nice above-and-below the belly button, with minimal scarring, rather than the medically-necessary pannis removal, at who-knows-what-cost?-not-him! Burst into tears as explained we had spent all our money on my gastric bypass and had nothing left for this. Agreed to at least go down to Billing to find out cost. Left, still happy about free panni, certain that the abdominoplasty would be $$$$$
Went with Rob to immunizations clinic, so he could get updated before trip to Haiti. Still not sure about his detachment's fate, especially now after the 2nd earthquake
Ran down to Billing to find that the abdom. would only be $1660! What?! $1660!!! Shocked, ran back to tell Rob and shock him too. Quickly changed our minds to save for that one instead. Will there be a bikini in my future after all? Maybe... how much for the butt, back, boobs, thighs and arms, doc?? (I kid, I kid.)
Finally left hospital for home, only decide to head out for lunch together instead. We never do this. Decided on sushi around the corner. Forgot coupon for restaurant. Sent Rob home for it after ordering. He couldn't find it & gave up. (I found it later, after looking for approximately ½-second). Enjoyed lunch date with husband. Threw up after 3-4 pieces of sushi. Oh, well. Leftovers!
Home again, did report for party store mystery shop yesterday. Oops, forgot about it!
Had Rob take 160-lb-loss pictures to post on Facebook for my sister, since I'd posted I looked "hot" today. Hee!
Did lots more paperwork and stuff while Rob took nap. Glad to have him home for the day, even if he was sleeping instead of doing more pressing things... like his wife ;)
Sent Rob to pick kids up from bus and take girls to dance lessons while Jack watched a movie and did homework with me
Worked on today's double-dollar deals at Farm Fresh while Rob cooked dinner for the kids, also while helping Chloë with her homework. Gave her extra math work after she finished. Excited I actually taught her something new in math and she GOT it after just a few problems! (multiplying large numbers with lots of 00s easily, ex. 800 x 400)
Made my own quick dinner and ran to Farm Fresh, leaving Rob to get kids ready for bed
Bought about $95 worth of groceries for less than $40, which isn't stellar but notable, anyway
Scanned groceries for Homescan, helped Rob put stuff away, sent kids to bed, and started blogging...
So here's how I looked at 150-lbs down:
And here's how I look at 160-lbs down:
Any different?? I can't tell.
Back tomorrow!
Fin.
P.S. Rob ran to work tonight after all, to get a thing he needs to be able to take his annual Chief's test tomorrow. Please pray, if you do, or wish him luck, if you don't, that he makes Chief this time!!! He SO deserves it!!!! Thanks.
Rob didn't have to work on Friday, because they had a Change of Command the day before. He got the kids up for school while I slept, and then he joined me back in the bed for more snuggles. It was nice.
My friend Christine, from Bunco, came over around noon to hang out and go do my lunch shops with me. She came upstairs to our room to chat with Rob and me while I got dressed, which is weird since we don't normally allow anyone upstairs. It's worse than downstairs! Here it is, the 18th of January, and I still haven't really gotten started on that whole "keep the house clean" resolution. Oh, well. I showed her my surgery scars and stuff, and we talked all about that. I'm so glad I had the surgery, even if I have all kinds of saggy skin and weird scars and marks all over!
Finally, after an hour, we went out and did the two fast-food lunch shops. After eating the second one, we stopped at the mall on the Boulevard. I had another coupon for another free-with-purchase item at Bath & Body Works, and since their super-huge clearance sale was almost over, I wanted to use it before that ended to get a really great deal. Which I did - and since I had two coupons, Chris did, too!
We stopped at Zales to get my rings cleaned and examined. I was supposed to do it in December, but once again, I can't find my paperwork. They had it faxed over from Panama City, FL, where Rob bought my engagement ring, but never once in the nine years since has someone updated the records to show that I've had it examined every six months! Kind of annoying. They still did it though, and they gave me something to add to my records whenever I do find it. Hope it turns up!
We stopped at the pet store to admire all the poochies on the way back out of the mall. We fell in love with with this little guy and played with him in a small room for at least an hour!! We just couldn't give him back; he was such a love. The saleslady thought we were going to buy him and gave us his paperwork; she kept coming back in to try and talk us into it. When we told her we had named him "Poopoo Fluffy Face," she just rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever! I hear it all!" Hee.
Isn't he so cute?! What a silly doggy. Chris and her husband went back to visit him today, but someone had bought him! Aw.
Christine came over and spent the rest of the day wth us. We watched movies with the kids and played Wii Fit for HOURS. We ordered a pizza for dinner, and then she left to go feed her animals while we put the kids to bed. Then she came back to hang out some more! After her husband, David, got off work, he came over to hang out, too. We had never met him before, but he was cool. The four of us laughed and laughed, having a great time, until past the wee hours of the morning. We all played on the Wii Fit again for hours. I fell asleep sometime before they left; Rob says they left at 0500!
Saturday
On Saturday, we slept in as late as we could after Chris and David left, and then the boys got up to go to Golden Corral for Jack's Cub Scout Popcorn Party. They almost didn't go, because Rob didn't want the expense of his meal (Jack's was paid for by the pack), but I insisted because of all the hard work Jack did at the popcorn booth sales.
I heard Jack was being pretty silly at the party! He has good friends there and really enjoys hanging out with them.
For his efforts, Jack earned two patches, including a special Council patch, a real Louisville Slugger baseball bat, and a $15 certificate to the Boy Scout store. He was thrilled and absolutely loves his bat!
On their way home from the party, Rob got a phone call from work, saying he was going to be sent to Haiti on Tuesday for 1-3 months to help with relief efforts after the earthquake there. We discussed it with the children when he came home. They all cried and asked a billion questions, especially the littler two. I actually wasn't too upset. A few years ago, I would have freaked out at the idea of him leaving, but I'm in a much better - saner - place now. I could totally handle it. I'd miss him like crazy, though!
I had coupons for supposedly good deals at Boston Market, so we went there for dinner. It turned out to be a completely horrible deal, and I wished we hadn't gone there at all. But we had plenty of food, and the kids ate well, so it wasn't a total loss. I cringe when I think about how much we spent on that dinner that was supposed to be "so cheap," though!
Stephanie babysat that night for the kids, I think for the first time since shortly after she became pregnant with Luke. They were so excited to have her back! They had already had their dinner, so we told her they could have sherbet for dessert, plus popcorn if they watched a movie, so they wouldn't try to scam her for anything else that they're not supposed to have. They like to do that, like all kids. While we were out, we first stopped at the P.O. to mail a huge ton of stamps to my grandfather, and then we headed out to do a bar shop on the oceanfront.
When we got out there, though, we found out that the restaurant was closing in half an hour! Gah. So we aborted that mission and headed back all the way on the other side of town - not a short drive in this huge city of ours - to do a fast-food shop. At least Rob got some good munchies; he's always hungry! Then we were going to do the bowling shop I had to do sometime this weekend. It was 9:15 by then, and I was supposed to have it done by 11 PM, so when we called and found it was an hour and 45 min wait for a lane, well, we had to just give up and go home. Kinda sucks that I had to pay for a babysitter just to go to the post office and a fast food restaurant, which the kids could have come along for anyway! Oh, well. At least I got some quality alone time with my husband.
When we got back, Rob put the kids to bed and fell asleep upstairs himself, so Steph and I hung out with Luke for a while. He is such a happy baby. Besides some pictures, I got an adorable video of him cooing and laughing at his mama. I'd post it, but it's sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate it on this computer!
Sunday
Rob had to go in to work all day, for about 10 hours, to pack up his shop for the detachment to Haiti on Tuesday. It was then that he found out that he is on now on a second detachment, which is on standby. Basically, it means he's not going to Haiti until further notice. I'm glad he'll be home, but I was really kind of looking forward to saving all that money on food and gas while he's not driving his tank to work every day. Is that awful of me?
The kids and I stopped at Walgreens to start doing my deal-shopping for the day. We did the first 2-3 transactions there and then shopped for over an hour getting the stuff for that last big transaction. Only, there was a question on one of my coupons (the backbone of deal-shopping, fo course), and the manager came over and started going through everything with a fine-toothed comb. She refused to take some of my coupons, which are perfectly good and useable ones, and nothing I could say would make her see that she was wrong. I had a fit. I was pissed! Walgreens is such a huge pain in the ass to shop at anyway, so I said, "I'm done with this store!" before grabbing all my coupons back and dumping out my canvas bags full of stuff back on the counter. We huffed out. Ugh, I was mad. So mad, I forgot I still had to pick up Jack and Sophie's developed pictures from our trips to Great Wolf Lodge. Guess I'll be sending Rob in to do that!
I called Christine to see if she and David wanted to meet us at the bowling alley to do that mystery shop I hadn't done the day before. They agreed, so we went. I had ranted and raved about Walgreens on the phone to her already, so I was over it by the time we arrived. Unfortunately, the shop really didn't go well at ALL, and we left, again, in a huff. I can't give details on that, though.
After bowling, we said goodbye to Christine and David (Chrisvid? I think I'm gonna need a nickname for them now, too!) and then headed out to get some more deals. We stopped at the Rite-Aid near the bowling alley and then another Walgreens that was close by. The employee I dealt with there was super nice, the nicest I've ever encountered at a Wags, and I told him so. From now on, I'm going to that store!
Then we headed way up the road to do my CVS deals. They're always nice; I never have problems with customer service at CVS. Shoulda started shopping there a long time ago! Plus they reward you for using "green" bags, which I always appreciate.
There's another Walgreens between CVS and home, so I stopped there to get the last few deals I couldn't get at the other two stores, before we headed home. The kids were so worn out from all the shopping by that point, but they were doing great. Especially after I split up one of those huge Hershey's with Almonds bars and let them have it. Chocolate makes up for everything, doesn't it??
Christine and David were going to come hang out with me and the kids again, but just when they were on there way, Rob called to say he was on his way home. So they came over to babysit while we went out to do a mystery shop at a new-to-us restaurant, a popular upscale Chinese place we'd been wanting to try for a long time.
We'd heard a lot of great things about this place, so it was a huge let-down for us when the service we received was horrible at best, and while some of the food was pretty good, none of it was anything to write home about, and some of it was even bad. A major disappointment. So much so that Rob said not only would he not go there on his own, he didn't even want me to take another mystery shop there! I poo-pooed that idea, because it wasn't that horrible, and if it's going to be paid for by someone else, I'll gladly go. But with my own money? No way!
The kids had just had baths when we got home, and then I found out later today that they had completely trashed their bathroom, so I'm so embarrassed Chris saw it in that state! Sorry, Chris! It's since been cleaned up, I swear... although I can't promise it'll stay that way for long.
Christine and David hung out with us for another, oh, five-six hours, again until about 1-2 AM, with lots of laughter. They're really a fun couple.
At some point during their visit, Jack had come down, clutching his chest and saying it hurt. We thought it was reflux, because he'd scammed Christine out of a second cup of pudding from the batch I'd made before we left. We gave him some Tums, held him for a while and then sent him to bed.
So when we went off to bed hours later and heard him crying about the same thing, we were quite alarmed. Rob rushed him to the ER while I waited at home. I was anxious... but then I fell asleep, so I missed his multiple updating texts. In the end, everything was fine. Basically, the doctor said it was growing pains in his ribcage area. Poor kid! He's fine today, though he slept in really late.
Monday
Rob was supposed to go to work early, but he'd called in and said he was going to be late, since he'd been out at the ER with Jack. Later, they called back and said he didn't have to come in at all, so that was nice. A bonus free day for him!
We were all so exhausted from the running around and staying up late of the last few days, that we pretty much napped our way through MLK Day. I had a lot I wanted to do, but I was just sooo tired. The kids watched multiple movies snuggled up to us on the couches. It was a nice, lazy day.
Honestly, I did plenty of stuff on this day, I just can't remember what now! But I did get this in the mail:
Ten skeins of Peruvian 100% wool, for $50 for CARE Package! That's a really good deal; I got it from Discontinued Name Brand Yarn. I've purchased from them several times before and have always been happy. They offer steep discounts on great yarns. I like this green, but it's not extremely soft. It's not too scratchy, I think, but now that it's not so soft I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it. Perhaps a felting project that I design myself? Eek, nervous about that. We'll see!
Wednesday
As usual, I spent my first hour after the kids got on the bus screwing around online, doing my Facebook games. That is a given, and I don't apologize for it. I'm not a morning person and it helps wake me up. Plus it's hard for me to move and do things when I'm so cold. But after that I got busy!
I spend a lot of time now looking at couponing and deal blogs. Money is so very, very tight right now that I'm pretty obsessed with saving money and getting the best deals. On Wednesdays, the grocery ads come out for Farm Fresh and Harris Teeter (my favorites, although I need to branch out more because those are also the two most expensive stores); Farm Fresh doubles coupons up to $1.00 on Wednesdays. Both double up to 99cents every other day, so I look at those blogs to see what I can get for free after sales and coupons. I'm going to start stockpiling, too. I just have to figure out how to get massive amounts of the coupons I need to do so, without spending too much to make it a worthwhile cause. I'm already stockpiling the toiletries from CVS and Walgreens, and now I'm going to start doing it with food, too.
Rob says to me after I tell him this, "What are you, Mormon?"
Well, no, but it would be much better to get a ton of stuff for the pantry for FREE and then shop from the pantry, planning our meals around what we have on hand, then having to run out and buy stuff at full-price! Right?! So that's the plan.
(Also the current plan, because of super-tight finances, is to scrap spending the summer in L.A. and use the money I will hopefully earn from subbing to, you know, live off and stuff. It sucks, and Chloe was bawling when I told her, but we gotta do what we gotta do to stay afloat.)
So anyway. The deals I got Friday were thus:
This 8x10" photo collage from Walgreens was completely free! I paid nothing out of pocket for it! And it turned out really nice, too. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I like it.
(Sorry for the crappidity of this picture. I hate my camera!!)
All of this, which is 1 bottle of Gatorade G2, 2 single-serve bowls of Kashi cereal, 8 bottles of DanActive, 8 Activia yogurts, and a Tony's cheese pizza, were free after deals at Target (the Kashi) and Farm Fresh (everything else)! Only the Kashi and some of the Activia still remain in existence; everything else was quickly consumed. My kids are BIG fans of yogurt shakes and smoothies, so when I can get these free, I act quickly. Might have to take subbing off on Wednesdays so I can be sure to have time to get the freebies! ;) I kid... sort of.
My total out of pocket for the above was five whole cents for tax, at Target. Would've been 13 cents at FF, but I had a $5 gift card that I'd JUST gotten in the produce department for signing up for a second Sunday newspaper delivery. I'm getting it for the coupons for $1.47 extra a week, and I KNOW I will recover that in savings each week, so it's worth it. Too bad I can't just get the extra coupons and not waste the whole rest of the paper, but I'll definitely Freecycle that.
And I got a free lunch, too! I can't eat very much, so just a few bites satisfies me. I got a cracker with smoked salmon spread from the seafood department, a slice of bread and a bite of donut (not the best, but one little bite won't kill me) from the bakery, and a hunk of cheese for my bread from the deli department. All free samples, and it filled me up. Hey, I have no shame.
I made myself laugh going out and doing that shopping, too. I don't have pictures of it on this computer, but I knitted Jack a hat with cars on it a few years ago. He wears it now, and it's still big on him. It turned out HUGE, because I didn't really pay attention to gauge back then. Anyway, I hadn't showered yet but really wanted to go out and get my deals before they were sold out. My hair was a mess, so I went out wearing Jack's car hat! It's blue and yellow and orange and green... and oh, so not grown-up. Every time someone would glance at my hat and then look away, I'd chuckle to myself.
When I got back home, I realized I still hadn't made anything for Bunco that night. I was supposed to bring a dessert, but I had no mixes of any kind in the pantry, and absolutely no money to buy something. So from-scratch it had to be!
I couldn't find any recipes I liked on AllRecipes.com, so I used the one for vanilla cupcakes in the back of my beloved Hello, Cupcake! cookbook. I got it from the kids' school Book Fair last year, but I've seen it around everywhere. The recipe was supposed to make 24 cuppies, but since I way overfilled the cups, mine only made 16. That was enough for the 12 for Bunco and one each for the family, so it worked out fine.
They turned out beautifully! It has been harder for me lately to resist sweets, but fortunately I'm not a big cake lover, so I had no temptation to try these. Still, they looked pretty good!
I just dipped them in that chocolate Betty Crocker frosting I got from Walgreens the other day and then used the pearls from Williams-Sonoma to decorate them like the colorful petit-fours I made one other time. The kids remembered those, too, and kept saying so.
Dontcha want a bite?
While they were baking, I was talking to my dad on the phone as he drove from his home down to Florida to pick up his fiance girlfriend. Their wedding, which was to be his fifth, is off, but they rented out her condo, so they're still moving in together! Eek. I'm worried for him. It is kinda funny, though...
Also, while I was on the phone with Dad, my doorbell rang. It was a fellow Freecycler dropping off yet another awesome package of stamps for my grandfather! Grandpa has been collecting stamps for over 60 years now, and he's got dozens and dozens of albums full of them. He loves all kinds - used and new, foreign and domestic, whatever I send him - so I always ask on Freecycle for people to save the stamps from their holiday mail. Several people responded and sent me stamps for him, which was great, but then I hit the jackpot with Ken! Ken brought a huge pack last week and another one Wednesday, filled with thousands of stamps (old AND foreign) I'm sure Grandpa doesn't have. I'm so excited; he's going to be thrilled!
I also got another freebie in the mail Wednesday: My e.l.f. cosmetics! Remember I'd bought that e.l.f. mascara on Target so I could get a free $5 off $5 code for their website? I just bought five random things that I really didn't look at, on a whim, just to see what I ended up with. It came yesterday; I haven't tried anything yet, but it looks fun! And if I don't end up using it, it would make a great gift (or Bunco prize?)
(By the way, if you want me to stop posting my deals and steals, I'm not gonna, because they excite me so. But let me know if you hate them and maybe I'll do it some other way. If you love them, let me know if you want to know how I save money, and maybe I'll get it together to write a post on that. I'm still learning how to do it big-time, though!)
After dance class that night, I had Bunco. I had to remind Rob to come home so I could go, because he completely forgot and was going to work several more hours. Poor Rob is having a tough time these past couple of weeks. He's got a new chief whose mission it is, apparently, to make his life a living hell. He's coming home more disenchanted with the Navy than ever, wishing I would win the lottery and get him out. (Too bad we don't play.) It sucks, and I feel bad for him, but there's nothing I can do.
Also, speaking of Rob, he's going back to nights starting next week. Bah. I hate that. HATE IT. But it might solve the problem of how I'm going to get the kids on and off the bus once i start subbing, now that our nice Japanese neighbor-lady has moved to Texas!
And further Rob news: He may be going to Haiti with 48 hrs notice, for up to three months. I am not worried about it and am not complaining, but I will miss him terribly if he goes. If they need him there, though, so bet it. I'll let you know when I do.
Back to... Bunco. I quickly decorated the cupcakes and got my stuff together to leave, as soon as he arrived home. Fortunately, T was hosting it at her house just down the road from mine, so I wasn't late. I drove so carefully so my poor cupcakes wouldn't roll around in the cake case! Bonus: because her wee baby girl goes to bed at 7:30 every night now, she's going to host it every month now so the baby can go to bed on time. Yay for me; I hate hosting at my house!
Bunco was a lot of fun. We had a new face there, and she turned out to be really nice. And Steph was there, which took me by surprise; I had no idea she was coming since she quit back in April and didn't tell me she was subbing this month! That was a thrill, and of course I got to love on Baby Luke some, too. The cupcakes mostly got eaten, except for three for the kids to take to lunch today, so that worked out fine. And I was really hyper and silly and in a great mood. I kept cracking myself up, and I think maybe I made a few other people laugh, too. ;) Hopefully I wasn't too annoying. I didn't have caffeine, so I don't know what was up with that...
When I got home, we watched our Netflix movie: Bruno, with Sacha Baron Cohen. Oh. My. God. Do not see this movie if you have weak sensibilities! Rob thought it was stupid as hell, but I laughed my ass off! He is SO wrong. I mean, don't get me wrong, I thought it was stupid too, but there were many hilarious parts that just had me laughing because I couldn't believe he actually did that! On film! For the whole world to see! What a riot. Have you seen it?
Friday
I've been sleeping upstairs in the bed still, with my heating pad on and snuggled up to Rob. Keeps me nice and toasty, but man, I miss my couch. My eyes are always in bad shape from the way I sleep in the bed. All puffy and crusty and gross. Nice, right? Plus I can't stay asleep; I toss and turn and adjust all night. It's not the best sleep. When it warms up, I'm back to my couch, thank you very much.
At ten, I picked up Jack from school, so we could go to our respective doctor's appointments. I had my one-year (!!) post-surgery check-up first, in Newport News, and then his appointment was two hours later in Portsmouth. He was happy to be out with Mama and NOT at school - so long as he didn't have to get any shots. He didn't.
I had been praying all morning about being blessed with abundance, because those places are NOT close together, and would require a lot of gas. I only had an eighth of a tank left, and like I said, not one penny in the bank account. I was hoping for a loaves-and-fishes type miracle. Well, that didn't happen, and my gas went down almost to 'E' by the time we arrived in Newport News. Then I remembered there was still a little money in the CARE Package account. Now, normally I am very carefully about not touching CP money except for CP needs, with no intermingling, even though I use OUR money for CP needs all the time. But I had no choice; I had my son in the car and couldn't afford to just run out of gas in Newport News, so far from home. So, I put $20 worth of gas in the van - which I will pay back tonight since it's payday now, phew - and considered that the blessing I was asking for!
We arrived at 10:30, a half-hour early for my 1100 appointment. So when I was sitting in the waiting area at 11:45 with a very antsy six-year-old boy, I was pretty annoyed. Especially after the receptionist called me up to tell me that my referral had expired on the sixth, and I could either reschedule or try to get a new one, backdated for today's appointment. Or pay out of pocket. Um, no. So now I need to get a backdated referral, which they refused to do last time, because no one in that whole stinking office can figure out how to set up a system for contacting patients to let them know their referral is running out?!?! What the hell? Every other place I go handles that themselves. Or at least lets me know - well in advance - that it's time to get a new one. I made that appointment THREE months ago, which is plenty of time for them to have noticed that I would need to get new insurance paperwork. Shame on them.
I found a suggestion box in the bathroom - which I always use before weighing in, hehe - but nothing to write with. I should have just said something at the desk about it. Very annoying!
Anyway. My appointment went really well. Doc was extremely pleased with my more-than-150-lb loss in the last year (it's actually not my anniversary for 12 more days, so I'll post more pictures then) and congratulated me thoroughly. They only guarantee - and not even really that - a 75-lb loss, so I've done well with his help!
My protein is still on the low side of normal, so as usual I was admonished about that. I've been eating a ton of eggs since my labs were drawn, though, so I'm betting it has come up since then. My iron is still quite low, even though I've been taking the ferrous sulfate, so he prescribed chelated iron, which will be more readily absorbed. And that should help me stay warmer, too. My vitamin D came up nicely, though, at least!
He answered all my questions (and a couple of Jack's), and when I was getting up to leave, I was overcome with gratitude and instead of shaking his hand, I grabbed him for a big hug! He was a bit taken aback by that and kept saying, "Oh! Okay!" and laughing. I thanked him for myself and for Rob, and told him how happy I am now. And I am. It's been great, this past year. I love my RNY (roux-en-y gastric bypass surgery)!
It was late by the time we got out of there, probably about 1225, and Jack's appointment was at 1300, more than half an hour away! I still had to get the gas, so I stopped and did that, and then I stopped next door at the Burger King to get him the free lunch I'd already promised him all the way up there. He was so excited - not by the food, but by the watch in his Kids Meal! He kept telling me the time, which was actually the date and never changed. Funny!
Then I drove like a bat out of hell to make it to the hospital on time. It's pretty sad when I'll drive more carefully with cupcakes in the car than with my kids, so I'm resolving now to do the opposite. I'll just have to consider them my little cupcakes, instead of my little ducklings. We got there late, not getting to the peds office until 1313; they consider you late if you're not there 15 minutes early, so I was worried they wouldn't see us. But they did, so yay!
He needs a new referral to the endocrinologist who prescribes his growth hormone shots, and also he needed his physical form filled out for the school testing he's getting for special services. We spent until 1400 with young Dr. A., a little cutie who I really like (not in THAT way, just as a doctor). He's very patient and attentive, and he really cares about the kids. I kind of sprung the physical form on them without notice, but he was more than willing to get that done for me, so I appreciated that.
Jack will be seven in just over two months. Hard to believe... He weighs 32.4 lbs and is 39.5 inches tall. I said to Dr. A., "Well, he's stil the size of your average two-year-old, huh?" He said, "Yes... but think of it this way, he's the size of a small three-year-old, and a really small four-year-old - isn't that better?"
Um, sure.
He failed his vision test again, so I need to take him back to the eye doctor to see if his prescription needs to be adjusted. It's been less than a year since he got his glasses, so I was kind of surprised to see how bad he did! Maybe he just wasn't concentrating enough on the chart?
Otherwise, everything went well, and he's healthy and happy. He was bouncing around, having fun, and cuddling with me at times. A couple of years ago, I didn't even think he liked me at all. I was very sad about that. Things have done a 180, and now we're quite close. It's fantastic!
I was worried about being late for the bus to get the girls, and my phone was dead, so I couldn't call anyone to go get them. So, again, I drove too fast. Just around the corner from our house, a policeman pulled me over for doing 40 in a 25. Eh, oops. I looked right at him as I was passing his unmarked car, and knew he was going to pull me over. Sure enough. I was cringing at the thought of yet another bill to pay the whole time, so I was beyond grateful when he told me that because I have "plus points," he was going to let me off with just a warning. And warn me to slow down, he did. Twice. He also saw Jack in the back seat and examined his carseat to make sure he was buckled properly. Hopefully he didn't notice what a mess the van is right now, but at least the boy was safely harnessed.
When we got home, I was surprised to find Rob in the driveway! He usually doesn't get home until at least 1800, but it was before 1500. Jack was excited to see Daddy, too. He bounded out of the van and ran into the house; I followed, sure that either Rob was sick or there was trouble at work. It was neither (although there WAS trouble at work); he just got off early today! What a nice surprise.
We all walked down, with Lily on her leash, to get the girls from the bus. Jack wanted to drive his Caddy down there, but it doesn't move fast enough. He was so bummed. When all the kids came off the bus, they surrounded the dog and gave her loads of attention. She's so shy, though, I'm not sure she enjoyed that!
Rob and the kids played outside, working on Jack's Pinewood Derby car and driving the trucks around, while I took a nap. I'd planned on an hour-long snooze, but it turned into three hours! Which meant we missed the Parent Reading Night at school. I'm so bummed about that, because the Math Night was so fun and informative. Darn it. I really, really wanted to go.
And now I have to pay the bills before I get back to sleep. Happy Friday, everyone!
Not to worry. I'm not going all Nostradamus on you or anything. That song just popped into my head while I was trying to think of a blog title for this end-of-soccer post. So I went with it.
By the by, I'm way behind on answering your comments, and some may not get answered at all, because my entire Yahoo email inbox disappeared on me the other day! Like, vamoose! I don't know what the hell happened to it, but it doesn't appear to be coming back. Color me perplexed.
And on another thought, I seriously doubt I'll make my goal of being at 175 by my one-year mark, because I'm almost at the 10-month point and not only have I not really lost any weight this past month, but I gained two pounds since my last weigh-in. What the hell? ("What the hell" is my phrase of the week, apparently.) I'm hoping it's just because I need to take a giant you-know-what (hee), but in any case, I am kicking up the protein intake. I'm trying not to eat ANYthing but protein-rich foods until my next weigh-in, so hopefully that'll make the scale budge in the other direction. I'm not getting stuck at 199, damn it!
Anyway. Saturday. Getting ready for soccer was a bit crazy, partly because I'd meant to get up a half-hour earlier than I did, partly because I still had to package up the soccer snacks and take a shower, partly because the kids were slow-moving, and partly because Rob had to leave for work at the same time. We both got pissy at each other, so that wasn't fun.
As for the snacks, I put a Juicy Juice box, a banana, and three wrapped "homemade" cookies in each white paper bag, which I had left over from some other project. Then I made tags that matched the color of the girls' game shirts, punched a star with a Creative Memories punch in each one, wrote their names in glitter pen, and added flower and brad embellishments. I hot-glued those onto the bags, packed them all in a big canvas bag, and called it good. I'd meant to do more, more treats, more fancy, but I just didn't end up having the time.
We got to the field first after Coach, and he was worried that no one was going to show up. But eventually, all 10 girls arrived, and the game was started. Oddly enough, the other team only had four girls, so four of our girls played them, and then the other six donned those green shirts to play against their own teammates on the back field. That's my Sophie in the green overshirt, pink socks and piggy tails.
Sophie was on the back field, not with Coach, but with another daddy (also a cutie!) who volunteered to help the back field girls. There's always a parent volunteer, because there are always two simultaneous games. Did I ever step up? Hell no. I don't know a thing about soccer! But Rob did, once.
Here's a video of Sophie in her game. That's how she is. She plays some, but mostly stands around and does nothing. It's actually kind of the way she helps clean the house, too!
Aaaand, then she decided to sit it out. She PROMISED she would play, so I was disappointed that she didn't. I guess the bottom of her shoe was more interesting than kicking the ball around.
Oh, but what's this? Back on the field? She snuck over to Coach's side and followed him around, trying to get on his team. Defector!
But no, Coach refused her, and told her to go back to her team. Instead, she went and sat down on the blanket between fields with K, who was hurt and cold. (We froze our arses off at soccer. Brrr!!!)
I guess she got bored of that, too, because soon she was back on her field and running around again! Yay for rallying!
I guess I forgot to take any more pictures, but in the second half, she DID manage to worm her way onto Coach's team, and as usual, she insisted on holding his hand while she ran around after the ball. He told me he was flattered that she liked him so much and wanted to be with him, and I apologized for her difficult behavior this season. He was nonplussed and just hoped that she enjoyed going back to her dance class. I know she will. She truly enjoys it, and she's actually good at it, too!
We made the parent tunnel for the girls to run through, and then I handed out their snacks. I was the only one who ever packaged them up like that, and put their names on it, so the girls were a bit confused at first. The parents complimented me on the idea, though, and several girls thanked me, saying they liked their pretty name tags. And the cookies were a huge hit! So although I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to with them, I'm happy they were so well received.
After that, we had about 15 minutes to kill before Chloë's warm-ups. Jack and Curls were both in tears from being so cold, so I hustled everyone back to the van to kick on the heat. Everyone was hungry, too, so I drove around looking for somewhere cheap to eat. I found a shopping center with lots of cool stores in it, and I felt a twinge of, I don't know, disappointment and frustration, I guess, that I didn't have any money to shop for the kids. But we found a Firehouse Subs shop, and I ran in to get a sandwich. By that time, it was time to get Chloë back to her field, so we hurried back to the Sportsplex.
Chloë warming up with the team - she always has her hands in her ponytail during soccer!
Chloë in the air, making a goal kick
Coach C, the assistant coach, telling Chloë where to send the ball for her second goal kick
She actually made a pretty fantastic kick, and I was really impressed with her playing yesterday. She managed to get the ball a few times and took it down the field; normally she is very shy and intimidated by the other girls, so she doesn't really try to get in there and take the ball away from the other team. I was cheering like mad!
Meanwhile, Sophie made a buddy, the 4yo sister of another player on Chloë's team. They were so cute and giggly together. A's mom and I laughed at them frequently. They had a good time rummaging through my purse and finding fun things to use, like wipes, hand sanitizer and lotion. I wasn't loving that so much!
Come on, Curls, get in there and get that ball!
Finally, the game was called, and that was the end of our soccer career, I think. We made the parent tunnel for the players again, and Chloë and her teammates got their snacks. We said lots of good-byes to the girls and coaches. Coach told me to try and get her to come back in the Spring, instead of going back to ballet, but I think her mind is made up. If she really wanted to go back, she probably would have cried a little that it was over - but there were no tears. Only relief and joy.
When we got home, I noticed Sophie's crepe myrtle had turned colors. Pretty stuff, huh.
And on the porch, there was a package from my Canadian blogger friend, Darci, for CARE Package, Inc. She knitted a cotton ripple blanket for the charity. So pretty, so soft. I love it, Darci, thank you!!!
Darci also sent some Partylite candles, which I think I won in a contest she had on her blog a long time ago. Apple scented, my favorite! I'd never smelled PL candles before, I don't think, but they're fantastic!
I quickly lit some and put them in the downstairs hallway, where I could smell them the entire time they were burning. Mmmm, yummy.
We didn't do a lot in the evening, other than run out and pick up some more Fall Product, and then a Freecycle pick-up. I could NOT find the woman's apartment in the dark, so I was kind of grumpy about that. But it was worth it, because I got all kinds of crafty books and magazines, which I can't wait to paw through and be inspired by. (Plus there were three hot football players in the next building over, and they were checking me out after I asked them where to find her building. I heard something about "that white girl" as I was walking away... If I weren't married, I'd have gone back!)
When Rob came home, after I fed the kids dinner, I revisited the pie crusts. They'd chilled long enough, I should think. They rolled out really well, and I only tore one a little bit when I was unrolling it into the pie pan. Which is too big, it's a 10" deep dish, so I didn't quite have enough filling for this big guy!
For Rob, happiness is a pumpkin pie, all for him.
Today was really quiet and pretty lazy for us. Well, four of us. Rob had to work, again, all day. :(
I baked the kids a couple dozen muffins for breakfast and lunch. And brunch. And snack. They have eaten all but four, so I guess they were good. I chatted with my sister, and I talked to my dad for nearly an hour and a half. We went out and delivered all of Chloë's Fall Product orders, went and picked up some more that another mom ordered from me today, and received yet another mom who was picking up her order from last week. I made dinner - pasta, garlic bread and veggies - for the kids. I cut out a ton of coupons and read the Sunday paper. And beyond that, I accomplished not much at all. I just had zero motivation today, and I'm not bothered by it!
{The only dark spot was that Rob had to work early morning to late night, and then told me he had to work Saturday & Sunday, too. And of course, the Navy doesn't pay overtime, so we just get to suck it up. In Rob's words, "Welll, at least the pay sucks!"}
I woke up and, after putting the kids on the bus, checked out our bank account balance. Things were pretty grim. I had to cancel a bunch of bills I had scheduled to be paid, and I thought I would have to cancel our reservations for Thanksgiving dinner. And there wasn't going to be money to buy dinner, so we'd have to make due with what we had. Cornish game hens, pretty much. And there wouldn't be much for Christmas, either. I was nearly in tears.
And so, I prayed, earnestly, for some relief in our financial situation and for a better outcome than I was expecting for the two big upcoming holidays.
Then I started balancing the checkbook against the online statement, and I found a whopping $186 bank error in our favor! After I finished doing that, I checked another account and found several more hundred dollars I forgot we had. And then I started getting all kinds of emails from Paypal about mystery shop payments that were coming in, which I had been expecting on the 15th!
Prayers answered. I can pay those bills now, and.... dun duh dah, I also found a coupon for 20% off their best rate at Great Wolf Lodge, in my coupon box! And it expired on the 20th! Hello, was this a sign? I don't believe in signs, per se, but I took it to be one, anyway. So I called my husband, told him the great news that we could now book one night at GWL - which means two full days at the waterpark - for Christmas after all! He was delighted, so I went ahead and booked us Christmas Eve at the lodge. We'll be there all day on the eve and on Christmas, which sound pretty fun and exciting for the little ones according to their website!
I can't tell you how happy I was, after already telling Chloë a few nights ago that there would be no Great Wolf Lodge, and that there wouldn't be much of anything else, either. She cried, and I wanted to. I damn near told her the truth about Santa Claus, but I couldn't bring myself to do it just yet. She didn't even ask, "What about Santa?" when I told her we didn't have the money for presents, so maybe she already knows but doesn't want it confirmed yet?
Anyway. I could hardly wait to go to school and tell her the good news! (And yes, I know that there are better things we could have spent that money on, but I had been hyping up Great Wolf Lodge for months and months, before things got so bad, and their hearts were all set on it. So there.)
The first thing I had to do was attend Sophia's preschool Fall Festival at 1030. I got there a few minutes early, having no idea what was planned. I was sad that Rob couldn't go with me, because it turned out to be so cute!
I was the first one there, so Mrs. P and Mrs S put me to work right away, manning one of their activity tables. There were four or five stations, and the one I picked was making trees on paper, using stickers, tissue and construction paper, and paint pens. It turned out to be the most involved, but all the kids had a good time with it.
After everyone arrived, the kids sang two songs. You may remember, I got in trouble for posting preschool pictures from the last little shindig, so cameras and camera phones are now banned from the preschool. Heh. Here's the first little song Sophia and her classmates sang to us parents:
You'll have to turn your volume all the way up, I think; I do. So cute, right? She sings it all the time now.
Then they sang the Muffin Man, and we all clapped. It was adorable. The kids stepped up one at a time to introduce their songs and each other. I loved it. I totally ate it up.
When Sophie came over to my table, with three buddies, to work on her tree, I told her the news about going to Great Wolf Lodge. She was so happy! I don't think I ever told her and Jack that we weren't going, though. The kids circulated among their stations, making an AB pattern at the next table, designing their own cookies, playing "toss the pumpkin," and then playing Hot Potato with another small pumpkin.
When everyone had made their trees, all the kids and all the parents got in a big circle in the middle of the room, to play a giant round of Hot Potato. Sophie was shy to play, so she sad on my lap and we did it together. When it was all said and done, she and one other little girl were the last two people in the game! Alas, on the last round, the pumpkin was dropped, and the little girl claimed Sophia had it (neither of them did), so she was out! But she still won a little sticker for a prize.
After that, it was time to serve the kiddies their lunches. The teachers did most of the work, but I handed out their silverware and napkins. Sophie was upset that it was almost time for me to go by that time, so she pushed her lunchbox away from herself and pouted, near tears. I consoled her by telling her I would come back to visit her in class on Monday - but I didn't mention that it would be to hold her down during her H1N1 vax! She is going to throw a major fit when she figures that out, oh Miss Hater of Shots.
When the kids were eating, the teachers announced it was time to pick names for door prizes. They picked the first name, and it was me! Everyone clapped, and I went up to get my prize: a bucket of colored plastic teddy bears for sorting, counting, and otherwise using as an edumacational tool. Fun! I watched a few of the other prizes be drawn - mostly reading and math work books - before I kissed my little baby and took my leave. I was late for lunch with Jack!
I'd have taken pictures of that, but the kids watch movies in the cafeteria on Friday, and I only had my iPhone with me, so it was too dark for that. He was dumbfounded to see me there; he just gaped at me! I also told him the good news about GWL, and he was filled with glee. (By the way, do you watch that? I haven't caught it yet, but I hear great things!) He cuddled with me the whole time, refused to eat his sandwich, and begged me not to leave when it was time for Chloë's class to come in. I stayed a little longer, but then it was her turn. Love my little buddy! ♥
I couldn't find Chloë at first, but finally I located my little Curls. She was sitting with her best friend Samantha. I thought Brett from Brownies was her BFF, but apparently they're not so tight anymore. I'd heard about Samantha over the past couple of years, but I didn't know it was such a close friendship. It's mutual; they sit next to each other every day for lunch.
The first thing I did was break the news about GWL to Chloë. As expected, she screamed, she cried, she jumped up and down, she gave me the biggest hugs!! I have pictures of her huge smile on my phone, but again, too dark to really see it here. To put it plainly, she was ecstatic, and I knew she would be. Her joy just made my entire day. That alone would have been enough for me. I am so happy to have been able to make her so happy. Love, love, loved it!
Throughout the remainder of her lunch time, I chatted with her and Samantha about school, books, and stuff. This Samantha turns out to be a lovely little girl, exactly the kind of girl I would hope for a best friend for Chloë. Rarely do I like a kid who is not my own so much, but I really do. She's a positive influence on my kid, very kind, very smart, very generous, very sweet. And, come to find out, she lives in our neighborhood! If we get a chance tomorrow, I may let Chloë call her up and invite her over to play. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers, too.
Then Samantha told me about a certain book series she enjoyed, that were also AR books. I can't think of the name of them right now, something "kid." So I promised to get a couple for Chloë. After I said good-bye, I ran down to the school library to see if the Book Fair was still open and if they had any more of these books. They didn't, sold out. Rats! I'd have gotten two on the spot. I'll have to order them from Amazon or something, I guess. Wish I could think of the name!
And so I left, walking on air, to my car, after having made all three of my kids deliriously happy about Christmas. What a feeling!
Back at home, I was trying to find my digital book from our last Great Wolf Lodge trip, because my Creative Memories scrapbooking consultant wanted to see it. She hasn't gotten into the digital scrapping as much as I have and wanted to see how I'd done with my first book. And she has new products - which I can't buy, but I can window shop - to show me. Plus she just had open-heart surgery, and is sitting home recovering, bored and lonely. I had promised her a visit, with the book. But I could never find it! The kids love that book, so I think they have absconded with it. I emailed her to let her know I'd look for it all weekend and then come next week. I hope I find it...
I didn't want the productivity of the day to stop, despite how tired I was. I'd promised Rob a pumpkin pie if he cleaned up the kitchen, and I wanted to keep my word. Plus I was in a baking mood, seeing all the lovely baking supplies in my pantry.
We didn't have any frozen crusts, so I had to break down and make my own. I have no problem with doing it; I just usually use the frozen as a major time saver. I haven't made one in a long time, so I broke out our trusty Joy of Cooking for a good crust recipe. Mix, mix, mix!
(Note to MIL: The Joy of Cooking calls a rubber scraper a "rubber spatula," and a pancake turner a "metal spatula." Hehe, I felt vindicated when I read that! Rob and I have been arguing over it for nine years...)
I hda to open a new can of Crisco for the pie crust's shortening. I don't care how gross the substance is, I just love seeing a clean new top like that. Peanut butter, margarine, it's all good. Don't you like it, too?
And so I made the crust, patted it into two disks, and put it in the fridge to chill.
I still had 45 min to kill before the bus came, so I decided to bake cookies. Saturday (today) was our day to bring the after-game snacks for Sophia's soccer team, and I wanted to go the homemade cookie route. Of course, I can't really claim that, as I used two Betty Crocker mixes: oatmeal chocolate chip, and chocolate chip walnut - but they don't have to know that, do they? They looked good, besides.
The kids came off the bus, and I let them eat their fill of chocolate chip cookies for an after-school snack. That only meant one each, funnily enough. Most normal kids, if you give them a heaping plate of cookies and say, "have at it" would eat a lot more than that, wouldn't they? Not my skinny minnies!
We ran to the store to get a few necessities - bananas and juice boxes for the rest of the soccer snacks, skim milk for my protein shakes, kitty litter for the two hoochies upstairs, and a block of cheddar cheese because I freaking wanted it, okay?? - and then came home to get down to business.
And that we did!
I have long been unsatisfied with the state of our house. I love my husband dearly, but he is a sloppy, slobby boy, and the kids take after him. No sooner do I clean something, than it is messed up again already. So most of the time, I haven't even bothered. But not Friday! I was in a mood to clean like a crazy woman. Only, I needed their help.
They unanimously decided to start from the front of the house and work our way back, so we started in the foyer. We went through all the shoes, boxing up summer shoes (um, 80% of which were my flip-flops; guess I could stand to pare down), trying on the remaining shoes to see which don't fit, and putting those that don't in the big Freecycle box in the living room. We got rid of LOTS of shoes, and put the rest that are still wearable in the bins inside the bench seat that I have for storing shoes but somehow never seems to get used.
We hung up a dozen coats that had been flung everywhere, put away backpacks, picked up recycling papers that were strewn everywhere, and so on. We put away, threw away, recycled, swept, dusted, and washed, over and over and over, in the foyer, the hallway, the office, and the living room. When I gave Jack a Clorox wipe to clean up a yucky spot on the wood floor, he loved it and begged to clean the downstairs bathroom. Um, okay! Have at it! And he scoured the sink, the walls, and the toilet. Even when I lifted up the seat to show him the yucky parts, he didn't complain, and now it sparkles. I couldn't believe it! Now to get him to do the two upstairs bathrooms, too...
Sophie's specialty was sweeping up the gobs and gobs of dog hair and backyard dirt into the dust pan. Chloë mainly helped me tackle everything else. The four of us worked our tails off, from 4 - 8 pm when we finally broke for dinner. They were so motivated and intense, it was like I had different children!
We even worked out a cheer for Daddy whenever he finally came home, that we kept stopping to practice to get them pumped up:
"Two-Four-Six-Eight,
Who Do We Appreciate?
Daddy, Daddy, He's Our Man,
If He Can't Do It, No One Can!!"
The girls, in particular, had a good time with that and shouted it at him as soon as he walked in the door. I hope he enjoyed it as much as they did!
Then I got a text from Stephanie. Did we want some company? Sure, we did - they kids haven't met Luke yet, and I was anxious to see him again, too. So I fixed the kids some scrambled eggs - Jack's request - and waited. Oh, and put my pants back on so my arse wouldn't be hanging out when they arrived. I'd taken them off for cleaning the house.
After they got here and settled in, we let the kids take turns holding the baby. Chloë was first, and she was so sweet with him. She keeps telling me how adorable Luke is, and I know she loved him as much as I do.
Mister Cutie-Patootie Pants. Isn't he freaking cute?!?!
Sophie was up next. She was also quickly in love with Baby Luke and with holding him. Doesn't she look so big?!
After I held Luke some more, and got lots of warm fuzzies in - I love that boy, I love him almost as much as I love my own kids! - Steph took him to nurse him. I have pictures of that too, and even though she gave me permission to post them, I'm not gonna! It was a beautiful sight, though. Ahhh, I love a breastfeeding babe, I do...
Time for a burping. Lucas looks bigger here than he does in real life, I think. He's still such a tiny peanut!
After she fed him and changed him, I made her keep his socks and pants off so I could see his bitty feet and legs. He didn't like my doing this so much - it was chilly! But aren't those the cutest little piggies?
Quietly alert after a good boob dinner. What big eyes you have!
Rob came home then, and it was his turn to hold the baby. He hadn't seen Luke before either, and he agreed that he was pretty damn cute. We tried to get Jack to hold the baby, but two seconds after sitting down with the pillow on his lap, he changed his mind. We realized he was afraid he might hurt Luke, so maybe we'll try again when Luke's a bit less fragile. He was really into the baby, though, and also keeps telling me what a cutie he is!
While we parents cooed over Luke, the four kids - including Steph's 2yo niece Carolynn - played with the teddy bears I'd won from the preschool party. They sorted, made patterns and counted, just like they were "supposed" to. Good deal!
Tim cuddled his baby before I took him back again for one last snuggle. I loved on the little guy, and then they went home, taking Sophie's SmartCycle with them. We don't really use it anymore, and I'm tired of looking at it!
After they left, the kids went to bed, and then I fell asleep. I never did get to make the pie last night.
...Because it's easier to blame my day falling apart at the seams on him than it is to accept it myself, I'm going to go with that. Yeah.
Yesterday ended, and today began, here. Pretty much. Picture it: Living room, 0230, I'm lying there wide awake after having the fever-sleep off and on during the day, even having taken a sleeping pilly. Nada. Nope. Not happening.
So I decided to get up and monkey around in the office. I've been selling lots of tutus at the clearance price lately, which makes me want to make up more with the tulle I've got, and sell those, too. I just want to be rid of it all and make room for ... something else. Or nothing. Nothing would be great. Empty space, I dream of you.
And then, Sophie comes trotting down the stairs, wide awake, telling me that she can't sleep. Only, no sooner did I collect my sweet babe into my arms, than she fell asleep in them. Look at her. She is so big... but she is still little. I love that paradox of childhood. Big! But little!
I set her on the couch with her father and went back to the office to fiddle. First I made this tutu:
in charcoal and ivory, for no one in particular. Just for Etsy. I had many-hundred blogs to read in my Google Reader, and e-mails to answer, and, well, Farmville to keep me company while I made the tootie-toots. Because 0400 didn't seem late enough to stay up, I stayed right there and worked on this one:
in eggplant and ivory. Every time I finish a new tutu, I think, "Ohh, that's so pretty!" I think they all are. I wish I could wear one. I wish my girls wore theirs every single day. They used to. I think they got overloaded with tutus, though. But I digress.
So by the time I finished the second tutu and read about, oh, 400 blogs (mostly skimmed and deleted; I delete the fun and fluff ones like design and celebrity blogs when I have too many to read, but I almost always read all the parenting and knitting ones), it was well nigh on 0700. Time to get the kids up for school.
Oh yes, school. Remember that place? They didn't want to go back. Especially Jack. He pitched a royal fit. And neither of the Bigs knew where their glasses were. And Rob didn't want to get up and help get them ready, and I was beyond tired by that point, and and and. But somehow, we got them off in one piece.
Rob went upstairs to nap, while I read through some of my favorite blogs for deals and freebies and such. Today was supposed to be my day for sanitizing the house, but instead, I found rather a lot of good deals to be used at LH Mall. And I decided to take a fun day, a day for me, free of the house, free of the flu, free of work, free of the kids, free of the dreaded cleaning.
And why not? It would all still be there when I got back.
Only, it didn't quite work out that way.
I was hoping to be at the mall by 10:00 and home well before the bus came after 1500. Instead, my husband woke up while I was showering, and overcome by the forces of attraction of my major loose saggy skin naked body, he sequestered me to the room for the next, um, two hours. Yes, two hours. Good times, good times. I didn't complain much.
TMI? Whatever. You know I don't shy away.
I will tell you this, too: he had a fever, so his balls were hanging so low, I told him he should just go as a pair of nuts for Halloween. He was practically tripping over them! Wait, maybe that was TMI, even for moi.
My BFF Lisa, from New York, wanted a picture of my hair from all sides. I semi-styled it and had Rob take pictures. They aren't great, but here's a current one of me. He insists I have a major wonky eye. Do I? If so, then my apologies to Dr. Michael Bidus (of hysterectomy fame last year) for mentioning his! (And eek, I look more like my dad all the time. Scary.)
So. By the time I got downstairs, it was noon o'clock, and the preschool was calling me to say Sophie had a sore throat and could I please come get her?
Here we go. Day over.
I kind of figured they wouldn't last, which is why I wanted to get to the mall so early. Damn that man!
Of course, I rushed right out to pick her up. She had a miserable look on her face when I entered, but as soon as she saw me, Sophia brightened right up and smiled the biggest grin ever. She jumped out of her chair, where she was NOT eating birthday cake, and ran over to me. "Mommy! Mommy!"
We collected all her belongings, and then, naturally, I though it would be a good idea to head over to the main school and check on Jack and Chloë. I didn't want to get all the way home and then get a call to come back for them!
Mrs. B., Chloë's language arts teacher, was right at the front of the school when we came in, so I got her attention . She took me into the cafeteria to find Chloë, but Curls wasn't there. Where could she be?
The nurse. She was already at the nurse. Good thing I arrived to swoop in and take her home!
Jack was brought in, but he insisted he was fine and wanted to stay at school. Major shocker there!! I said good-bye and then left with the girls.
The girls, at this time, both seemed more or less fine, just a little disappointed to be missing their Halloween parties. I had no clue they were really still quite sick. I am, apparently, pretty stupid. Damn me! It's the FLU, for heaven's sake, and they are little children. I should have given them at least a week. But I didn't. Sigh.
We went home to, I don't know, get my coupons for the mall and drop off their school stuff. We kissed Daddy good-bye, as he was headed to work, and left for the mall venture.
Our first stop - which, as warm as the day was, probably should have been our last - was to Edible Arrangements to pick up our free six-piece chocolate-dipped fruit sampler. Nice, huh? Did you see that promotion for becoming a fan on Facebook? Well, you know I had to jump all over that. Nice freebie! Too bad I couldn't partake.
While there, I got a phone call about doing a certain kids' shoe store mystery shop, at THAT mall. I didn't want to take it, but I can never say no, and heck, I was already there anyway. So I accepted it.
And then in the parking lot to drive over to the main mall parking lot, I got another call from someone who had found me via Google, needing a tutu TONIGHT. An all-black, ladies' size small, black tutu. I didn't have any black tulle, but she sounded absolutely desperate, so I told her I'd find some and make her the tutu tonight. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I only quoted her $25 for it, too, when in reality, I would have charged her more like $40-50 i f I wasn't clearancing! Dodo-head, I am!
Anyway, so the race was on to get our mall stuff done and then get back to get Jack. I was in a mad hurry. The girls were dawdling. I was pulling them along. That was the scene.
We went to Old Navy in the mall first. All Halloween items were marked down to $2 for today and tomorrow (Halloween) only, plus I had a coupon for 15% off that! I managed to score these 14 things for less than $25. All of which we can use either now or this time next year. It won't be wasted. And hey, $2. Can't beat it. (Well, you can. $1, say, or 50¢. But just you hush.)
We hurried to the other side of the mall, where I had a coupon at Vickie's Secret for a free lip gloss with a bra fitting. Um, the girl wanted to measure me right in the middle of the store, over my shirt. I gave her a weird look, so she pulled me into the dressing room hallway and still measured me over my shirt. After my last professional fitting, which took about an hour, at the boob store, this was bewildering to me! (Before, I was a 38G. Now she measured me at "either" a 38DD or a 40D - my choice. Uh, I think I'll go back to the boob store.) All I really wanted was the free lippy anyway, and I got it!
Next up, I had a coupon for a free anti-bacterial thingy at Bath & Body Works with any purchase, and it was right next store. I scooped up some of the 5/$5 hand sanitizers - which turned out to be the free gift anyway - and was heading toward the cash wrap when we ran into none other but Linda!
After the initial recognition, she said to me, "Hey, you don't look sick." This was after telling me yesterday that, on the phone, I didn't sound sick. It kind of annoyed me. I don't care how I look, I don't care how I sound... I'm telling you how I feel, and how I feel is I HAVE THE FLU. Plus I was in a huge hurry to get back and get Jack, so I was maybe a little pissy with her. Or maybe not, I really don't know, but I'm kind of irritated with her about something else entirely and don't care right now! The girls saved me by saying they both had to go potty RIGHT NOW, so I threw back all the products and ran them down the mall to the bathroom.
And then I remembered that shoe store shop I'd taken on (which I still haven't reported, oops). We quickly did the purchase portion of the shop and walked out with a new pair of boots, "for Sophia."
Next door, I had a coupon for The Picture People, for a free session and 8x10. My very original plan was to bring Rob in there this morning, in his uniform, to take the picture his mom has been asking for for at least two weeks now. But he STILL didn't have the uniform ready. Then we, uh, wasted those two hours, and he didn't have time after that. So I decided to see if they had an appointment left for later in the day, to get the kids done in their Halloween costumes. They had one. I made it. We left.
It was time to go get Jack. We tore through the mall, and when we were almost at the van, I realized Sophie didn't have "her" boots with her, which she had begged to carry!!! Feck! Thankfully, I had the phone number to the portrait place on their coupon, and they had the boots and would hold them for me. Phew.
Traffic was major by that point, and I was pleading-praying to be home in time for the bus. It was already 10 minutes later than I'd wanted to leave... but we made it! Three minutes ahead of schedule, AND the bus was a few minutes late.
Jack, who had been quite the perky boy in school, burst into tears the minute he saw me. He was warm. He felt crappy. I could see it in him. I carried him all the way home, but sadly, we couldn't stay there. I'd promised to get that tutu done, I'd made the picture appointment, and we'd left the boots behind where I needed to back and return them anyway. AND I'd promised to bring Rob dinner, meaning he'd left home without any food. Sheee-it.
So we went back out. At first, we stopped at Boston Market, where I had that coupon for a $1 chicken meal. It sounded good to me, and would feed all four of us! We waited in the long drive-thru line for half an hour, with all the kids coughing and finally, sleeping, in the back, before it dawned on me that my wallet was still at home in the Old Navy bag. Gah!
So I had no choice but to go all the way back home and get it. Forget Boston Market, that would have to wait. We went to A.C. Moore, where I knew they carried the tulle. In black. I'd gotten it there before. They turned out to only have ONE small roll of it, whereas I'd need at least four to make the tutu. I picked up some other foofoo things for finishing tutus (it's a sickness, I tell you) while the nice lady called the other store to see if they had some. They didn't.
We drove to Michaels. They didn't have it.
Joann's didn't have it.
Party City didn't have it.
Hancock's didn't have it either, but they had bolts of black tulle fabric! I'll take it!! I knew it was going to be a lot more work for me, but I'd promised the girl I'd make it, and I didn't want to let her down. We bought the whole bolt, all 8 yards at $1.99/yd, since I had no clue how many it would take in that form, and I could always use the rest in another tutu.
Then we headed straight back to the mall. I knew the pictures weren't happening, since they were all pretty cough-y and cranky and cry-y by that point, but I at least had to get the boots and finish the shop. So I rescheduled the picture appointment for Sunday afternoon. Hopefully they'll all be well enough by then to do it cheerfully.
Quick poll: Should I still do the Halloween picture on Sunday? Or just a casual one of them? Or maybe one of all five of us? Please tell me what to do; I can't decide.
B&BW was right there, so we went back to use that coupon. This time, I found a $1 bottle of lotion, and bought that to get my free hand sani. It smells GOOD, too! (The sani; not so found of the lotion, but it's okay.)
I had one last coupon, for $1 tarts and votives at Yankee Candle. I burn those tarts like a crazy woman, and they are normally $2 - and the kids had temporarily rallied - so we ran in and grabbed 10 of the three newest scents. I'd thought I wouldn't really like the Autumn Wreath one, but it turned out to be my favorite of the fall scents. It smells amazing!! I can't wait to burn it.
Finally, I grabbed my cantankerous crew and headed home. They were so relieved. Poor, poor babies.
They lay in the living room, sipping water, while I worked hard and fast on the black tutu for this evening. It took forever to cut all that tulle up into the proper-sized strips and then cut those strips into the lengths I needed. It was tedious, and this was the one tutu I didn't enjoy making.
But I finished! At 2000 hrs, it was complete. I called the girl to let her know she could come get it.
No answer.
I left a voicemail.
At 2030, I called again. No answer.
At 2100, I called again. No answer.
I gave up after that. It's now 0030. I am seriously, seriously pissed. If she stands me up after all we went through to make this tutu for her - for so cheap!!! - I am going to hunt her down and beat her ass. (Never you mind that I'm a total wuss. I will do it.)
By this point, Jack was dead asleep on the couch, and the girls were pretty chill. Rob had talked me into getting not only HIS food, but food for his two night-duty crew members, too. Something about gratitude and loyalty, yadda yadda.(He's the boss, you know.) I had just gotten a MyPoints offer for Dominos pizza & subs, so I jumped on that. He didn't want the Bostom Market thing, so that'll have to keep 'til tomorrow.
The food arrived, and I roused everyone to go out to the base. They were all sound asleep in the car when we got there. Rob came out and got all the food - including the chocolate fruit I brought along - and that was it. Gone in a flash. I felt a little underappreciated!
So now we're home, and that's that. The black tutu is still here, and I'm seething about it. But I had a fun day of "treats," and a miserable day of being a shitty mother to my kids.
Tomorrow, they are NOT going to soccer! Their whole job this weekend is to rest and get much better before attempting to trick-or-treat or go back to school.
Oh, and find those fricking glasses.
Fin.
P.S. Sorry for the length. I never, ever start out intending it to be so long!
I've jumped back into the grind at work. The Z-pack has really kicked the pneumonia/sinusitis/pharyngitis/bronchitis' ass, and I'm feeling pretty good. Except for having to run to the bathroom every so often to hack up a lung, that is.
And three things have happened in the last two days at work that have me feeling pretty good about myself:
A sweet old man, after telling me that he was doing "so-so," told me that if he was a "cute young chick" like me, he'd be doing fantastic. Did someone say "cute"?
A much younger man, maybe five years older than Rob (so early 40s), told me today that I had a very nice smile.
A much younger man, maybe my age, maybe younger, and sexy as hell, winked at me from three or four registers away. Take that as you will, but Rob's interpretation was, "Hey, you're a cute girl!"
So apparently, losing 140 pounds done wonders not only for my outward appearance but inner self-esteem. I'm liking things right now. I'm liking them very much.
When work is slow, and it often is, we are supposed to stand at the end of the check-out lane and wait for customers, to invite them in. Sometimes, 20 minutes will go by in the early mornings, with no takers. So I have lots of time to daydream. Thinking about my weight loss, and having talked to one of my managers about my surgery, I imagined a conversation wherein she asked me how I'd gotten so fat in the first place. And I'd give her the several reasons/excuses/explanations, not the least of which is that I really ate my way through my depression for the years following Robby's death. And that started me thinking about the depression and the suicide attempts. There were many. At least six, I think. And the kids remember the last one, although they do not know that that is what was going on. They bring it up from time to time, and it pains me. So then I was thinking about how, despite being broke as a joke, happy I am in my "new" body, how good I'm feeling (thanks in no small part to my bipolar diagnosis and nightly meds cocktail) mentally, and how awful, just how awful, it would have been if I had been successful.
How much I love those kids. How much they need me. How much I need them. How I would have completely devastated them, their lives, their futures...
So I'm grateful, very, very grateful, to have failed at that singular aim. I wanted so badly to take Robby's place. I was trying to die for the one I lost instead of living for the three I still had. I'm so thankful to have stepped out of that cloud and come back, if you will. I'm a lucky girl, in so many ways.
So much for this being a quick one.
So Rob is working nights now - did I mention that? He started last night - and it completely sucks. I was not cut out to be a single parent; I have said that before. I like sharing the duties, having someone to complain to and commiserate with about the hard parenting stuff, and you know, sharing the good, fun times, too. But mostly I miss having someone to split up the chauffering duties with!
Today, as soon as the kids got home from school, I had Chloë change out of her school clothes and into her dance leotard and pants. We headed back to HT (my work) to:
Show my pre-surgery picture to my manager, C, whose jaw completely dropped,
Buy the Pink Ribbon 99¢ cookies (which had been discounted 75% and which were apparently pretty nasty) for the kids' after-school snack,
Buy Tic-Tacs and get a dollar back, for Tooth Fairy duties tonight (yes, she struck again), and
Talk to same manager, C, about changing my availability, now that Rob is working nights.
That was a quick in-and-out, during which each of the kids acquired a free helium balloon. Two of them, the younger pair, let theirs go as soon as we walked out of the store. Scoundrels!
We headed straight over to dance class then. Chloë went in to dance, and Jack came up front with me to do his homework. From his homework folder, I pulled out his School PIctures and had the horrified-yet-amused reaction to this awful pose:
Uh.Muh.Guh. Is that awful, or what? I showed it to Jack, and he burst out laughing! I was amused at his reaction, but geez.... it's terrible! (And look how yellow his teeth look! They really are not that yellow IRL). Since I never took his 6-year pictures at Sears, I was just going to let his end-of-kinder pix and beg-of-1st pix suffice, but, holy cow. I think I will keep some of these just because Jack thinks they're so hysterical, though!
Chloë's is much nicer:
I like it, although Rob absolutely detests that dress, and her face looks much rounder here than IRL. I can see Robby in her when I look at this picture.
So. Homework progressed, and he did pretty well. He farted majorly stinky farts the whole time and kept cracking up at himself. Ugh. Such a boy!! He couldn't decide what he was prouder of, smelling like shit or that awful photograph!
He still does NOT know how to write the numbers from about 11+, so I am constantly making him write them and then tell me what they are. It's just not sinking in and is becoming very frustrating for both of us. I'll have to come up with a much funner way to do it.
Anyway, dance ended, and we went directly to IH*P for dinner, for a shop. That went pretty well, although they seat all parties with kids in the same section, and some of the rowdier kids in the bunch got mine going, which annoyed me. My kids KNOW how to behave in a restaurant, but when they are hyped up, it all goes to pot. Guess I know why they seat them all together in the back!
There was a very nice family seated right behind ours, and there was a lot of cross-chat between our two families. So it was with no hesitation half-way through our meal that I got up, tapped the other mother on the shoulder and whispered, "Can you please keep an eye on my kids? I have to go throw up!" yeah, I'm still doing a lot of that. She was more than willing to help, so I went off to do that, and when I came back, after questioning me about my okay-ness, she informed me that they basically shared their whole lives in five minutes. Mostly about school, phew! At least no one blew our cover.
Back at home, I suddenly remembered the massive day I have tomorrow. I'll tell you about it now, just because I'm doubtful I'll have time to blog much about it after the fact:
To my PCP for my PAP, the first one since my hysterectomy, to make sure the bad guys haven't returned. (I think I will absolutely scream if anything comes back abnormal again. Cross your fingers! Or your labia!)
To Newport News for my 9-month post-surgery check-up, which will take an hour or so each way to drive, 15-30 minutes in the waiting room, and 5 minutes, max, with the doctor
To the bank to finally deposit the remaining Brownie troop dues
To the post office to mail three tutus I just made tonight after Etsy orders came in and re-mail Jack's 2T wardrobe (which was returned because I used an alcohol box the first time, wasting $12. Bah!)
Home to bake something, anything, for
Collect the kids and take them to Troop Leader's house for Juliet Gordon Lowe's birthday party (and bring my entire XXXXXXXXXXL wardrobe to M to try on later)
Leave early to go to Chloë's soccer practice (which we missed on Tuesday b/c I felt like utter doodyballs)
Leave early to go to Sophie's soccer practice
Leave early to go to Jack's den meeting (or is it a pack meeting? I forget now, it's almost 2 AM), where they are NOT to wear class-A uniforms but instead must come in costume and bring their pumpkins from the pumpkin patch visit a couple weekends ago.
So. After we got home from dinner, Chloë started her homework while Jack, Sophia and I carved their pumpkins. I made them rip out the innards - which they hated and bellyached about to no end - before I would carve them. They did a half-ass job, though, so I found myself arm-deep in gourd guts anyway. I am a crappy jack-o'-lantern maker. Observe:
It didn't matter, though, because they were both thrilled with the results and said they were exactly what they wanted. Great! Who could ask for anything more? (Sophia went to the Farmer's Market with her preschool class last week, and they all got a pumpkin there. Chloë doesn't have one yet.)
After the pumpkins, they had a quick dessert, and the littles went to bed. Chloë and I finished her homework and worked on getting the soccer gear ready for tomorrow's tour-de-Virgina Beach, and had a conversation that left me in tears. She was telling me about a classroom assignment today, wherein they had to choose a word to describe themselves, starting with each letter in their first names. She chose caring for the "C" and loving for the "L" and I forget what for the "E," not able to think of anything for the "H" or "O."
I said, "What about 'happy'?" To which she broke my heart by replying, "But I'm not happy. I'm mad. All the time."
Oh, my God. I knew she was stressed out, but I did not think she was NOT happy. I don't care if my kids are cute. I don't care if they're smart. I don't care about any of that, as long as they are happy. Above all, I want my kids to be happy kids. My heart broke when she said that, it really did.
She came over to me, and we had a very long conversation about it, a heart-to-heart. There were lots of details, but basically it seems that the crux of the matter is that she doesn't like Sophia, wants to be an only child, and wants her own room back. When she said she didn't like Sophia, I bawled. Why does that hurt so much? I know it's normal. I know it is. But I'm pretty darn fond of the kid, and I want her older sister to be, too. Pain.
I told her I'd talk to Daddy about putting her back in her own room, and we'd go from there. I hope that solves things. She really is stressed out. Mommy yelling, Daddy yelling, problems with friends, problems with school/schoolwork/tests/the gifted class, etc., don't seem to be the matter. I worry about Jack and Sophia sharing a room, but I care much more about Chloë's mental health than I do about more destruction of physical property.
Phew. Heavy stuff.
On a lighter note, no sooner did Chloë go up to bed than she came running back down to tell me, "Jack climbed up on the dresser and then peed a fountain out into the room!"
Good golly, where is my husband when I need him??!!!?!
I like that word. Spackle. Say it. "Spackle." It's fun.
Anyway.
Let me (try to briefly) recap:
Friday.
Still sick, still feeling miserable, I didn't accomplish much. However, I did transform this monstrosity:
into this beauty:
Looks good enough to dive into and start knitting, right? It took me two hours and the removal of lots of dog hair. The cat was largely responsible for the look in the first photo. She had a grand ol' time playing in my yarn while it was stored upstairs in the bedroom, out of my constant view. Naughty Tink! I have imposed a feeding strike on her for that. I jest, I jest. Not that her fat ass couldn't use it.
When Rob came home, our plan was to go right out to dinner for a mystery shop. Instead, Jack snapped his glasses in half, right at the bridge, and we had to make a quick run to Walmart to replace them - free! In the space of 20 minutes, they'd looked at his glasses, pulled down the identical replacement frames, installed the old lenses in them, and sent him on his way. I don't know who was more relieved - me, at not having to pay anything and having him able to see without a wait, or him, for not being in trouble. Probably him. I've seen me when I get mad, and it ain't fun.
Since we were already at Wal-mart, and since Sophie was responsible for her soccer team's after-game snacks the next morning, we did a little shopping. Unfortunately, it's pretty much expected that we have to feed all the players' siblings, too, so I had a cart loaded with juice boxes, bananas, and Go-gurts, as they were out of string cheese. And I remembered I had but four pairs of undies at home that fit, now that I gave all the gigundapannies away (it's a word; Google it), so I got some of those, too. Knickers and 'nanners. I just wanted to say that.
I had Rob text me the three codes I had for three free Redbox rentals, having noticed the machine on the way into the store. I'd gotten them as a reward for some of my grocery purchases last week. It's been a while since we've had free movies 'round here, and I was ready for some TV time!
We rushed home in the rain and collected the rest of the Fam for our dinner out, at last. That did not go by without incident. MY children behaved, but one of the servers did not, and that will be a fun report to type. I wish I could tell you what happened, but I'd probably get spanked for that. Not that I don't enjoy a good spanking.
After the kids went to bed, we fired up the first movie: Management, with Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston. It was cute, and we both enjoyed it. The second movie was Sunshine Cleaning, with Adam Arkin, Amy Adams, and Emily Blunt. Great movie; I recommend it! But the best part was that I was able to get the second mitt done for Baby Luke's alpaca layette. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph it, so just look at this one and pretend there are two there:
Saturday.
The girls' soccer games ended up being cancelled, which means I'd bought all that stuff for... well, I guess for my kids, but will now have to buy it again next month for the make-up game. Bah.
The good thing, though, was that Rob was able to take Jack and the girls to the Cub Scouts' visit to the SPCA. First, they went around the neighborhood where his pack meets to collect supplies for the animals, and then they toured the SPCA. Later, they told me about all the animals they'd seen. Chloë, aware that I've wanted a Chihuahua puppy since childhood, is ever on the lookout for me; alas, there wasn't one there. It's probably a good thing, since we're not exactly in an acquisition phase now that Operation Sweet Pea (the boat plan) is in effect!
As for me, I went back to work, after four or five sick days. It didn't last long. I was there all of 2½ hours before I had to run to the bathroom to blow my nose. In there, I started coughing up more blood - I'd done it Friday night, too. Egads. That can never be a good thing, right? I went out to tell my manager, and she was kind of pissy about it, like, "Fine, leave if you want to." Um? Can it really be a good thing to be around customers - and their food - in that condition? So, whatever, I left. Now I'm probably the Problem Child at work, but truly, I felt like shit!
Rob was home when I got home, but not for long, as he and the Littles had to take Chloë to her friend's birthday party at the movie theater. I'd remembered to pack her gift before work, at least, but I'd forgotten a card. While they went to the party (she saw Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and loved it), I headed to the ER to determine the cause of my bloody sputum.
Tests upon tests were run. X-rays were taken. I waited for hours. I was asked a million times if I was a smoker. I slept. I emailed and texted and Facebooked on my iPhone. Finally, my official diagnoses: Bronchitis. Pharyngitis. Sinusitis. Hemoptysis. (Don't ask me to pronounce that.) With a touch of pneumonia. Basically: Sick! They sent me home with Rxs for the Z-pack (antibiotics) and more cough syrup with codeine.
I went home and canceled my shops for the rest of the day, ready to just lie down and die. Rob gave me a shot of the cough syrup I already had, which, MAN, that gives me some crazy dreams, and I was out.
Sunday.
I slept late because of the drugs, entirely missing Stephanie's text message at 0245 saying that her water broke and she was in labor. Dammit, I missed the whole thing. Luke was born before I woke up! I wish I could have been at the hospital; the only births I've been present for have been my own children. It's just as well; I wouldn't have been in the OR anyway, and she needed her rest afterward. And family time. So, okay.
I woke up just in time for us to make it to my lunch shop at the Oceanfront. I know, I should have stayed home in bed, but I'm a stubborn girl. What can I say? The shops were low-key, anyway. Lunch went well and smoothly, and then we headed to the party store for another shop.
Sophie accompanied me while the rest stayed in the car. We looked at the jillion costumes on display, not intending to buy her one, when she spied the doctor get-up. Have I told you that lately she claims she's going to be a doctor when she grows up? So of course she had to have that one. I gave in, what the hell. My plan has been to collect "over the hill" and "40" themed merch at these party shops over the next three years, in preparation for Rob's next big birthday, but a little diversion from the plan won't hurt. And she was thrilled, so yay.
We had to go home between shops, because my phone completely died, and I couldn't take notes. Oopsie. We went home long enough for me to charge up a little and look at my shop form, and then I took Jack out to do the second shop. Rob stayed home with the girls to clean up their rooms and do laundry.
Jack didn't have a costume yet, so I fully intended on getting him one. Only, trial after trial, the store was out of the costume he wanted. Superman? No. Batman? No. Power Ranger? No. And so on and so forth. Finally he picked a Star Wars one (I have no idea what the guy is, but Tim would know), and they had it in stock. He was happy with it. Phew. We finished the shop and went home to, again, collect the rest of the family for another dinner shop.
Hadn't we just eaten? Yes, we had, it seemed, but here we were again, out to eat. I didn't touch a single bite of my food; too stuffed. The kids barely ate, either. But we had free meals for all three of them, and when they messed up our order, they gave us our drinks and appetizer free, too! Hey, hey.
I was all set to go home and chill for the night after that, but Steph wanted me to come to the hospital at that point. Of course! I finally got to see the baby. But all about that visit in the last post; I won't repeat.
Monday.
Steph had planned to go with me on a lunch shop this afternoon, but when she went and had her baby, darn her, I called in Linda to substitute. She was game. I was going to bring Stephanie McDonald's, as requested, for lunch before I went out to lunch, but I way overslept. As in, I meant to sleep from 0800 to 10, but didn't get up until ten after noon. Oops. I needed it, though.
Lunch was fun, although drawn-out and much longer than it needed to be. It was fine, though. Good, fun, chatty company. We didn't eat much and took a ton of food home. The server must have wondered why we kept ordering more food we didn't eat!
Linda gave me a couple pairs of nice pants in size 16. Since the new 18s I just bought at the thrift store are already falling down on me, I'm hoping they'll fit when I try them on! I'm so close to being at my next goal... hopefully I'll hit it this week!
I went home just in time to collect the kids from the bus. I threw them in the rental car, and we went off to Progressive to collect Vanna from the repair shop. We waited a LONG time, but the kids behaved like perfect little angels. I kind of couldn't believe it, since it was boring and there wasn't a lot to do. Three Highlights magazines in the waiting room saved the day, and they all sat in separate chairs, reading quietly. Awesome.
Rob was already home when we got there, so he took the kids to go pick up my antibiotics Rx (yes, two days later... hush), while I stayed home to relax and work on all my reports that have been building up this weekend, unfinished. I got a little done, but I felt sick and lay down for much of the time.
We were going to go out to dinner for another shop tonight, but I just didn't feel up to it. I got back to work tomorrow morning, so I'm hopeful everything will go well and normally.
That's about it. Rob's starting nights tomorrow, so he's getting up with the kids tomorrow for school. yay, I'm off breakfast-and-lunch duty. Boo, I'm on permanent dinner-and-homework duty. We'll manage. Oh, crap, how am I going to get all three kids to their different activities at the same time, especially on Thursdays??
Not awesome. Once again, the Navy is royally screwing up my plans! ;)
I woke up, sick as a DOG, man. I think I already shared that with you? I called into work and was told that, since I was possibly exposed to the swine flu last weekend, I couldn't come back to work until I had a doctor's clearance.
So I went to the doc.
They don't even test for the swine flu in the military system, which seems strange to me, but what do I know? And they didn't test for the regular flu either, maybe because I hadn't had any fevers. I sure did all day today, boy howdy. (If you're wondering why I say that phrase so much, being a New Yorker, it's because that and several other "South Carolina-isms" rubbed off on me when I lived with my dad there.) (He's still there.)
Anyway, they checked for strep throat, which came back negative. I did have a huge ton of fluid in my sinuses and ears and throat, and in my chest but not my lungs, so my official diagnosis was a sinus and bronchial infection. I got all kinds of prescriptions (Claritin, Mucinex, Tylenol, Tussinex) to "dry me out" and help me sleep through the night without coughing.
It was going to be, like, a two-hour wait at the pharmacy before my scripts got filled, and I did not have the physical fortitude to sit around for that, so I left. I drove straight home and slept for the next three hours.
Thankfully, I did not miss the bus this time. I woke up with eleven whole minutes to spare. Phew.
When Rob came home, he informed me that (1) He wouldn't be able to get leave to go to Missouri for his mom's 70th birthday party next month and (b) He will start working nights on the 20th. Wonderful. (Mom, I'm assuming he called you and told you this already today, like he said he would, and if not and you're finding out this way, I'm so sorry.)
So that bites, hard. I guess they are way short-handed at work right now and he had to deny someone else's leave, and no one will get to take any until at least the new year.
I wanted him to go fill my prescriptions for me, since I still felt like butt, but he refused to take any of the kids with him. You know what? That didn't work for me, so we ALL went. And I drove the "new white car," as Jack calls the (awesome) rental. I sat in the car with the sleeping Sophie, and Chloë, while the boys went in. I think I dozed; I can't remember.
I can't remember what happened for the rest of the night. I took my Tussinex, which not only knocked me out for the night, but for the whole day today, too. Wow.
For the first time this school year, I just didn't have it in me to make the kids' lunches this morning. I fed them breakfast, but I had to sit down and put some lunch $ in their online accounts. That was such a relief. I'll only do that when I *really* have to, because at two bucks a pop, PLUS service fees, it's not cheap.
After they got on the bus, I went straight back to bed and slept from 0800 to 1415. I tossed and turned, waking up periodically, but falling straight back to sleep. I had a bad fever and was sweating buckets. I dreamt some crazy, medicine-induced dreams. Be glad I can't remember them, to share with you. (I like sharing my dreams, but I hate hearing about other peoples'! Selfish, I know.)
Chloë's soccer practice was blessedly canceled due to rain, but since Sophie's team was having their pictures taken, we still had to go that one. Only I forgot the form, so we had to run home while her pictures were taken, and I didn't get to snap any myself. :(
There was no practice after that, so we left to go to one of the furthest-away S***cs for a mystery shop I'd signed up for for tonight, before I got sick. And when we got there, I realized that I'd forgotten my wallet for the SECOND time, even after running home for it and the picture form.
Annoyance.
So that put me in a delightful mood, and I was already charming. Folks, when I'm sick, I hardly have the opposite of the patience of Job, whatever that is. Are you the same?
We went home, got the wallet and went back to do the shop. And since Rob was working way late, I accepted two more S***c shops - close by our house this time - when they called up and begged me. At least this way, I wouldn't have to cook the dinner I didn't feel like making.
Except I forgot that no one did their homework yet, because I sent everyone upstairs to play after school, so I could nap some more. Oops.
They're doing it now. It's late. Very late.
Fin.
P.S. Oh yeah, I completely forgot that it was Bunco night last night, too. I went, sick and all, since the doc said I was not contagious. If y'all get sick next week, don't blame me! I wish I had known that there would be an extra there, because I would have stayed home in my bed. But it was fun, as much as it could be when you don't feel well, and I enjoyed myself. Pretty much.
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