Smellyann Strikes Again

EPOO

That's what the cable box is saying to me right now. Don't believe me? Here, have a look:

Anyway, anyhow.

Sort of a fun day. I'm weary, a bit, and still sick. Rob's miserable. Kids are still minorly sick but dealing fine. Jack and Chlo both went to school today and had no problems. Whew. Sophie and I went out and did a T-Mobile shop while they were away, and it went swimmingly. And I canceled another shop and completely forgot about a third, dammit. Even with the Palm, I'm just not totally up to par right now.

Rob came home muy early and surprised me and Soapy. That was nice. Partly because I adore seeing him, and partly because it meant I wouldn't have to drag the Tots with me to pick up Chloë at school and go over everything I need to do to run next Friday night's PTA Bingo. The committee chair is going to be out of down, and crazy ol' me volunteered to take over in her stead. Ay ay ay. I have to set up and organize the concessions and prizes and tables for those and the membership drive, get volunteers to run those things, sell the dabbers and Bingo pads, and... a whole bunch of other stuff I'm going to beg Rob to come help me do! It should be fine, as long as I don't have to do any announcements! Public speaking is not for me.

I brought the eldest child home, and we picked up Rob and the Littles to go to the Cox service center. Our DVR box doesn't have an output for our DVD player, so there's been a whole bunch of annoying cable switching going on this week. Aack. I can't stand it. So we got a new box.

Rob brought along the GPS that I just gave him today, in honor of our seventh anniversary. We met this month in 2000! He loves his fancy new toy, especially since I bought him a much upgraded version of the one he's been hoping for. And then he told me that he has a three-day weekend! For Veteran's Day??! Seven years together, and I still can't remember that he gets Veteran's Day off. The kids have school, so I just didn't expect it. Yay, three days! That's like a gift for me, in return. And then, I got a phone call from Sylvia Hutson - the local talent agent I'm sure I've mentioned? She submitted Chloë's head shot for a print ad for some company or other here in town, and they want her! She'll dress up as a flower girl in a faux wedding. The shoot is on Wednesday. Her first gig! Way to go, Miss Chlo!!

Next, everyone was complaining of starvation - including me - so we stopped at Panera for dinner. Now y'all know what a big fan of Panera I am. Love it, love it, looooove it. We all do. We lingered over the meal and enjoyed each other's company. It was nice.

After that, we headed over to Wally to get a bunch of necessities. Some of you might remember that we won a portable DVD player from the Parade magazine contest? And then we won another one from... I don't remember, or maybe I cashed in some points for it, I don't know. We used one in the car and one in our bedroom. Same brand: Coby. A little while, they both just quit on us, with no warning. So we freecycled one last night and bought a new one tonight, for the car. Yay. Sophie's been going crazy trying to get her movies to play out there. No more Coby for us, man.

We got the Ratatouaeioulle DVD, too, and watched it when we came home. Love that flick. Very cute. And I got a new binder and page protectors for all my knitting and crochet patterns, which I organized while watching the rat. I'm so excited about that. My patterns are so much more organized and, dare I say it, chic, now that I can see what all I have. Chic! Ha! Knitting patterns! Simple pleasures. And then I got back to my knitting, finishing up the back of the dress thingy I'm making right now:

Time for me to go ni-ni. I have to get up early to take (bring? I can never figure out when to use those) to her Sylvia Hutson audition tomorrow morning, early. I frigging hate mornings. Bleh.

Fin.

Rain in the Blogosphere

Well, the day started like any other. The sun came up, the alarm went off, and I beat the shit out of it with a bat. Thank goodness Rob called to wake me back up, or I’d still be snoring up there.

Chloë went back to school this morning. One down. After I got her on the bus, I came home to work on some of the shop reports I was too tired to do last night. Jack still didn’t have school today, and I didn’t have anywhere else to be until mid-afternoon, so I zonked back out on the couch until the kids woke up in the very late morning, which was, like, totally awesome. And stuff.

I fed them, showered, did a little laundry, and got them ready for the trip to Jack’s school for my parent-teacher conference. He’s been pissed that there’s no school, but he was way more so that he had to go today in my van and not the bus. He loves his bus. Loves it.

I met with Miss Beth, and she had nothing but good stuff to say about Jack. Except the stuff that wasn’t, but there wasn’t much. Just that he’s very spunky and knows exactly what he wants and what he doesn’t, which is good on the one hand and can be frustrating on the other. He’s working really hard and making great strides, and I’m very happy we decided to give this a try. It’s been really great for him, and she thinks he’ll probably be on target to join mainstream kindergarten next year.

We went home after that and did a little more laundry while we waited for Chloë. She got home, and the kids had a snack before we took her to ballet. She went to dance class, and the Littles and I drove down to

Laskin Rd to do another boring Verizon shop. I’m on a big drive right now to pick up all the boring-but-paying shops I can, just to see how much money I can really make in a month. It’s not a lot, but it’ll pay a small bill or two.

We drove back to dance class to get The Chlo, and Jack started whining again that he was hungry. I told him that Chloë said she wanted pizza for dinner. He shouted, “I don’t want pizza!” and Sophia said, “I does!” hehe. So I said, “I does, too”! and Jack replied, “Well, I doesn’t!”  This conversation tickled me, so I called Rob to repeat it.

He’s working long, late hours this week. Some big projects got dumped in his lap today, and he’s got duty tomorrow, so I’ll have to bring the chillens with me to Bunco tomorrow night. My babysitter is now in our group, so no help there! Thanks a lot, Steph. ;) But her husband is going to watch them, so it’ll work out. It sucks, though. I see him little enough as it is.

I called Primo’s for a pizza, and we drove home and picked it up. A dozen garlic knots and some cannoli, too. Dee-lish-US! I finally found just-right pizzeria pizza, and they’ve been right around the corner from our house all along. I remember going in there a couple of years ago, but I left because I didn’t like the prices or the wait or something or other. Whatever. Back in business now, baby!

So the kids and I went home, and I cut up pizza for them, because they haven’t yet demonstrated the skills necessary for folding and eating a pizza in a decent manner. Rob was finally on his way home, earlier than expected, but they were too hungry to wait. I started looking at Chloë’s homework, but it was a difficult process since the kids suddenly broke out into their evening shenanigans. Thankfully Rob walked in at that time and relieved me, because I had a few more packages of Chloë’s Girl Scout candies to deliver. That’s been a little more trouble than it’s worth, with boxes trickling out here and there – and Jack opening and eating someone else’s candy…

I came home just in time to pick up the afore-mentioned little boy for a haircut. We went to my usual salon and was greeted with raised eyebrows. I guess it had been longer than I thought since my last visit. I had been growing out my hair to donate for months, and then my sister came in August and cut it for me, so… a long time. The kids are taking their Christmas pictures next week, and Jackson is looking quite shaggalicious, so I asked them to cut it the same way Stacey did – a ‘5’ guard on top and a ‘2’ on the sides and back. I don’t know what she did, but it looks like he got a ‘3’ all the way around. Harumph. Well, it’s hard not to make that teeny face look handsome, so we can work with it.  Then she trimmed my bangs, and I can see again. Hallelujah. Bangs hanging in my face drives me absolutely nucking futs.

Rob was working with Chloë on her homework when we returned, and the Littles were wanting more pizza by that time. So I fed them a little, and then I snoozed on the couch for an hour, in time for DWTS. J Finally, Jane Seymour got kicked off. About damn time. I’m sick of her sob stories, too. :P

So that’s about it. I might go see about that sourdough starter, which has gotten enormous, and I might go watch a movie and do some knitting, and I might go do some laundry, and I might go box up some toys for giving away on Freecycle. The night is young!

Fin.

PF (Post-Fin): I typed this in Word and c/p'd, and this is the way it's showing up. It won't let me fix it. So much for that!