I haven't blogged consistently for so long, I have no idea if anyone still checks this site. For the few who do, I thought I'd check in and say hello.
Being a single mom: I had always said single parents were my heroes. But I said it like you always say things like that. Without full understanding. Kind of like thinking what you might do if a loved one dies or some other tragedy befalls you. You think you can picture it but you can't.
In some ways, it's not quite as hard as I thought. I guess I had thought that whatever made me the single mom would have overwhelmed my world so completely, I wouldn't be able to focus as a mom. So I guess I thought that was where the struggle was. But in my case - you get over the cheating lug. Kind of. God gets me past it. And when the ugliness of it all gets all up in my face again, God's good about keeping me steady.
Right now - this new into it - it's the no-time-for-anything part that gets me. Sometimes I feel like such a failure as a single mom. Stupid, I know. But it's when I look around my formerly pristine house and see a clutter of toys, papers, unfathomable "stuff", that gets me. When I walk by something black, see the dust and can't recall the last time I pulled out the Swiffers. When I walk past that little piece of balloon streamer on the stairs - again - knowing I probably won't vacuum this week, either. When I toss my boys into a tub/shower and am not sure when I last did that. When I get a crap review at work because - bottom line - I can't work overtime. When the boys are bummed because yet another Saturday is spent running errands. When I strip the beds to wash the linens, wondering when I did that last. It's not how I was raised. It's not how I used to do things. It's not how I like things.
My days are filled from the moment I pop out of bed until the moment the boys go into theirs. And then? That's when I know I should get the laundry done, dust, clean my bathroom, pay bills, or whatever else is on my mental honey-do list. I rarely do that. Most nights, I put them to bed, I get ready for bed, I grab my reading glasses & bible and crawl into bed. I read until I start reading the same verses over and over. Then I put out the light, lay down and start asking God to help me. Help me be the mom they deserve. Help me to have forgiveness in my heart for the ex. Help me to keep my job. Help me to keep my house. Help money to appear out of nowhere to pay all the bills. Help me to be ok with just me and God. Help me to make it through if these rumors of layoffs are more than just rumors. Take away the fear, God. Take away my dependence on things, money, houses, this lifestyle. Help me to truly depend on God. Help me to teach my boys the truth about God - not the namby pamby fairy tail version most of us half-assedly believe. Help me to live it. Help me to really believe. Increase my faith. Talk to me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, God. In such a way that is so real that there is NO way I can have any doubt. Give me a boldness so I'm not chicken to say, guess what, yah, that's right, I believe in God and Jesus and the whole shebang. Help me to stop worrying about what other people think. Help me to have such faith that I don't water down my beliefs - even for family members.
At times, I think he must be so sick of hearing from me. I've been bugging him - pestering him - my whole life.
And then I go to church. I joke with one of the head pastors that I think pastor Kenny preaches every Sunday just to me! This past Sunday, he was talking about the part in Luke 11:9-10, where Jesus is telling his disciples the whole "ask and you shall receive" thing. So many translations lose a very important part of this. It's not "ask once and you get it". The original language there is more like "keep asking, keep knocking, keep seeking." Pastor Kenny used the words "with shameless persistence." Keep asking God - with no shame. Keep asking. This is a God - a dad - who wants to give us good things. It's our persistence that shows A) we trust him and B) we're serious.
It made me renew a few prayers I had kind of given up on. God, take away Pokemon Boy's Tourette's - totally. God, do whatever it takes to make the ex turn and consider you as a viable option. God, save my job. God, save my house. God, help me be that amazing single mom I know I can be through you. God take away the anxiety and depression. God remove these migraines. God, help me find a job working for you. God, use my singing.
I'm not totally over the fear. I'd like the giant band aid of the layoff news to get ripped off so I can just know once and for all. I'm trying to turn everything over to God. I think that will be a life-long effort. But I'm not going to stop asking. I will keep asking, keep knocking and keep seeking. I'm interested to see what God does.
Luke 11
9 "So I say to you: Keep asking and it will be given to you; keep seeking and you will find; keep knocking and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; whoever seeks finds; and to those that knock, the door will be opened."
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A Political Conversation With Pokemon Boy
PB: I like McCain.
me: Oh yah?
PB: I think he'd make a good president.
me: Huh. What do you like about him?
PB: Well...he thinks things...like...that Obama doesn't.
me: Really? What kinds of things?
PB: [pause] Well...good things. I don't really remember but they said it on the news.
In all honesty, that's about as good a reason as any.
* Oh, and later in that conversation, he said "I think it's cool that, if he gets elected? The first woman vice president will get elected, too!" Pokemon Boy: supporting the chicks. Right on.
me: Oh yah?
PB: I think he'd make a good president.
me: Huh. What do you like about him?
PB: Well...he thinks things...like...that Obama doesn't.
me: Really? What kinds of things?
PB: [pause] Well...good things. I don't really remember but they said it on the news.
In all honesty, that's about as good a reason as any.
* Oh, and later in that conversation, he said "I think it's cool that, if he gets elected? The first woman vice president will get elected, too!" Pokemon Boy: supporting the chicks. Right on.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Lamenting A Trailer (No Really)
I've mentioned my awesome rockin' church. But I haven't mentioned that it's a relatively new church. So we're in the process of looking for a permanent space. At the moment, we still meet in an elementary school. This is odd to some people. Not to me. The first church I remember was still meeting in an elementary school while our building was being built. After leaving that one, the next church I attended was in an elementary school. I've attended hugemungus churches that seat hundreds. I've attended tiny ones where everyone is crammed into the few rows of pews. I don't care as long as God is there and the people are preaching Jesus. Can I get an 'Amen'?!
Anyhoo...
What this means for us is, every Sunday, we have set up and break down. Someone drives to our storage space, picks up the trailer, brings it to the school and we all set up the tables, portable dividers, class supply bins, kids' toys, greeting supplies, etc. It's a well oiled machine.
This past Sunday, I was up on stage, rehearsing with the band. All of the school's chairs were out. We put out rows of chairs but we make a front and back row of square tables. So families can sit together or people can take notes. Everyone has their preference. So the chairs are grouped waiting for those tables. My food service bags are sitting back where the food tables will go. I'm singing. Life is good.
Then I notice our pastor is moving all the grouped chairs into rows. And I'm thinking, do we have no trailer today? Did we get a flat tire? Did someone sleep in? Ah...the blissful thinking of the glass-half-full girl.
Apparently, our trailer was stolen from the storage space. The gates are left open to facilitate that 24-hr access thing. This alone opens a host of questions for me but I can open my own self-storage facility with coded gate access another time. For now, someone got in there, cut the locks from our trailer and took it.
The good thing: The pastor says to us, "We're going to Plan B." There is no Plan B. We made it up on the fly. That's what I love about this church. We just all jumped to it. Sure we were sad and shocked that someone would take our trailer. Sure we made jokes about how appropriate it is that thieves stole a trailer that had a big bin of bibles in it. But we kicked it into gear and church started 30 minutes later - without much of a hitch. It proves that theory that a church isn't about a building or about things or stuff. It's God and the people. That's it, man. It all boils down to God and his people. Boom. Love that.
The sad thing: The police found our trailer today. It's pretty beaten up. All the "stuff" is missing. Yes, we're not all about things or stuff. But oh it kills me the love and work that was just thrown out. We had so many toys for the little ones. Our nursery was awesome. The 3s and 4s class was awesome. They had blocks and cars and twirly things and spinny things and bouncy things and roley things. It was a wonderful way to give parents a break so they could listen to the lesson in stead of shushing kids. Someone had hand made movable dividers so we could have separate classroom space for the different aged kids in the gym. Gone. All of the tables. All of the bibles. All of the class supplies - paper, scissors, glue, tape, crayons, markers, pens, pencils, stickers. There were little portable CD players to play the kids music on. At least 3 of those - if not more. Rugs & mats to sit on for play or story time.
What makes me sad is picturing all of those wonderful tools of ours - just heaped in a pile somewhere. Perfectly good supplies just dumped. I'm a sentimental idiot. I had trouble tossing a pair of boots once because they had been to California, Cape Code, Texas, New Mexico, Jamaica, England with me. They had served me so well. And I was going to just throw them away. It broke my heart. I'm a dork.
I think of that pile of stuff and I give each item a personality in my head. Because, like I said, I'm a dork. I hope the bins of class supplies aren't scared. I hope the tables don't think we don't love them. Then I make up scenarios like, some loving person who really needs that kind of stuff just stumbles across this pile. Like a God send! And they find a way to cart it all to wherever they are setting up their school of love. And our stuff is used and loved and cared for!!!
Did I mention I'm a dork?
Anyway, it's all replaceable. Fortunately, none of our musical equipment was on there. That would be replaceable, yes. But very very costly. We are a hardy lot. We will replace it all and probably more than we started with.
We have prayed for the thieves. Apparently, they used our trailer to try to heist a bunch of copper piping from some water treatment place. I'm hearing more of this copper stealing stuff on the news. So we can be added to that statistic. But we prayed that maybe - just maybe - one of those people opened one of the bins and saw the bibles. And maybe - just maybe - they took a bible home. And maybe - just maybe - they'll read it. I'd like to think that some day, I'll hear some testimony that starts, "Well, a bunch of us stole this trailer and it was full of BIBLES..."
I'm still praying that one or more of those thieves show up at our church. I have no doubt God could make them a great addition to our numbers!
Anyhoo...
What this means for us is, every Sunday, we have set up and break down. Someone drives to our storage space, picks up the trailer, brings it to the school and we all set up the tables, portable dividers, class supply bins, kids' toys, greeting supplies, etc. It's a well oiled machine.
This past Sunday, I was up on stage, rehearsing with the band. All of the school's chairs were out. We put out rows of chairs but we make a front and back row of square tables. So families can sit together or people can take notes. Everyone has their preference. So the chairs are grouped waiting for those tables. My food service bags are sitting back where the food tables will go. I'm singing. Life is good.
Then I notice our pastor is moving all the grouped chairs into rows. And I'm thinking, do we have no trailer today? Did we get a flat tire? Did someone sleep in? Ah...the blissful thinking of the glass-half-full girl.
Apparently, our trailer was stolen from the storage space. The gates are left open to facilitate that 24-hr access thing. This alone opens a host of questions for me but I can open my own self-storage facility with coded gate access another time. For now, someone got in there, cut the locks from our trailer and took it.
The good thing: The pastor says to us, "We're going to Plan B." There is no Plan B. We made it up on the fly. That's what I love about this church. We just all jumped to it. Sure we were sad and shocked that someone would take our trailer. Sure we made jokes about how appropriate it is that thieves stole a trailer that had a big bin of bibles in it. But we kicked it into gear and church started 30 minutes later - without much of a hitch. It proves that theory that a church isn't about a building or about things or stuff. It's God and the people. That's it, man. It all boils down to God and his people. Boom. Love that.
The sad thing: The police found our trailer today. It's pretty beaten up. All the "stuff" is missing. Yes, we're not all about things or stuff. But oh it kills me the love and work that was just thrown out. We had so many toys for the little ones. Our nursery was awesome. The 3s and 4s class was awesome. They had blocks and cars and twirly things and spinny things and bouncy things and roley things. It was a wonderful way to give parents a break so they could listen to the lesson in stead of shushing kids. Someone had hand made movable dividers so we could have separate classroom space for the different aged kids in the gym. Gone. All of the tables. All of the bibles. All of the class supplies - paper, scissors, glue, tape, crayons, markers, pens, pencils, stickers. There were little portable CD players to play the kids music on. At least 3 of those - if not more. Rugs & mats to sit on for play or story time.
What makes me sad is picturing all of those wonderful tools of ours - just heaped in a pile somewhere. Perfectly good supplies just dumped. I'm a sentimental idiot. I had trouble tossing a pair of boots once because they had been to California, Cape Code, Texas, New Mexico, Jamaica, England with me. They had served me so well. And I was going to just throw them away. It broke my heart. I'm a dork.
I think of that pile of stuff and I give each item a personality in my head. Because, like I said, I'm a dork. I hope the bins of class supplies aren't scared. I hope the tables don't think we don't love them. Then I make up scenarios like, some loving person who really needs that kind of stuff just stumbles across this pile. Like a God send! And they find a way to cart it all to wherever they are setting up their school of love. And our stuff is used and loved and cared for!!!
Did I mention I'm a dork?
Anyway, it's all replaceable. Fortunately, none of our musical equipment was on there. That would be replaceable, yes. But very very costly. We are a hardy lot. We will replace it all and probably more than we started with.
We have prayed for the thieves. Apparently, they used our trailer to try to heist a bunch of copper piping from some water treatment place. I'm hearing more of this copper stealing stuff on the news. So we can be added to that statistic. But we prayed that maybe - just maybe - one of those people opened one of the bins and saw the bibles. And maybe - just maybe - they took a bible home. And maybe - just maybe - they'll read it. I'd like to think that some day, I'll hear some testimony that starts, "Well, a bunch of us stole this trailer and it was full of BIBLES..."
I'm still praying that one or more of those thieves show up at our church. I have no doubt God could make them a great addition to our numbers!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
God Rockin' The Free Fridge Repair
Man, I love how God sweats the little things. When I see Him pull off stuff like He did today, I'm reminded that the big things like which dude will be our next president? He's got that, man. I refuse to get worked up into a lather about it.
So here's today's praise report. I just love this one.
When we last left our hero, she had a defunct fridge. Well the GE guy showed up this morning just as I was pulling in the driveway after dropping Pokemon Boy off for his first day of 3rd grade and tossing Lil'Bro back into preschool after 4 weeks off. [Isn't it amazing how I can totally go tangential in one run-on sentence?] SuperNice GE Dude got to work on my fridge (somehow getting past the millions of magnets) and I went up into my office (with a quick little prayer asking God to make sure the guy wasn't a mass murderer).
After a few minutes, the guy asks me if the fridge came with the house (it did) and when I moved in (Sept 2005). He said, "Oh good," and went back to work. A short time later, he said, "Ok you're all set. The fridge should be back to normal by this afternoon." He explained what he had done and which part he had replaced. But he was already heading out the door. I said, "So will you guys send me a bill or how does this work?" He replied, "No, you're all set. The part was covered under a 3 year warranty so you're set." "I don't even have to pay you for YOUR time?" "Nope, it's all covered. Have a nice day."
After closing the door, I turned around, threw my hands up in the air and yelled, "God you totally ROCK!" Because the GE people had told my mom it would be $79 just for the guy to walk in my front door. I don't have that at the moment. So it was going to be credit card. Blyeck. That's already straining after my 2 week vacation. But oh well. That's life and I was ready to suck it up.
But God totally rocked the free fridge repair!!! How COOL is that? I've been asking God to help me get my finances stable again. But I had bigger prayer fish to fry so wasn't really worrying about it. And BAM! He comes through like that. I LOVE that! LOVE it.
Seriously, with The Creator of All Things and my mom on my side? How can I go wrong?
Today's Side Note: Since my mom worked so hard to clear out my fridge & freezer, she suggested I take the opportunity to clean it out. Yah. Great fun. But since I'm 42 and supposedly grown up, I decided to take her advice. So today I cleaned my fridge. Something I have only done in the past when I'm either moving or I've had a huge food mishap in the fridge. I thought I'd show you what it looks like with only the bare essentials in there. Sorry for the darkness - my flash wouldn't go off. Note how "essentials" apparently include Corona Light, Diet Coke (w/ Splenda), eggs, a big thing of ice coffee, a cup of milk, a thermometer, and left over pizza. And my freezer has like 952 freezer packs. Ok, maybe more like 12. But still...
So here's today's praise report. I just love this one.
When we last left our hero, she had a defunct fridge. Well the GE guy showed up this morning just as I was pulling in the driveway after dropping Pokemon Boy off for his first day of 3rd grade and tossing Lil'Bro back into preschool after 4 weeks off. [Isn't it amazing how I can totally go tangential in one run-on sentence?] SuperNice GE Dude got to work on my fridge (somehow getting past the millions of magnets) and I went up into my office (with a quick little prayer asking God to make sure the guy wasn't a mass murderer).After a few minutes, the guy asks me if the fridge came with the house (it did) and when I moved in (Sept 2005). He said, "Oh good," and went back to work. A short time later, he said, "Ok you're all set. The fridge should be back to normal by this afternoon." He explained what he had done and which part he had replaced. But he was already heading out the door. I said, "So will you guys send me a bill or how does this work?" He replied, "No, you're all set. The part was covered under a 3 year warranty so you're set." "I don't even have to pay you for YOUR time?" "Nope, it's all covered. Have a nice day."
After closing the door, I turned around, threw my hands up in the air and yelled, "God you totally ROCK!" Because the GE people had told my mom it would be $79 just for the guy to walk in my front door. I don't have that at the moment. So it was going to be credit card. Blyeck. That's already straining after my 2 week vacation. But oh well. That's life and I was ready to suck it up.
But God totally rocked the free fridge repair!!! How COOL is that? I've been asking God to help me get my finances stable again. But I had bigger prayer fish to fry so wasn't really worrying about it. And BAM! He comes through like that. I LOVE that! LOVE it.
Seriously, with The Creator of All Things and my mom on my side? How can I go wrong?
Today's Side Note: Since my mom worked so hard to clear out my fridge & freezer, she suggested I take the opportunity to clean it out. Yah. Great fun. But since I'm 42 and supposedly grown up, I decided to take her advice. So today I cleaned my fridge. Something I have only done in the past when I'm either moving or I've had a huge food mishap in the fridge. I thought I'd show you what it looks like with only the bare essentials in there. Sorry for the darkness - my flash wouldn't go off. Note how "essentials" apparently include Corona Light, Diet Coke (w/ Splenda), eggs, a big thing of ice coffee, a cup of milk, a thermometer, and left over pizza. And my freezer has like 952 freezer packs. Ok, maybe more like 12. But still...
Monday, August 25, 2008
Raise Your Hand If My Mom & Dad Rock
All of your hands should be raised. So get 'em UP there, people!
Let me just tell you how much my parents rock.
While the boys and I were in New England for two weeks, mom & dad kept an eye on the house. They took in the mail and let my bug guy in to spray. When I got home, my house was picked up and vacuumed. That nutty mom.
After getting home, I did my finances and realized I didn't have enough money to pay for the boys to go to day care for the rest of August. I was trying to decide whether to ask for a loan from my parents or to just keep the boys home. The former means debt - yah, I'm all set there, thanks. The latter means the boys would spend a mind-numbing 2 weeks in front of the TV and distracting me from work. Yick. My mom must have sensed I probably spent much more than I intended in Boston. Because that same night she said that she and dad had been thinking. Maybe they could just take the boys for the rest of the month. Normally, I would poo-poo such an idea. But I needed the help. So I took them up on it.
So for the past two weeks, mom has come over to pick up the boys, fed them breakfast & lunch and entertained them all day. I'd pick them up and they'd have a fort built in the living room with chairs and sheets. Or they'd be watching TV (which means dad couldn't watch the news). Or they'd be getting computer time on my parents' computer. That's a lot for my mom to take on. And also, when I'm 80, I doubt it will be real easy for me to have my space invaded every day for 2 weeks. Dad was awesome about it but I think it was a stretch for him.
On top of all of this, my mom would call up on days where she could tell I was getting pounded at work. She'd say, "How about you guys all eat dinner here tonight?" I tell you, when you need the help and someone sincerely offers it? It's just the most amazing feeling. So, very frequently, I have had full on home-cooked meals. I mean, meat, veggies, a full salad, some kind of bread. That's like Thanksgiving every DAY to me, folks!
The topper came today. On Sunday, I noticed things in my fridge were rather cool. Not cold. Cool. I thought perhaps I had left the fridge door cracked open while I went to church. But I had a feeling it was more. This morning, after cranking the dial up to coldest all night, it was still rather cool. And the freezer was cold. Not frozen. ARGH.
Mom came to get the boys and I was already pounding away at work. I told her quickly about my lack of cold food. She offered to call GE for me. Honestly, if she hadn't called them, I don't know when I would have had time to. And I'd have a fridge/freezer full of tepid bad food.
Mom got the model & serial numbers, called GE, told them the issues and made an appointment for tomorrow morning. Then, she called to offer a cooler full of ice and freezer packs. While she drove over, I called my next-door neighbor. She's a wonderful person and a good friend. I was hoping to just get a smidge of fridge/freezer space for my most vital perishables. Well, she has a full fridge/freezer in her garage that she uses to hold bottled water for her walks & workouts! It was EMPTY. And since I care for her dogs while she's gone, I have the code to her garage. She said, bring over your food.
So who do you think brought all the food over? Guess. Yup. MOM. She got my laundry basket and little red wagon and brought it all over there, load by load. And she brought me the ice chest so I could keep some milk and juice here for the morning.
Who's got the best parents in the whole freaking world?! That's RIGHT! BOO yah!
Oh and on a side note? My neighbor and I have decided we've stumbled onto the perfect weight-loss plan. It's called, "Move Your Food Over to Your Neighbor's House". Because after only an hour of the food being over there, it kept me from having ice cream I didn't need and from putting heavy cream in my coffee. We were joking that we might just switch out all our food. I mean A) you'd want to look healthy so you wouldn't want to store Oreos and Lindt dark chocolate at your neighbor's house. You'd be all [ding dong], "Oh yah, I was just stopping by for, like, four carrots." B) Even if you did have no shame and kept all the junk food, you wouldn't want to bug them every 15 minutes when you get bored or frustrated at work. So you'd only get the necessities like twice a day. It would keep that evil snacking thing way down. Yah, we're pretty sure we're on to something here.
Let me just tell you how much my parents rock.
While the boys and I were in New England for two weeks, mom & dad kept an eye on the house. They took in the mail and let my bug guy in to spray. When I got home, my house was picked up and vacuumed. That nutty mom.
After getting home, I did my finances and realized I didn't have enough money to pay for the boys to go to day care for the rest of August. I was trying to decide whether to ask for a loan from my parents or to just keep the boys home. The former means debt - yah, I'm all set there, thanks. The latter means the boys would spend a mind-numbing 2 weeks in front of the TV and distracting me from work. Yick. My mom must have sensed I probably spent much more than I intended in Boston. Because that same night she said that she and dad had been thinking. Maybe they could just take the boys for the rest of the month. Normally, I would poo-poo such an idea. But I needed the help. So I took them up on it.
So for the past two weeks, mom has come over to pick up the boys, fed them breakfast & lunch and entertained them all day. I'd pick them up and they'd have a fort built in the living room with chairs and sheets. Or they'd be watching TV (which means dad couldn't watch the news). Or they'd be getting computer time on my parents' computer. That's a lot for my mom to take on. And also, when I'm 80, I doubt it will be real easy for me to have my space invaded every day for 2 weeks. Dad was awesome about it but I think it was a stretch for him.
On top of all of this, my mom would call up on days where she could tell I was getting pounded at work. She'd say, "How about you guys all eat dinner here tonight?" I tell you, when you need the help and someone sincerely offers it? It's just the most amazing feeling. So, very frequently, I have had full on home-cooked meals. I mean, meat, veggies, a full salad, some kind of bread. That's like Thanksgiving every DAY to me, folks!
The topper came today. On Sunday, I noticed things in my fridge were rather cool. Not cold. Cool. I thought perhaps I had left the fridge door cracked open while I went to church. But I had a feeling it was more. This morning, after cranking the dial up to coldest all night, it was still rather cool. And the freezer was cold. Not frozen. ARGH.
Mom came to get the boys and I was already pounding away at work. I told her quickly about my lack of cold food. She offered to call GE for me. Honestly, if she hadn't called them, I don't know when I would have had time to. And I'd have a fridge/freezer full of tepid bad food.
Mom got the model & serial numbers, called GE, told them the issues and made an appointment for tomorrow morning. Then, she called to offer a cooler full of ice and freezer packs. While she drove over, I called my next-door neighbor. She's a wonderful person and a good friend. I was hoping to just get a smidge of fridge/freezer space for my most vital perishables. Well, she has a full fridge/freezer in her garage that she uses to hold bottled water for her walks & workouts! It was EMPTY. And since I care for her dogs while she's gone, I have the code to her garage. She said, bring over your food.
So who do you think brought all the food over? Guess. Yup. MOM. She got my laundry basket and little red wagon and brought it all over there, load by load. And she brought me the ice chest so I could keep some milk and juice here for the morning.
Who's got the best parents in the whole freaking world?! That's RIGHT! BOO yah!
Oh and on a side note? My neighbor and I have decided we've stumbled onto the perfect weight-loss plan. It's called, "Move Your Food Over to Your Neighbor's House". Because after only an hour of the food being over there, it kept me from having ice cream I didn't need and from putting heavy cream in my coffee. We were joking that we might just switch out all our food. I mean A) you'd want to look healthy so you wouldn't want to store Oreos and Lindt dark chocolate at your neighbor's house. You'd be all [ding dong], "Oh yah, I was just stopping by for, like, four carrots." B) Even if you did have no shame and kept all the junk food, you wouldn't want to bug them every 15 minutes when you get bored or frustrated at work. So you'd only get the necessities like twice a day. It would keep that evil snacking thing way down. Yah, we're pretty sure we're on to something here.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Slip-N-Slide Saturday
Oh my goodness. When is the last time you just blew off a whole day setting up and playing with a Slip N Slide? Hmmm? Personally, I have never played with one. Yes, I've lived a sadly lacking life. Until this past weekend, that is.
When my Lil Sis Mom visited back in July, she gave Pokemon Boy a giant, three-lane Slip N Slide for his 8th birthday. We just set it up this past Saturday. It's a pain to set up and break down but man is it fun! It's not for anyone over 110 lbs (or 50 kg). Pokemon Boy made sure to point out to me that I was well over that limit. Ah the honesty of unjaded youth.
I couldn't launch myself down any of the lanes. But I found that the middle lane had water spouting on both sides. And the natural slope of my back yard formed some nice pools at one end of the thing. So I just plopped my self down, beached whale style, and laid there in the spray and shallow pools.The boys made up stories about a giant wave monster (me) that they had to attack with various planes (the inflatable body boards that come with it) or artillery (the inflatable flags that come with it). I was very happy to periodically flail my feet about to splash them. I nearly fell asleep on it a couple of times. Those things are very relaxing.
Anyway, here are some shots from our afternoon of slipping, sliding, splashing and almost napping.
PokemonBoy doing some kind of ninja move on me
Lil'Bro and a FreezerPop defining summer
Dork in hat
Very cute wet boy in sunglasses
Seriously, it's pretty hard to say no to this face
Oh man, this was serious amounts of relaxing!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Silly Putty, Get Thee Behind Me!
Our house is now a No Silly Putty zone. Until today, it was allowed but only in the kitchen, on the tile or counters. The boys knew it wasn't allowed on the rug since it got left on the upstairs carpet over night a while ago. But young kids being the literal beings they are, it never occurred to them that this rule also meant 'keep the stuff off my microfiber ottoman and anything else that isn't a hard non-porous surface'. Silly how they can't read my mind.So tonight, I finally tried the Getting Silly Putty Out of Microfiber Upholstery remedy that I found on the interweb (thank you Google and to whomever figured this remedy out and posted it all over the web). The remedy only talked about carpet. But I have to say, it is probably easier to execute on microfiber than carpet. I haven't tackled the upstairs carpet stain yet for that very reason.
A little rubbing alcohol on a damp washcloth takes the Silly Putty right out. It seems to have taken a bit of the microfiber dye, too (based on the tiny bit on the washcloth). But when it dries, I'll know for sure. It was bright yellow - the Silly Putty. The stuff on the upstairs carpet is that classic kind of weird lifeless pink stuff. Hopefully it won't stain.
So there's your home remedy tip for the day.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wish You Were Here - Part...uh...The Last One (I Promise!)
I shouldn't be up blogging. I should be putting my kids to bed. But it's the last of summer vacation so I'll be a bad mommy so I can share more pix with you guys. Because I know you're just dying to see more.
There is one last leg of our time in Boston. I think I left you with our petting farm experience in New Hampster, yes? Oh wait. I checked. When last we left our heroic vacationing family, they had just returned to Boston. The invasion of KimmyJo's condo had begun!
My junior year college roommate is one of the very few people I'm still tight with from that college. Our friendship was a total accident that can still make us laugh to this day. But that's another post entirely.
KimmyJo is brave enough to let us all crash in her two-bedroom condo. In all honesty, it was her cat Iverson who was brave. He is very shy normally but seemed to really enjoy having two exuberant little boys to play with.
Wed Aug 6th
Having just returned to Boston the night before, we did another late morning sleep in. KimmyJo had to head to work early so she tiptoed around the two inflatable mattresses and me on the couch. She left early for her 13+ hr nurse day.
We lounged around with Iverson and watched some TV. I figured the New England Aquarium would be less packed later in the day. I am an idiot. We got there after lunch only to wait a good 40 minutes in line just to get tickets to get IN! I asked the boys to let me just buy tickets for us to all go with KimmyJo the next day. They weren't having it. It was a rather expensive hour-long visit. But in all honesty, that's just about all the aquarium two young boys can handle.
After hemorrhaging money for the tickets, souvenirs and parking, we drove out west of Boston to visit my ex's cousins and their cornucopia of cute kids. They all rock. And one cousin had her first daughter the day before I had Pokemon Boy. I call them "Birth Buddies". They - both being eight - think I'm a dork. It was an awesome cookout and hang session. Their family rocks. I'm glad I can still weasel my way in via the kids. Hee!
We headed back to KimmyJo's pretty late. She was still wrapping up at the hospital. And, I come to find out, it's her birthday! 13 hour work day or not, we were getting her a CAKE. We stopped off at the local Whole Foods and purchased a small work of art there.
KimmyJo came home to find that Pokemon Boy had made a scavenger hunt for her - searching for little sticky notes with the names of Ben 10 aliens on them. I thought she might be too tired for such an adventure but she loved it. She's a good auntie! Lil'Bro presented her with her penguin magnet from the Aquarium. I presented her with a glass of red wine. It's the best I could do. And let me tell you, that cake ROCKED. KimmyJo told us that she doesn't often celebrate her birthday. So this was the best birthday she had had in a few years. That made us all feel good.
We all stayed up late talking and hanging out. A full and wonderful day.
Thu Aug 7th
KimmyJo took the next few days off. It was so cool to have her with us. We had another sleep-in morning. Iverson was in heaven with this many people hanging out. He would claim my bed (a made up couch) every time I got up. He's so cute, I couldn't displace him.
After dawdling as long as we could, we headed out to meet our friend Sue at the Boston Children's Museum. This is such an awesome place. When we moved to Austin, we couldn't wait to get to their Children's Museum thinking it would rock maybe even more - because, you know, they do everything big down here. Apparently, they don't do children's museums big...at least not in Austin. It was rather disappointing compared to the wonder we were used to in Boston. Come on Texas! Step it UP, people!
Let me tell you about the Ginormous Climby Thing! I have a bunch of pictures of it but they don't do justice to the absolute towering majesty of the thing. It's about three stories high, I think. It's hard to see in the pictures. But each platform is wavy and carpeted. The stuff that looks like cargo netting is that plastic coated cable stuff, all linked together.
Pokemon Boy went all the way to the top and back down, twice. And it takes a while with that many kids squirming through there.
Lil'Bro was just over powered by the bigger kids. He's not aggressive enough to shove his way through. So he made it about my height and then came back down.
But seriously, that Ginormous Climby Thing? I want one in my house. Which means I have to get a bigger house. Dang. I must work on this plan.
Here's a couple more shots from the Children's Museum:
Pokemon Boy in the Construction Zone.
Lil'Bro in the Construction Zone
Fri Aug 8th
Another decadent & luxurious late morning awakening. Oh how I miss those. KimmyJo had planned on driving us down to a place called Castle Island to give the boys a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. But alas, the torrential downpours that started about 10 minutes into our car ride derailed those plans. Fortunately for us, the heavens opened as we sat at a red light right next to the Boston Museum of Science. Alrighty then. Another museum it is!
That place is all sorts of crazy huge. Honestly, you could spend one day walking around each wing of the place. We only went to one wing, really. The Blue Wing - the one with the life-sized TRex. Don't worry. It wasn't alive.
We accidentally hit an exhibit of New England native animals in the Green Wing while looking for the food wing. So Trish, I got to see a moose! Granted, it was dead, stuffed and behind glass. But it was a moose none the less!!! My pictures of said moose were blurry. So here are cute shots of my kids hugging the black bear.
Pokemon Boy hugging the friendly dead ol' black bear. Awwwww. What a cute dead ol' bear!
Lil'Bro trying to hide his laughter because he was mad at having to stand by the dead ol' bear. But I got him to laugh.
Sat Aug 9th
Time to head home. A sad moment because we're leaving everyone. But all three of us were ready to get back home to Texas. That towering lush greenery every where gets real old. (I kid!)
Once again, the boys enjoyed JetBlue's kid drugs (TV). I was a bit TV'd out so I did my Sudoku for most of the trip. Left lots of little eraser shavings on and around my seat.
Oh but here's the coolest part of this day! When we were boarding the plane in Boston, Lil' Bro looked in the cockpit and asked, "Is that the driver?" Yup, I replied. That's the driver. "Wow," he remarked. "They have a lot of buttons!" This got a chuckle from the pilot and flight attendant standing there. The flight attendant saw we were in the 4th row and told me to hang back when we get to Austin and they'd have the boys go in to see the cockpit. Sweet!
The boys were awesome the whole flight. When we got to Austin, we hung out in our seats while the rest of the place filed out. Then we went forward. I thought they'd just let the boys stand in there and look around. Nope. The pilot put each boy into one of the pilot chairs! He let them push any button they wanted and wiggle the joy sticks! He even let them talk briefly over the intercom. They were in heaven. I was so psyched because I thought they didn't do that any more. So what an awesome capper to our whole vacation!
My BigSis and her TallHubby were waiting at baggage claim for us. I had left my car with them for the two weeks. My sister was sad to return it to me - she had been spoiled having her own car for two weeks. But they had it washed (inside and out!) for me. AND filled it with gas!!! I told them I'll have to go away more often!
Then I get home, and my mom had cleaned and vacuumed my house!!! If I could just figure out a way to go away every week. Do I have the best family or WHAT?
There is one last leg of our time in Boston. I think I left you with our petting farm experience in New Hampster, yes? Oh wait. I checked. When last we left our heroic vacationing family, they had just returned to Boston. The invasion of KimmyJo's condo had begun!
My junior year college roommate is one of the very few people I'm still tight with from that college. Our friendship was a total accident that can still make us laugh to this day. But that's another post entirely.KimmyJo is brave enough to let us all crash in her two-bedroom condo. In all honesty, it was her cat Iverson who was brave. He is very shy normally but seemed to really enjoy having two exuberant little boys to play with.
Wed Aug 6th
Having just returned to Boston the night before, we did another late morning sleep in. KimmyJo had to head to work early so she tiptoed around the two inflatable mattresses and me on the couch. She left early for her 13+ hr nurse day.
We lounged around with Iverson and watched some TV. I figured the New England Aquarium would be less packed later in the day. I am an idiot. We got there after lunch only to wait a good 40 minutes in line just to get tickets to get IN! I asked the boys to let me just buy tickets for us to all go with KimmyJo the next day. They weren't having it. It was a rather expensive hour-long visit. But in all honesty, that's just about all the aquarium two young boys can handle.
After hemorrhaging money for the tickets, souvenirs and parking, we drove out west of Boston to visit my ex's cousins and their cornucopia of cute kids. They all rock. And one cousin had her first daughter the day before I had Pokemon Boy. I call them "Birth Buddies". They - both being eight - think I'm a dork. It was an awesome cookout and hang session. Their family rocks. I'm glad I can still weasel my way in via the kids. Hee!
We headed back to KimmyJo's pretty late. She was still wrapping up at the hospital. And, I come to find out, it's her birthday! 13 hour work day or not, we were getting her a CAKE. We stopped off at the local Whole Foods and purchased a small work of art there.
KimmyJo came home to find that Pokemon Boy had made a scavenger hunt for her - searching for little sticky notes with the names of Ben 10 aliens on them. I thought she might be too tired for such an adventure but she loved it. She's a good auntie! Lil'Bro presented her with her penguin magnet from the Aquarium. I presented her with a glass of red wine. It's the best I could do. And let me tell you, that cake ROCKED. KimmyJo told us that she doesn't often celebrate her birthday. So this was the best birthday she had had in a few years. That made us all feel good.We all stayed up late talking and hanging out. A full and wonderful day.
Thu Aug 7th
KimmyJo took the next few days off. It was so cool to have her with us. We had another sleep-in morning. Iverson was in heaven with this many people hanging out. He would claim my bed (a made up couch) every time I got up. He's so cute, I couldn't displace him.
After dawdling as long as we could, we headed out to meet our friend Sue at the Boston Children's Museum. This is such an awesome place. When we moved to Austin, we couldn't wait to get to their Children's Museum thinking it would rock maybe even more - because, you know, they do everything big down here. Apparently, they don't do children's museums big...at least not in Austin. It was rather disappointing compared to the wonder we were used to in Boston. Come on Texas! Step it UP, people!
Let me tell you about the Ginormous Climby Thing! I have a bunch of pictures of it but they don't do justice to the absolute towering majesty of the thing. It's about three stories high, I think. It's hard to see in the pictures. But each platform is wavy and carpeted. The stuff that looks like cargo netting is that plastic coated cable stuff, all linked together.
Pokemon Boy went all the way to the top and back down, twice. And it takes a while with that many kids squirming through there.
Lil'Bro was just over powered by the bigger kids. He's not aggressive enough to shove his way through. So he made it about my height and then came back down.But seriously, that Ginormous Climby Thing? I want one in my house. Which means I have to get a bigger house. Dang. I must work on this plan.
Here's a couple more shots from the Children's Museum:
Pokemon Boy in the Construction Zone.
Lil'Bro in the Construction Zone
Fri Aug 8th
Another decadent & luxurious late morning awakening. Oh how I miss those. KimmyJo had planned on driving us down to a place called Castle Island to give the boys a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. But alas, the torrential downpours that started about 10 minutes into our car ride derailed those plans. Fortunately for us, the heavens opened as we sat at a red light right next to the Boston Museum of Science. Alrighty then. Another museum it is!
That place is all sorts of crazy huge. Honestly, you could spend one day walking around each wing of the place. We only went to one wing, really. The Blue Wing - the one with the life-sized TRex. Don't worry. It wasn't alive.
We accidentally hit an exhibit of New England native animals in the Green Wing while looking for the food wing. So Trish, I got to see a moose! Granted, it was dead, stuffed and behind glass. But it was a moose none the less!!! My pictures of said moose were blurry. So here are cute shots of my kids hugging the black bear.
Pokemon Boy hugging the friendly dead ol' black bear. Awwwww. What a cute dead ol' bear!
Lil'Bro trying to hide his laughter because he was mad at having to stand by the dead ol' bear. But I got him to laugh.
Sat Aug 9th
Time to head home. A sad moment because we're leaving everyone. But all three of us were ready to get back home to Texas. That towering lush greenery every where gets real old. (I kid!)
Once again, the boys enjoyed JetBlue's kid drugs (TV). I was a bit TV'd out so I did my Sudoku for most of the trip. Left lots of little eraser shavings on and around my seat.
Oh but here's the coolest part of this day! When we were boarding the plane in Boston, Lil' Bro looked in the cockpit and asked, "Is that the driver?" Yup, I replied. That's the driver. "Wow," he remarked. "They have a lot of buttons!" This got a chuckle from the pilot and flight attendant standing there. The flight attendant saw we were in the 4th row and told me to hang back when we get to Austin and they'd have the boys go in to see the cockpit. Sweet!
The boys were awesome the whole flight. When we got to Austin, we hung out in our seats while the rest of the place filed out. Then we went forward. I thought they'd just let the boys stand in there and look around. Nope. The pilot put each boy into one of the pilot chairs! He let them push any button they wanted and wiggle the joy sticks! He even let them talk briefly over the intercom. They were in heaven. I was so psyched because I thought they didn't do that any more. So what an awesome capper to our whole vacation!
My BigSis and her TallHubby were waiting at baggage claim for us. I had left my car with them for the two weeks. My sister was sad to return it to me - she had been spoiled having her own car for two weeks. But they had it washed (inside and out!) for me. AND filled it with gas!!! I told them I'll have to go away more often!
Then I get home, and my mom had cleaned and vacuumed my house!!! If I could just figure out a way to go away every week. Do I have the best family or WHAT?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Wish You Were Here - Part Deux
Now that I'm home, I can edit some pictures and regale you all with a very long winded account of more of our decadent two week vacation in New England. Ready? Actually, I have to go back and read where I left off. One moment...(insert Jeopardy music here)...
Ah yes:
Wed July 30th
No pictures for this day. Use your imaginations if you will. I dragged the boys to the car rental place and picked up our car. We got our things from the hotel, weeping a sad goodbye to the cushy luxury therein (sigh). We drove up to New Hampshire to my sister-in-law's house. I have to tell you, with all the rain they've been having along with the natural tendency for lush greenery, it was crazy towering green stuff. The tall green trees and soft grass were enough to make me start looking at all of the 'for sale' signs up there. Until - that is - I recall my sister-in-law calling me during our early Texas summer to complain about yet another 18 inch snow fall. Yick.
We got there safely and got to hang out with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Which is odd - it's my ex's sister. And we're best friends. So she's really my friend. But she's my kids' aunt. And she's technically not really my sister-in-law any more. Either way, we're still family to each other. It was awesome being with her and her family. They rock.
Thu July 31st - Fri Aug 1st
On Thursday, the boys, my kinda-sorta-sis-in-law and I drove to the NH/VT border to meet my former mother-in-law. She was treating us all to a night at this killer gorgeous lakeside resort. She got us a big huge room with a balcony over looking the lake, the docks, and the little beach. Man, this place rocks and we're already talking about next year.
This is a view of our room. Two queen beds and a fold out couch.
Check out this bathroom! It was bigger than some hotel rooms I've stayed in!
It was rainy and overcast but it's so gorgeous up there, who cares! They have the lake, an indoor pool (which we used when it rained), an outdoor pool (which we never found), tennis courts, bikes you can sign out, canoes, row boats & kayaks you can borrow. You can rent a pontoon boat tour of the lake (which we did), rent a speed boat for skiing, tubing and/or wake boarding (we all went tubing - even my boys!). They have pails & shovels for the kids to use on the beach. You can borrow life jackets for the wee ones. They have a full golf course and a daytime kids activity camp type thing in case the parents are golfing (or just lame parents who don't want to really vacation with their kids). It really is an amazing place.
This lake view is a panorama from 4 different shots I took from our balcony. It totally rocked.
On Friday afternoon, we said our goodbyes, packed up and headed back to New Hampster. But that short visit was one of the punctuation marks of our trip! Thanks Nana Linda!!!
Sat Aug 2nd
After our romp in Vermont, we were ready to do nothing. We spent the day running around barefooted in Auntie's backyard enjoying that soft soft New England grass. The boys fought over who got the hammock and whose turn had been too long. Five of my six nieces & nephews all showed up with their significant others for a cookout.
The men (and I use that term loosely) played horseshoes. My boys learned how to not run in front of someone hucking a large curved piece of metal. We relaxed in the myriad of outdoor lounge chairs.
Lil' Bro is a quick study when it comes to chilling.
One of my nieces has a 16 month old son with the same name as Pokemon Boy. So that was fun - calling for the Big or Little one. We made and ate way too much food and it was just an awesome time. I love that my boys got to see and be with so many family members.
Here's a shot of Pokemon Boy and Baby E. She one niece's first baby. Which is so weird because my niece was 4 when I met her and I still think of her as a little red headed 6 yr old!
Sun Aug 3rd
Good grief. I knew I should have kept a journal while I was up there. I honestly can't remember what we did this day. And I have no pictures from this day. Oh wait...it slowly returns. It was our first day with nothing to do. So we slept in. We got up late and took our sweet time getting started. More bare footed enjoyment of the afore mentioned soft grass was had. We drove...somewhere. Can't recall where. Man, I'm getting old in my old age.
We did stop at the cute little general store in the town center to visit a "kid" I've known since 1991. This kid is now like 23 and out of college and is about 37 feet tall. He's a really awesome guy. He was amused to meet my kids. And I was amused to think that he was about Pokemon Boy's age when I first met him. Phew. Things like that can make me feel old. Except for the fact that I refuse to mentally age beyond 23.
Sunday night, my nephew and his awesome girlfriend (keep her, dude!) came to hang with my boys. My sis & bro-in-law took me out to dinner. We had - get this - TexMex! In New Hampshire. And it was pretty good, too. I love enchiladas no matter where they were made.
Mon Aug 4th
We had another sleep in morning with a nice slow start. We finally had some clear weather (lots of rain while we were up there). So sis-in-law took the boys and me to a local petting farm. My boys love animals. As long as they're on TV or in a movie. When they see them up close and personal (and climbing all over you to get the bag of feed you have), they're not such huge fans. Lil' Bro spent the whole time in the chicken coop with his hands firmly planted in his pockets. He liked watching the eggs hatch (under glass). He wouldn't handle the young chicks that were there for handling. The roosters and chickens were ok because they were behind chicken wire.
The bunnies were petted by both boys. Bunnies are safe. They are too tired to jump on you. Or too traumatized by the other kids that just left, shrieking. And if they do jump on you? Come on. They're BUNNIES, for the love of Pete. So I was happy to see at least one animal willingly touched.
Pokemon Boy did actually pet one sheep through a fence. They are overly zealous in their greeting skills due to the afore mentioned bags of feed they give you when you enter the place. They hear or smell it and come running. And if a small child is between them and the bag of feed? Woe to the small child. Lil' Bro became a pinball between about 4 such hungry sheep. But he survived to tell the tale.
Here is Auntie/Sis-In-Law, Random Sheep, Pokemon Boy & Lil' Bro.
Tue Aug 5th
Everyone had to go back to work. So the boys and I slept in, did some laundry, packed up the car and headed back to Boston. I will save the last leg of our trip for another post because I have to get to bed.
Ah yes:
Wed July 30th
No pictures for this day. Use your imaginations if you will. I dragged the boys to the car rental place and picked up our car. We got our things from the hotel, weeping a sad goodbye to the cushy luxury therein (sigh). We drove up to New Hampshire to my sister-in-law's house. I have to tell you, with all the rain they've been having along with the natural tendency for lush greenery, it was crazy towering green stuff. The tall green trees and soft grass were enough to make me start looking at all of the 'for sale' signs up there. Until - that is - I recall my sister-in-law calling me during our early Texas summer to complain about yet another 18 inch snow fall. Yick.
We got there safely and got to hang out with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Which is odd - it's my ex's sister. And we're best friends. So she's really my friend. But she's my kids' aunt. And she's technically not really my sister-in-law any more. Either way, we're still family to each other. It was awesome being with her and her family. They rock.
Thu July 31st - Fri Aug 1st
On Thursday, the boys, my kinda-sorta-sis-in-law and I drove to the NH/VT border to meet my former mother-in-law. She was treating us all to a night at this killer gorgeous lakeside resort. She got us a big huge room with a balcony over looking the lake, the docks, and the little beach. Man, this place rocks and we're already talking about next year.
This is a view of our room. Two queen beds and a fold out couch.
Check out this bathroom! It was bigger than some hotel rooms I've stayed in!
It was rainy and overcast but it's so gorgeous up there, who cares! They have the lake, an indoor pool (which we used when it rained), an outdoor pool (which we never found), tennis courts, bikes you can sign out, canoes, row boats & kayaks you can borrow. You can rent a pontoon boat tour of the lake (which we did), rent a speed boat for skiing, tubing and/or wake boarding (we all went tubing - even my boys!). They have pails & shovels for the kids to use on the beach. You can borrow life jackets for the wee ones. They have a full golf course and a daytime kids activity camp type thing in case the parents are golfing (or just lame parents who don't want to really vacation with their kids). It really is an amazing place.
This lake view is a panorama from 4 different shots I took from our balcony. It totally rocked.
On Friday afternoon, we said our goodbyes, packed up and headed back to New Hampster. But that short visit was one of the punctuation marks of our trip! Thanks Nana Linda!!!
Sat Aug 2nd
After our romp in Vermont, we were ready to do nothing. We spent the day running around barefooted in Auntie's backyard enjoying that soft soft New England grass. The boys fought over who got the hammock and whose turn had been too long. Five of my six nieces & nephews all showed up with their significant others for a cookout.
The men (and I use that term loosely) played horseshoes. My boys learned how to not run in front of someone hucking a large curved piece of metal. We relaxed in the myriad of outdoor lounge chairs.
Lil' Bro is a quick study when it comes to chilling.
One of my nieces has a 16 month old son with the same name as Pokemon Boy. So that was fun - calling for the Big or Little one. We made and ate way too much food and it was just an awesome time. I love that my boys got to see and be with so many family members.
Here's a shot of Pokemon Boy and Baby E. She one niece's first baby. Which is so weird because my niece was 4 when I met her and I still think of her as a little red headed 6 yr old!
Sun Aug 3rd
Good grief. I knew I should have kept a journal while I was up there. I honestly can't remember what we did this day. And I have no pictures from this day. Oh wait...it slowly returns. It was our first day with nothing to do. So we slept in. We got up late and took our sweet time getting started. More bare footed enjoyment of the afore mentioned soft grass was had. We drove...somewhere. Can't recall where. Man, I'm getting old in my old age.
We did stop at the cute little general store in the town center to visit a "kid" I've known since 1991. This kid is now like 23 and out of college and is about 37 feet tall. He's a really awesome guy. He was amused to meet my kids. And I was amused to think that he was about Pokemon Boy's age when I first met him. Phew. Things like that can make me feel old. Except for the fact that I refuse to mentally age beyond 23.
Sunday night, my nephew and his awesome girlfriend (keep her, dude!) came to hang with my boys. My sis & bro-in-law took me out to dinner. We had - get this - TexMex! In New Hampshire. And it was pretty good, too. I love enchiladas no matter where they were made.
Mon Aug 4th
We had another sleep in morning with a nice slow start. We finally had some clear weather (lots of rain while we were up there). So sis-in-law took the boys and me to a local petting farm. My boys love animals. As long as they're on TV or in a movie. When they see them up close and personal (and climbing all over you to get the bag of feed you have), they're not such huge fans. Lil' Bro spent the whole time in the chicken coop with his hands firmly planted in his pockets. He liked watching the eggs hatch (under glass). He wouldn't handle the young chicks that were there for handling. The roosters and chickens were ok because they were behind chicken wire.
The bunnies were petted by both boys. Bunnies are safe. They are too tired to jump on you. Or too traumatized by the other kids that just left, shrieking. And if they do jump on you? Come on. They're BUNNIES, for the love of Pete. So I was happy to see at least one animal willingly touched.
Pokemon Boy did actually pet one sheep through a fence. They are overly zealous in their greeting skills due to the afore mentioned bags of feed they give you when you enter the place. They hear or smell it and come running. And if a small child is between them and the bag of feed? Woe to the small child. Lil' Bro became a pinball between about 4 such hungry sheep. But he survived to tell the tale.
Here is Auntie/Sis-In-Law, Random Sheep, Pokemon Boy & Lil' Bro.
Tue Aug 5th
Everyone had to go back to work. So the boys and I slept in, did some laundry, packed up the car and headed back to Boston. I will save the last leg of our trip for another post because I have to get to bed.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Wish You Were Here
Have I mentioned that I have the best travel companions in the world? The boys have proven to be amazing travelers. I was stressed about this trip because traveling alone with two kids, ages 8 and 4, rather sounds like a recipe for disaster. Not so. They have been amazing and we are having a GREAT time!
I'll give you some tidbits from the first part of our trip. I haven't downloaded the pictures from our recent foray into Vermont. So I'll just hit our first leg in Boston.
Sat July 26th
We flew from Texas to Boston. JetBlue rocks because of the free TV at every seat. I like to call it "Kid Drugs". The only peep out of kids are usually from little babies who can't clear their ears during take off and landing. My boys were awesome while waiting at the airport. They were awesome on the plane. They were awesome getting from the Boston airport to the hotel. They are enamored with taxis. They want to take one back to Texas. Riiiiight.
We stayed in a schwank hotel in Boston where dignitaries stay. We were in a small room but it was awesome and we loved it. It was central to everything we wanted to do.
Sun July 27th
The wonderful Trish and her Prince Charming came to our hotel to pick us up for church. The boys and I got to hang and see the Awesome Rowing Couple and their Amazing Three Year Old Girl (I have requested to arrange a marriage already).
After church, our good friend Art picked us up and took us back to our old 'hood to hang with him and his wife Alicia and their 2 1/2 week old twins! The twins are such good babies and are adorable. The boys loved holding them. We got to hang with them all day.
Pokemon Boy holding Baby M (the girl)
Lil' Bro holding Baby D (the boy)
Kristen, her husband A and her son R all came over a little later. R and Lil' Bro are the same age. They haven't seen each other since before they were two so it was an interesting reunion. Pokemon Boy and R got on famously, making silly faces for my camera. They all alternated between playing and holding the twins.
Kristen, R & Lil'Bro reading a book:
This was an awesome day because Trish, Alicia & Kristen have been the main pillars of my support from Boston. And I got to see all of them and their families. Total awesomeosity!
Mon July 28th
On Monday, I had to stop by my work office to drop off my laptop for fixing. I brought the kids and basically disrupted quite a few people's work day. It was lots of fun. Except one of my best friends and former bosses was out sick. Boo! But she hears about them all the time and actually instant messages with Pokemon Boy periodically. So it's not a huge heart break for her.
After the work stop, we got some lunch at a very fancy Boston eatery. Burger King. Oh yes. We travel all the way to Boston to hit Burger King. But limited budgets love that slop fest. And so do my kids because they are currently giving out Pokemon toys with the kids' meals.
We headed down the street to the Prudential building. One of the two tall towers in the Boston skyline. We went to the Skywalk observatory there and spent a couple of hours admiring the view and seeing the displays they have up there. It's much more amazing for adults but my kids were extremely patient and more interested than I had hoped. We had a really clear day for the view so I got to see my whole city.
After the Pru, we walked back toward the hotel (a long walk for a 4 yr old). It took us quite a while and we stopped in little stores here and there. Of course, we stopped in a Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream because, well, it's a Vermont company and I like to pretend the ice cream tastes fresher when you eat it in New England.
We also stopped by the Hancock Tower to take some cool pictures. That building is a fun buildling to photograph. Here are a few shots of us and that famous landmark.
Pokemon Boy & Hancock Tower
Lil'Bro & Hancock Tower
That pretty much took up our energy for the day. We met up with the boys' dad for dinner, which we all enjoyed. Then it was back to the hotel for TV and bed.
Tue July 29th
Tuesday morning, Pokemon Boy and I had an appointment with some people that run a Harvard study. We have been part of this study since I was pregnant with Pokemon Boy back in 1999. It was a 3 hr appointment full of testing and measuring for both of us. Pokemon Boy had some blood drawn, too. He was very brave. Lil' Bro stayed at the hotel with his dad.
After the appointment, Pokemon Boy and I met up with my ex, Lil' Bro and my college roomate, KimmyJo. We all had lunch together and hung out. KimmyJo hadn't seen my ex since it all began and told me she had imagined all of these things to say to him but they all just disappeared when she saw us all. My take is, I don't waste the energy any more. I have those same fantasies but I'm sure they are much more detailed and mean. But I just deal with him as the guy he is at the moment. Plus, KimmyJo is a real God-person so she knows about grace and forgiveness. It was nice to see it in action and they both had a genuinely nice visit.
The ex had to leave. We walked KimmyJo to Park Street station and parted ways. Then I took the boys to the Swan Boats in the Public Gardens. Man, I lived there for 20 years and only rode them once. They are so pretty and so fun. I like being a tourist in my old home town.
Self Portrait on Swan Boat
Pokemon Boy on Swan Boat
Lil'Bro on Swan Boat
All the walking wore us down. We went back to the hotel for computer time, TV and a quick power nap for mommy. The boys and I dined by ourselves at a nearby California Pizza Kitchen place. It was a good day.
More about New Hampshire & Vermont later.
I'll give you some tidbits from the first part of our trip. I haven't downloaded the pictures from our recent foray into Vermont. So I'll just hit our first leg in Boston.
Sat July 26th
We flew from Texas to Boston. JetBlue rocks because of the free TV at every seat. I like to call it "Kid Drugs". The only peep out of kids are usually from little babies who can't clear their ears during take off and landing. My boys were awesome while waiting at the airport. They were awesome on the plane. They were awesome getting from the Boston airport to the hotel. They are enamored with taxis. They want to take one back to Texas. Riiiiight.We stayed in a schwank hotel in Boston where dignitaries stay. We were in a small room but it was awesome and we loved it. It was central to everything we wanted to do.
Sun July 27th
The wonderful Trish and her Prince Charming came to our hotel to pick us up for church. The boys and I got to hang and see the Awesome Rowing Couple and their Amazing Three Year Old Girl (I have requested to arrange a marriage already).
After church, our good friend Art picked us up and took us back to our old 'hood to hang with him and his wife Alicia and their 2 1/2 week old twins! The twins are such good babies and are adorable. The boys loved holding them. We got to hang with them all day.
Pokemon Boy holding Baby M (the girl)
Lil' Bro holding Baby D (the boy)
Kristen, her husband A and her son R all came over a little later. R and Lil' Bro are the same age. They haven't seen each other since before they were two so it was an interesting reunion. Pokemon Boy and R got on famously, making silly faces for my camera. They all alternated between playing and holding the twins.
Kristen, R & Lil'Bro reading a book:
This was an awesome day because Trish, Alicia & Kristen have been the main pillars of my support from Boston. And I got to see all of them and their families. Total awesomeosity!
Mon July 28th
On Monday, I had to stop by my work office to drop off my laptop for fixing. I brought the kids and basically disrupted quite a few people's work day. It was lots of fun. Except one of my best friends and former bosses was out sick. Boo! But she hears about them all the time and actually instant messages with Pokemon Boy periodically. So it's not a huge heart break for her.
After the work stop, we got some lunch at a very fancy Boston eatery. Burger King. Oh yes. We travel all the way to Boston to hit Burger King. But limited budgets love that slop fest. And so do my kids because they are currently giving out Pokemon toys with the kids' meals.
We headed down the street to the Prudential building. One of the two tall towers in the Boston skyline. We went to the Skywalk observatory there and spent a couple of hours admiring the view and seeing the displays they have up there. It's much more amazing for adults but my kids were extremely patient and more interested than I had hoped. We had a really clear day for the view so I got to see my whole city.After the Pru, we walked back toward the hotel (a long walk for a 4 yr old). It took us quite a while and we stopped in little stores here and there. Of course, we stopped in a Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream because, well, it's a Vermont company and I like to pretend the ice cream tastes fresher when you eat it in New England.
We also stopped by the Hancock Tower to take some cool pictures. That building is a fun buildling to photograph. Here are a few shots of us and that famous landmark.
Pokemon Boy & Hancock Tower
Lil'Bro & Hancock Tower
That pretty much took up our energy for the day. We met up with the boys' dad for dinner, which we all enjoyed. Then it was back to the hotel for TV and bed.
Tue July 29th
Tuesday morning, Pokemon Boy and I had an appointment with some people that run a Harvard study. We have been part of this study since I was pregnant with Pokemon Boy back in 1999. It was a 3 hr appointment full of testing and measuring for both of us. Pokemon Boy had some blood drawn, too. He was very brave. Lil' Bro stayed at the hotel with his dad.
After the appointment, Pokemon Boy and I met up with my ex, Lil' Bro and my college roomate, KimmyJo. We all had lunch together and hung out. KimmyJo hadn't seen my ex since it all began and told me she had imagined all of these things to say to him but they all just disappeared when she saw us all. My take is, I don't waste the energy any more. I have those same fantasies but I'm sure they are much more detailed and mean. But I just deal with him as the guy he is at the moment. Plus, KimmyJo is a real God-person so she knows about grace and forgiveness. It was nice to see it in action and they both had a genuinely nice visit.
The ex had to leave. We walked KimmyJo to Park Street station and parted ways. Then I took the boys to the Swan Boats in the Public Gardens. Man, I lived there for 20 years and only rode them once. They are so pretty and so fun. I like being a tourist in my old home town.
Self Portrait on Swan Boat
Pokemon Boy on Swan Boat
Lil'Bro on Swan Boat
All the walking wore us down. We went back to the hotel for computer time, TV and a quick power nap for mommy. The boys and I dined by ourselves at a nearby California Pizza Kitchen place. It was a good day.
More about New Hampshire & Vermont later.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Feh and Fun
Feh:
Tuesday, July 22nd, a nice judge signed this big fat legal document. I am officially single. I have officially re-entered name-changing hell. It was all fun the first time. Wee! I'm Mrs. So-an-so!!! Not so much the 2nd time around. Feh.
Fun:
Tomorrow morning...or looking at the clock...later this morning my boys and I will be hopping on a plane to Boston. Even though the full-on 100% EX is up there, it's still home-town to me and my boys. They haven't seen it since 2005. I want to show them off. I want to get my work laptop fixed. I want to eat seafood that was pulled from the ocean mere minutes before it flopped on my plate. I want killer Vietnamese and Indian food. And Thai, now that I'm thinking of it. TexMex rocks. BBQ rocks. But my taste buds are craving real New England clam chowdah. Wikkid yah!
I may or may not have access to my work laptop while up there. It will be getting fixed at some point. So I may not post again for a while. But bottom line is - I'm fine. Much better emotionally. Work has eased up a bit. I'm off the meds again and feeling stable. My parents rock. My church rocks. My neighbors rock. All y'all rock.
See you on the flip side when I'm craving some killer BBQ and authentic TexMex!
Tuesday, July 22nd, a nice judge signed this big fat legal document. I am officially single. I have officially re-entered name-changing hell. It was all fun the first time. Wee! I'm Mrs. So-an-so!!! Not so much the 2nd time around. Feh.
Fun:
Tomorrow morning...or looking at the clock...later this morning my boys and I will be hopping on a plane to Boston. Even though the full-on 100% EX is up there, it's still home-town to me and my boys. They haven't seen it since 2005. I want to show them off. I want to get my work laptop fixed. I want to eat seafood that was pulled from the ocean mere minutes before it flopped on my plate. I want killer Vietnamese and Indian food. And Thai, now that I'm thinking of it. TexMex rocks. BBQ rocks. But my taste buds are craving real New England clam chowdah. Wikkid yah!
I may or may not have access to my work laptop while up there. It will be getting fixed at some point. So I may not post again for a while. But bottom line is - I'm fine. Much better emotionally. Work has eased up a bit. I'm off the meds again and feeling stable. My parents rock. My church rocks. My neighbors rock. All y'all rock.
See you on the flip side when I'm craving some killer BBQ and authentic TexMex!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Fambly and Such
Good gravy! I have had NO time. I'm for serious, dude.
After Pokemon Boy's birthday, it was non stop. Work became hellarific for a bit there. To the point I started wondering whether I could quit and find a job and keep my house and current lifestyle. But God somehow kept me from doing anything stupid. He got me through it. Man, I have to tell you, he keeps putting me on projects with the most wonderfully helpful and supportive coworkers. Honestly, it's nuts!
I think I mentioned that I was split over two very intense projects. They are each the kind of project you really need to give 100% to. I was - in theory - 75% on one and 25% on the other. On paper, very nice. In reality, didn't happen. So a while ago, I think I sent up one of my myriad frantic prayers akin to "HELP!" Yesterday, I got news that the 75% people were letting me go. So now I'm 100% on one project. So I can finally start training, learning, ramping up and actually producing on that project. It was just a HUGE relief.
But on both projects, I found such wonderfully supportive friends. Everyone I have encountered on both projects is willing to stop and help each other. I know that's how it should be. But that's not how it always is. So when I get that, I am hugely appreciative. God keeps putting me with real cream-o-the-crop types.
So work has calmed to a dull roar for the moment. It's busy but not soul-crushing any more.
My sister was here over the last week. This is my half-sister from Oklahoma - Lil Sis Mom who visited back in March. This time, her hubby and step-daughter stayed home. The wee baby is now 7 months old, totally interactive and a giant drool factory. She was very into the boys. It was just great to have them all here. I had to work but Lil Sis Mom handled her three and my two like it was no big deal. I learned a lot about how to be firm with kids. She has a way about her where she can just snap those kids into action. So I took notes and have tried it out a few times. Just the "I am SO not kidding" kind of tone. My boys learned real fast that she wasn't kidding. And they now know that neither am I! It's amazing how far that can go. Without being mean or threatening. Just a no nonsense approach where you don't give them the option of negotiating. I think I have been a bit soft on them because of the whole divorce guilt thing.
Anyway, once again, I had a house full of guests and it was really awesome. Our two families blend really well. And Lil Sis Mom came to help me. She knows this divorce thing. She's been through one that makes mine look like a cake walk. She knows where I am in my walk. So she came down to help me. So not only did she juggle a nursing 7 month old, my two boys, her 9 yr old and her 13 yr old, but she managed to do laundry for everyone, keep dishes clean, vacuum my house, pick up the toy explosion that was my house, take the kids to the pool - by herSELF!....she amazes me.
They were here mostly for Pokemon Boy's party on the 12th. No one is ever around on the day of his birthday - July 5th. So we hit the next weekend. It was a fun time at a local inflatable place. My 42 yr old body had a rough recovery after a few hours on the bouncy things. But I had a great time.
I have no pictures yet. My camera was being repaired. Pokemon Boy's dad was there so I will eventually have some pix.
And on the divorce front, the papers will be signed in court on next Tuesday. Very odd.
After Pokemon Boy's birthday, it was non stop. Work became hellarific for a bit there. To the point I started wondering whether I could quit and find a job and keep my house and current lifestyle. But God somehow kept me from doing anything stupid. He got me through it. Man, I have to tell you, he keeps putting me on projects with the most wonderfully helpful and supportive coworkers. Honestly, it's nuts!
I think I mentioned that I was split over two very intense projects. They are each the kind of project you really need to give 100% to. I was - in theory - 75% on one and 25% on the other. On paper, very nice. In reality, didn't happen. So a while ago, I think I sent up one of my myriad frantic prayers akin to "HELP!" Yesterday, I got news that the 75% people were letting me go. So now I'm 100% on one project. So I can finally start training, learning, ramping up and actually producing on that project. It was just a HUGE relief.
But on both projects, I found such wonderfully supportive friends. Everyone I have encountered on both projects is willing to stop and help each other. I know that's how it should be. But that's not how it always is. So when I get that, I am hugely appreciative. God keeps putting me with real cream-o-the-crop types.
So work has calmed to a dull roar for the moment. It's busy but not soul-crushing any more.
My sister was here over the last week. This is my half-sister from Oklahoma - Lil Sis Mom who visited back in March. This time, her hubby and step-daughter stayed home. The wee baby is now 7 months old, totally interactive and a giant drool factory. She was very into the boys. It was just great to have them all here. I had to work but Lil Sis Mom handled her three and my two like it was no big deal. I learned a lot about how to be firm with kids. She has a way about her where she can just snap those kids into action. So I took notes and have tried it out a few times. Just the "I am SO not kidding" kind of tone. My boys learned real fast that she wasn't kidding. And they now know that neither am I! It's amazing how far that can go. Without being mean or threatening. Just a no nonsense approach where you don't give them the option of negotiating. I think I have been a bit soft on them because of the whole divorce guilt thing.
Anyway, once again, I had a house full of guests and it was really awesome. Our two families blend really well. And Lil Sis Mom came to help me. She knows this divorce thing. She's been through one that makes mine look like a cake walk. She knows where I am in my walk. So she came down to help me. So not only did she juggle a nursing 7 month old, my two boys, her 9 yr old and her 13 yr old, but she managed to do laundry for everyone, keep dishes clean, vacuum my house, pick up the toy explosion that was my house, take the kids to the pool - by herSELF!....she amazes me.
They were here mostly for Pokemon Boy's party on the 12th. No one is ever around on the day of his birthday - July 5th. So we hit the next weekend. It was a fun time at a local inflatable place. My 42 yr old body had a rough recovery after a few hours on the bouncy things. But I had a great time.
I have no pictures yet. My camera was being repaired. Pokemon Boy's dad was there so I will eventually have some pix.
And on the divorce front, the papers will be signed in court on next Tuesday. Very odd.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Happy Birthday Pokemon Boy
Eight years ago, all the fireworks on the 4th of July were just to announce that Pokemon Boy would be born the next morning.
I remember when they handed me my little swaddled football, I couldn't believe I was finally seeing this little face. Nine months of wondering what he would look like. Tons of ultrasounds to make sure everything was ok showed us a very distinctive little nose. And here it was in the flesh. Just like in the ultrasounds. Too stinkin' adorable.
I remember feeling weird calling him by his name. Don't know why. So for a few days, I just called him "Baby". But with a capital B. I would hold him and smell the top of his head. I would hold him and and not want to send him back to the nursery. I was terrified they'd mix him up with someone else's baby. Or someone would take him. Fortunately, God erased that fear over the next few years.
He was tiny and a miracle. I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant. And if I did, I wouldn't carry full term. Those doctor's didn't count on God or my acupuncturist. We found out, in utero, that he had renal reflux - a condition allowing the urine to shoot back up into the kidneys. Untreated, it causes kidney damage and possibly failure. But God made sure we knew about it before he was born. The doctors warned us that this can get serious pretty quick. Or they can outgrow it. I had the same thing as an infant and lost one kidney. I doubted he'd outgrow it. Kidney issues can stunt your growth. Again, the doctors didn't count on God or my acupuncturist.
Over the next three years, Pokemon Boy thrived. He grew normally in the 75th percentile - so a smidge above average. His kidneys kept amazing the doctors. Just before his 3rd birthday, we saw a tiny bit of kidney damage in one of the tests so we had the corrective surgery done. We just happened to have one of the top pediatric urologists in the country assigned to Pokemon Boy. Yah...just "happened", eh? The surgery was successful and Pokemon Boy recovered quickly. He was off daily antibiotics by the age of four.
The kidney issues are done and gone. His diagnosis with Tourette's Syndrome in 2006 seemed so awful at the time. Visions of the worst end of the spectrum filled our heads. Even I didn't count on what God would do at that time. Pokemon Boy's Tourette's has been so mild. God has blessed him with a very keen awareness and control over his body. We are still praying for a full healing from Tourette's. Might sound crazy. But I'm resting in faith and also on what God has already done there.
Pokemon Boy is funny. He is so sensitive and loving. He is smart to the point of brilliance. He has a very strong faith in God and turns to prayer when scared. I love that most of all. He is a worrier. He wants things his way. He has big dreams of being a teacher or composer. He loves Pokemon, Ben 10, space exploration, numbers, and Calvin & Hobbes. Family is immensely important to him. He is handling the dumb divorce with grace and maturity that can only be from God. He still thinks I'm beautiful.
July 4th is always cool. This year I was very aware of my freedom. But July 5th will always eclipse that for me. It's the day I became a mom. It's the day God showed me I had no clue how deep love could be.
Thank you God for making me the mom of these two wonderful boys.
*Sadly I have no pictures. My camera died. I'll have some pix from his party this coming weekend.
I remember when they handed me my little swaddled football, I couldn't believe I was finally seeing this little face. Nine months of wondering what he would look like. Tons of ultrasounds to make sure everything was ok showed us a very distinctive little nose. And here it was in the flesh. Just like in the ultrasounds. Too stinkin' adorable.
I remember feeling weird calling him by his name. Don't know why. So for a few days, I just called him "Baby". But with a capital B. I would hold him and smell the top of his head. I would hold him and and not want to send him back to the nursery. I was terrified they'd mix him up with someone else's baby. Or someone would take him. Fortunately, God erased that fear over the next few years.
He was tiny and a miracle. I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant. And if I did, I wouldn't carry full term. Those doctor's didn't count on God or my acupuncturist. We found out, in utero, that he had renal reflux - a condition allowing the urine to shoot back up into the kidneys. Untreated, it causes kidney damage and possibly failure. But God made sure we knew about it before he was born. The doctors warned us that this can get serious pretty quick. Or they can outgrow it. I had the same thing as an infant and lost one kidney. I doubted he'd outgrow it. Kidney issues can stunt your growth. Again, the doctors didn't count on God or my acupuncturist.
Over the next three years, Pokemon Boy thrived. He grew normally in the 75th percentile - so a smidge above average. His kidneys kept amazing the doctors. Just before his 3rd birthday, we saw a tiny bit of kidney damage in one of the tests so we had the corrective surgery done. We just happened to have one of the top pediatric urologists in the country assigned to Pokemon Boy. Yah...just "happened", eh? The surgery was successful and Pokemon Boy recovered quickly. He was off daily antibiotics by the age of four.
The kidney issues are done and gone. His diagnosis with Tourette's Syndrome in 2006 seemed so awful at the time. Visions of the worst end of the spectrum filled our heads. Even I didn't count on what God would do at that time. Pokemon Boy's Tourette's has been so mild. God has blessed him with a very keen awareness and control over his body. We are still praying for a full healing from Tourette's. Might sound crazy. But I'm resting in faith and also on what God has already done there.
Pokemon Boy is funny. He is so sensitive and loving. He is smart to the point of brilliance. He has a very strong faith in God and turns to prayer when scared. I love that most of all. He is a worrier. He wants things his way. He has big dreams of being a teacher or composer. He loves Pokemon, Ben 10, space exploration, numbers, and Calvin & Hobbes. Family is immensely important to him. He is handling the dumb divorce with grace and maturity that can only be from God. He still thinks I'm beautiful.
July 4th is always cool. This year I was very aware of my freedom. But July 5th will always eclipse that for me. It's the day I became a mom. It's the day God showed me I had no clue how deep love could be.
Thank you God for making me the mom of these two wonderful boys.
*Sadly I have no pictures. My camera died. I'll have some pix from his party this coming weekend.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Klergin Blats
I had to go read my last post to see where I had left you all with this.
Trusting God: I'm into this. Trusting gifts God has given others: I'm also into this.
Last week (and a few weeks before), I was extremely fractured. Emotionally. I was so scattered, I didn't have the clarity to figure out escape routes in life. I was flailing at work and entering panic mode because it didn't dawn on me to stop, sit with my managers and form a plan. Because I was panicked. And I thought I was flailing at work simply because my emotions were about to create a black hole from which nothing could escape.
Friday - when I wrote that last post - I was doing better than I had in weeks. Saturday was rough. I spent the whole day with the core of my church family learning about the gifts of the Holy Spirit - what they are, how to seek them and how to use them. So you can imagine that, in that context, I was feeling a lot of pressure to use God and not any meds. I wasn't being pressured by anyone but myself. But I felt the pressure, either way. I wanted to trust enough. I didn't want to lean on meds. I felt like I'd be showing a lack of faith in God if I went to my meds. Even after my friend GuitarDad sat down at lunch and said, "Look, I just want to tell you, if I broke my leg? I'd be in the ER asking for pain meds. And I'd take them. OK?" I knew what he was saying. Modern medicine had saved my life and Pokemon Boy's life. And the lives of tons of people in my life. But what to do. What to do.
And every hour, I got closer to freak out mode. Even though I had a wonderful time with my church at the seminar and learned tons and felt spiritually enriched, I was still faltering.
Sunday I woke up exhausted after a night of broken sleep and LOTS of prayer. Every time I woke up, I just started praying. I don't know what was going on. If you've ever had that nervous stomach just before giving a speech or presentation or performing? I had basically been having that almost every two minutes for about a week by this time. After a night of bad sleep, I was primed for who knows what kind of emotional meltdown. I woke up feeling kind of numb. Which is better than the anxious feeling. But every mile closer I got to church, I felt more and more oppressed. More and more panic. More and more feeling like crying.
I got there and set up the food. I was supposed to assist in the nursery. My wonderful friend TallGorgeousLady recognized my meltdown mode. She helped me find someone to sub in the nursery for me. It was heaven to just sit in the sanctuary listening to our guest pastor speak. And to just worship as part of the congregation.
Afterwards, I took Pokemon Boy up for prayer. He has been having some rather interesting spiritual experiences that leave him uncomfortable. If it makes your skin crawl, it ain't God. So I asked him if he'd let me take him up for prayer. I took him up to a group that was praying over some people and waited. Some of our most fervent praying people were there and I wanted their faith on my kid! We started out with about 5 of us around Pokemon Boy. We prayed for spiritual protection. We prayed for total healing of his Tourette's. We prayed for emotional healing and protection due to the divorce. As the prayer continued, I felt more and more hands resting on Pokemon Boy or me. By the time we finished, there was a nice little group surrounding us. Pokemon Boy is very special to a lot of people at my church. I think my little family as a whole is. My church feels very protective about us - especially because of the broken family thing we're dealing with.
I think Pokemon Boy was a little embarrassed but he stood still for most of it and I know he totally believes in prayer and was ok with it over all. I was really excited that he allowed that. I love that he really trusts in God and his people.
So after that, I talked to a friend and told her how I was wrestling with the meds or God thing. She was so awesome and told me her own story and how she takes meds and it doesn't dampen her link with God. I mean, come on - like some drug could block the Creator of All Things? Yah right.
Well, that night, I just couldn't take it any more. I cannot live with that panic at the base of my neck. I can't live with that constant nervous pit in my stomach. I can't take the overwhelming sense of mopiness. I couldn't formulate a thought. I couldn't think straight. I was terrified I would lose my job. I was terrified I couldn't get my tasks at work done. I was terrified I would lose my house. I was terrified of not being able to provide for my kids. I don't like living in fear. That ain't me.
I opened the CVS bag.
I took the meds.
I prayed a lot.
Monday, I was able to focus at work. I repeated the steps above.
Tuesday, I was able to put a few thoughts together that said, hey, sit with your bosses and show them your overloaded plate. That's their job, dude! Then I got one of the big tasks finished which made me feel like, oh yah, I actually have a brain! Lather, rinse, repeat.
Today, I felt the closest to normal I have in a long time. I'm about to go take my meds and get in bed with the bible again. I haven't been calm enough to do that since last week. This is a good thing.
I don't think God wants anyone to live in constant panic or depression. I think God was glad I asked him to handle it. But I think he gave me access to doctors and this medication because he knew I needed it. Just like I'd need a doctor to set my leg if I broke it. Yes, God can heal a broken mind. He can heal a broken leg. I don't pretend to know when and why he works those miracles and why sometimes we go to a doctor. I'm still asking him about that. We'll see what he tells me.
In the mean time, my doctor and her nurse rock. They've both walked this path. Sadly, so has my pharmacist. My church still prays for the protection and healing of my little family. And they support me whether I'm trying to rely on God for healing or I'm asking a doctor to help. And my mom is just so glad that I'm not spiraling down any more. I can see the relief on her face. She was worried. It is very hard to express that concern to your grown daughter. But she did - in her own way. Because she was there bailing me out every single day. Taking the boys, making us dinner, making sure she checked in with me every day.
God rocks. My mom rocks. My church rocks.
Not quite out of the woods yet. But I take comfort in the fact that I'm out of the cess pool.
Trusting God: I'm into this. Trusting gifts God has given others: I'm also into this.
Last week (and a few weeks before), I was extremely fractured. Emotionally. I was so scattered, I didn't have the clarity to figure out escape routes in life. I was flailing at work and entering panic mode because it didn't dawn on me to stop, sit with my managers and form a plan. Because I was panicked. And I thought I was flailing at work simply because my emotions were about to create a black hole from which nothing could escape.
Friday - when I wrote that last post - I was doing better than I had in weeks. Saturday was rough. I spent the whole day with the core of my church family learning about the gifts of the Holy Spirit - what they are, how to seek them and how to use them. So you can imagine that, in that context, I was feeling a lot of pressure to use God and not any meds. I wasn't being pressured by anyone but myself. But I felt the pressure, either way. I wanted to trust enough. I didn't want to lean on meds. I felt like I'd be showing a lack of faith in God if I went to my meds. Even after my friend GuitarDad sat down at lunch and said, "Look, I just want to tell you, if I broke my leg? I'd be in the ER asking for pain meds. And I'd take them. OK?" I knew what he was saying. Modern medicine had saved my life and Pokemon Boy's life. And the lives of tons of people in my life. But what to do. What to do.
And every hour, I got closer to freak out mode. Even though I had a wonderful time with my church at the seminar and learned tons and felt spiritually enriched, I was still faltering.
Sunday I woke up exhausted after a night of broken sleep and LOTS of prayer. Every time I woke up, I just started praying. I don't know what was going on. If you've ever had that nervous stomach just before giving a speech or presentation or performing? I had basically been having that almost every two minutes for about a week by this time. After a night of bad sleep, I was primed for who knows what kind of emotional meltdown. I woke up feeling kind of numb. Which is better than the anxious feeling. But every mile closer I got to church, I felt more and more oppressed. More and more panic. More and more feeling like crying.
I got there and set up the food. I was supposed to assist in the nursery. My wonderful friend TallGorgeousLady recognized my meltdown mode. She helped me find someone to sub in the nursery for me. It was heaven to just sit in the sanctuary listening to our guest pastor speak. And to just worship as part of the congregation.
Afterwards, I took Pokemon Boy up for prayer. He has been having some rather interesting spiritual experiences that leave him uncomfortable. If it makes your skin crawl, it ain't God. So I asked him if he'd let me take him up for prayer. I took him up to a group that was praying over some people and waited. Some of our most fervent praying people were there and I wanted their faith on my kid! We started out with about 5 of us around Pokemon Boy. We prayed for spiritual protection. We prayed for total healing of his Tourette's. We prayed for emotional healing and protection due to the divorce. As the prayer continued, I felt more and more hands resting on Pokemon Boy or me. By the time we finished, there was a nice little group surrounding us. Pokemon Boy is very special to a lot of people at my church. I think my little family as a whole is. My church feels very protective about us - especially because of the broken family thing we're dealing with.
I think Pokemon Boy was a little embarrassed but he stood still for most of it and I know he totally believes in prayer and was ok with it over all. I was really excited that he allowed that. I love that he really trusts in God and his people.
So after that, I talked to a friend and told her how I was wrestling with the meds or God thing. She was so awesome and told me her own story and how she takes meds and it doesn't dampen her link with God. I mean, come on - like some drug could block the Creator of All Things? Yah right.
Well, that night, I just couldn't take it any more. I cannot live with that panic at the base of my neck. I can't live with that constant nervous pit in my stomach. I can't take the overwhelming sense of mopiness. I couldn't formulate a thought. I couldn't think straight. I was terrified I would lose my job. I was terrified I couldn't get my tasks at work done. I was terrified I would lose my house. I was terrified of not being able to provide for my kids. I don't like living in fear. That ain't me.
I opened the CVS bag.
I took the meds.
I prayed a lot.
Monday, I was able to focus at work. I repeated the steps above.
Tuesday, I was able to put a few thoughts together that said, hey, sit with your bosses and show them your overloaded plate. That's their job, dude! Then I got one of the big tasks finished which made me feel like, oh yah, I actually have a brain! Lather, rinse, repeat.
Today, I felt the closest to normal I have in a long time. I'm about to go take my meds and get in bed with the bible again. I haven't been calm enough to do that since last week. This is a good thing.
I don't think God wants anyone to live in constant panic or depression. I think God was glad I asked him to handle it. But I think he gave me access to doctors and this medication because he knew I needed it. Just like I'd need a doctor to set my leg if I broke it. Yes, God can heal a broken mind. He can heal a broken leg. I don't pretend to know when and why he works those miracles and why sometimes we go to a doctor. I'm still asking him about that. We'll see what he tells me.
In the mean time, my doctor and her nurse rock. They've both walked this path. Sadly, so has my pharmacist. My church still prays for the protection and healing of my little family. And they support me whether I'm trying to rely on God for healing or I'm asking a doctor to help. And my mom is just so glad that I'm not spiraling down any more. I can see the relief on her face. She was worried. It is very hard to express that concern to your grown daughter. But she did - in her own way. Because she was there bailing me out every single day. Taking the boys, making us dinner, making sure she checked in with me every day.
God rocks. My mom rocks. My church rocks.
Not quite out of the woods yet. But I take comfort in the fact that I'm out of the cess pool.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Number 952 In A Series of Why God Rocks
So my last post was written on a day when I felt like my skin would pretty much just crawl off my body. I don't know if any of you have ever experienced profound depression (or ANY depression) and/or anxiety. I thought I had. You know, when you're 17 and the boy you like is totally in love with someone way more gorgeous and sparkly than you? Oh yes, I thought I had felt depression. I never really felt like I experienced anxiety, though.
I'll confess: before last year, I had thought that most people that said they were depressed or had anxiety attacks were either drama queens/kings or they were just plain weak and didn't feel like coping. And I deeply apologize to anyone out there that feels like traveling back in time and slapping that me. That me should have been slapped. That me DID get slapped. Trust me. God took care of it for you.
Last year, I understood profound depression and anxiety. Actually, depression I had experienced when my father died 10 days before my 12th birthday. But I didn't fully experience it because my 12 yr old self just squashed it away until I could process the loss and grieve when I was more like...oh...I think I was about 19?
Man, I am ALL over the place with this one.
Suffice to say - 2007 was my introduction to what depression and anxiety could do to you. Separately, they blow. Together, they blow chunks. But being in that arrogant state of mind I was in, I refused to even think of taking meds. Meds were for weak people. Meds were for all those people they showed on Zoloft commercials. At one point, when I was completely non functioning as a member of society, someone gave me a Xanex or something. I was completely blown away at how it settled me, allowed me to gather the scattered pieces in my mind, focus and function.
I went to my doc and tearfully explained my situation. She wondered why I had waited so many months. I explained my arrogance. I am sadly not unique.
So I got my meds. A big ol' bottle. I took them only for emergencies. I think I took about 3 last year. God was rockin' the Saving L.y.n.e.t.t.e thing pretty big time, if you all recall. I was pretty happy that I only needed the few doses.
Fast forward to a few months ago. I was finally out of the cess pool. I was finally seeing the light through the forest trees. I was near the edge of the forest. Relative to the beginning of the big ol' dumb divorce, I felt On Top Of The World. I remember gleefully tossing the remaining meds thinking, "I will never need these again!"
Fast forward again to a few weeks ago. I'm not quite sure what triggered it. I think it was a combination of things, events, weaknesses, stresses. I believe straws and weakened camel backs were involved. But here I was wrestling depression again. When the stresses kept hitting, the anxiety hit, too. Now, when you think you've finished with something really ugly and it shows up again, almost full force? You can get severely derailed. I denied it for a couple of weeks telling my friends I was going through a rough patch or valley and I'd be fine. Which is true. I know God's not going to let me crumble after all he dragged me through. But it wasn't really getting any better.
I was praying things like, ".....help....I don't even know what for. Just help!" I kept asking God to take the depression and anxiety away. I started reading my bible consistently - pouring through it hoping God would talk to me.
A few days ago, I felt like my skin was going to jump clear off my body again. I was so down, my mother could see it - feel it. I could tell she was worried. I finally admitted to her I was full on depressed and feeling like I was about to implode. I probably needed meds again. I went home to find said meds. Nada. Hmmm. I searched everywhere. Then I remembered tossing them. Hence the last post (which was thankfully much shorter than this rambling tome).
The next day, I got in to see the doc. She wrote me another scrip (two, actually). She told me, "Don't throw these away."
The funny thing was...after I made the doctor's appointment, I thought...good grief. It never even occurred to me to ask God to do what I was hoping the pills would do. I mean, not in those words. So I said, ok God. I need you to do what I want those pills to do. I need you to focus my brain - help me focus. Help me function at work and as a mom. Lift this depression, calm the panic. Please God - be my meds! I still saw the doc. I told God that I want to trust in him only. But I want to have those pills just in case - which is rather like saying I want to lose weight but I'll just make sure I have Lucky Charms in the pantry. But I digress. I asked God to be my guide with the meds. I asked him to let me know when or if to take them. But in the mean time, I would trust him. And all that bible reading? God started showing me stuff. Stuff like all the miracles in Acts & Romans. He started showing me how to increase my faith in Corinthians. I couldn't get enough. He just really started making things pop off the pages. I couldn't wait to read my bible every night. And if you know me? That ain't me.
Man, this all sounds so crazy when I see it in type. It's just not how I've operated. I don't reject all medicine or doctors. Modern medicine saved my life and Pokemon Boy's life. And the lives of quite a few wonderful people in my life. God gave scientists and doctors their gifts. So I'm totally pro-doctor. But I felt like, right now in my walk, I needed to give God a chance. I needed to put my trust in him in a big way.
So here I sit, about 4 days later and the CVS bags are still stapled shut on my bedroom table. I am asking God every day and night to be my equalizer. To keep me from the lows and the panic. I have felt much better for the last two days. Today has been the best one yet. And today I realized that I was still hanging on to the fear. What if I lose my house? What if I lose my job? What if I have to uproot my kids and move to an apartment? I was still clinging to the panic. Normal, yes. But I have to shake that. So today - once again - I have been trying to release it all to God's care. Trust that he's got it. Even if I lose my job and house - he's got my back. Honestly, why should I be freaking out like this? I mean ASIDE from being a normal human being.
That's where I am today. It's a process. I'm working on it. God's working on me. I'm in a 3 day seminar with most of my church this weekend. We are praying HUGE. I'm expecting some big stuff this weekend. I'll let you know.
I'll confess: before last year, I had thought that most people that said they were depressed or had anxiety attacks were either drama queens/kings or they were just plain weak and didn't feel like coping. And I deeply apologize to anyone out there that feels like traveling back in time and slapping that me. That me should have been slapped. That me DID get slapped. Trust me. God took care of it for you.
Last year, I understood profound depression and anxiety. Actually, depression I had experienced when my father died 10 days before my 12th birthday. But I didn't fully experience it because my 12 yr old self just squashed it away until I could process the loss and grieve when I was more like...oh...I think I was about 19?
Man, I am ALL over the place with this one.
Suffice to say - 2007 was my introduction to what depression and anxiety could do to you. Separately, they blow. Together, they blow chunks. But being in that arrogant state of mind I was in, I refused to even think of taking meds. Meds were for weak people. Meds were for all those people they showed on Zoloft commercials. At one point, when I was completely non functioning as a member of society, someone gave me a Xanex or something. I was completely blown away at how it settled me, allowed me to gather the scattered pieces in my mind, focus and function.
I went to my doc and tearfully explained my situation. She wondered why I had waited so many months. I explained my arrogance. I am sadly not unique.
So I got my meds. A big ol' bottle. I took them only for emergencies. I think I took about 3 last year. God was rockin' the Saving L.y.n.e.t.t.e thing pretty big time, if you all recall. I was pretty happy that I only needed the few doses.
Fast forward to a few months ago. I was finally out of the cess pool. I was finally seeing the light through the forest trees. I was near the edge of the forest. Relative to the beginning of the big ol' dumb divorce, I felt On Top Of The World. I remember gleefully tossing the remaining meds thinking, "I will never need these again!"
Fast forward again to a few weeks ago. I'm not quite sure what triggered it. I think it was a combination of things, events, weaknesses, stresses. I believe straws and weakened camel backs were involved. But here I was wrestling depression again. When the stresses kept hitting, the anxiety hit, too. Now, when you think you've finished with something really ugly and it shows up again, almost full force? You can get severely derailed. I denied it for a couple of weeks telling my friends I was going through a rough patch or valley and I'd be fine. Which is true. I know God's not going to let me crumble after all he dragged me through. But it wasn't really getting any better.
I was praying things like, ".....help....I don't even know what for. Just help!" I kept asking God to take the depression and anxiety away. I started reading my bible consistently - pouring through it hoping God would talk to me.
A few days ago, I felt like my skin was going to jump clear off my body again. I was so down, my mother could see it - feel it. I could tell she was worried. I finally admitted to her I was full on depressed and feeling like I was about to implode. I probably needed meds again. I went home to find said meds. Nada. Hmmm. I searched everywhere. Then I remembered tossing them. Hence the last post (which was thankfully much shorter than this rambling tome).
The next day, I got in to see the doc. She wrote me another scrip (two, actually). She told me, "Don't throw these away."
The funny thing was...after I made the doctor's appointment, I thought...good grief. It never even occurred to me to ask God to do what I was hoping the pills would do. I mean, not in those words. So I said, ok God. I need you to do what I want those pills to do. I need you to focus my brain - help me focus. Help me function at work and as a mom. Lift this depression, calm the panic. Please God - be my meds! I still saw the doc. I told God that I want to trust in him only. But I want to have those pills just in case - which is rather like saying I want to lose weight but I'll just make sure I have Lucky Charms in the pantry. But I digress. I asked God to be my guide with the meds. I asked him to let me know when or if to take them. But in the mean time, I would trust him. And all that bible reading? God started showing me stuff. Stuff like all the miracles in Acts & Romans. He started showing me how to increase my faith in Corinthians. I couldn't get enough. He just really started making things pop off the pages. I couldn't wait to read my bible every night. And if you know me? That ain't me.
Man, this all sounds so crazy when I see it in type. It's just not how I've operated. I don't reject all medicine or doctors. Modern medicine saved my life and Pokemon Boy's life. And the lives of quite a few wonderful people in my life. God gave scientists and doctors their gifts. So I'm totally pro-doctor. But I felt like, right now in my walk, I needed to give God a chance. I needed to put my trust in him in a big way.
So here I sit, about 4 days later and the CVS bags are still stapled shut on my bedroom table. I am asking God every day and night to be my equalizer. To keep me from the lows and the panic. I have felt much better for the last two days. Today has been the best one yet. And today I realized that I was still hanging on to the fear. What if I lose my house? What if I lose my job? What if I have to uproot my kids and move to an apartment? I was still clinging to the panic. Normal, yes. But I have to shake that. So today - once again - I have been trying to release it all to God's care. Trust that he's got it. Even if I lose my job and house - he's got my back. Honestly, why should I be freaking out like this? I mean ASIDE from being a normal human being.
That's where I am today. It's a process. I'm working on it. God's working on me. I'm in a 3 day seminar with most of my church this weekend. We are praying HUGE. I'm expecting some big stuff this weekend. I'll let you know.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Note To Self:
Don't throw out an almost full bottle of anti-anxiety meds when you're on an emotional high.
You big dolt.
You big dolt.
Dear Blogger People With Your Profiles Set to Private,
I am a big fan of anonymity. I really am. But those of you that have set your Blogger profiles to private while insisting on leaving comments asking me to come try your product (not you, pest control dude), yah...I'm thinking anonymity is just cowardice. Those of you that leave me your email addresses in the comments, well, at least you have the cajones to let me contact you.
But here's my thing. I'm just a schmo doing a blog chat thing with my girls (and assorted guys). No, I don't want to do a free trial of your anti-tic stuff because your website won't tell me thing one about any ingredient without me first trying to order it. I'm good. Move on.
Here's a good rule of thumb: leave me heart felt comments like the rest of my friends here. See how that works? Don't leave me adverts. I just delete them. And get annoyed. And that's no fun.
Sincerely,
Tourette's Mom
But here's my thing. I'm just a schmo doing a blog chat thing with my girls (and assorted guys). No, I don't want to do a free trial of your anti-tic stuff because your website won't tell me thing one about any ingredient without me first trying to order it. I'm good. Move on.
Here's a good rule of thumb: leave me heart felt comments like the rest of my friends here. See how that works? Don't leave me adverts. I just delete them. And get annoyed. And that's no fun.
Sincerely,
Tourette's Mom
Monday, June 23, 2008
Another Addition to My ABC Art Collection!
Last year, when future ex came to get His Things, it left a telling series of gaps in my house. Most notably were those on the walls. My sister likes to point out how this shows that our house was decorated to suit him. Now I had the freedom to decorate to suit me and my boys. And by "me and my boys", I mean me. Because, let's face it, I highly doubt I'll be putting up much Pokemon decor.
When I lamented the myriad blank spaces on my walls, Wanda was the first to offer artistic filling. She sent me a print of her Girl in White Dress painting. I finally framed it a couple of weeks ago and she is hanging in my living room. When I get a functional camera, I will share her glory with you.
A few months ago, one of my other ABCs (Awesome Blogger Chicks) posted a picture post about things she found beautiful. I fell in love with a cow picture she had and asked her how much she'd charge for the digital image. Being that she's one of the Awesome, she just gave it to me. Because, like Wanda, Allie rocks.
Today, I just got my 11x14 print of her cow picture in the mail - I ordered it through Shutterfly. And I have to tell you, I was not hopeful that I would get a good quality print for such a tiny amount of money. I was happily proven wrong. They gave me a wonderful quality print. So now I can't WAIT to take it to the framer's.
Between all you amazing chicks here on my blog and that wonderful little Swedish shop I adore so much, I'm filling up the gaps on my walls.
When I lamented the myriad blank spaces on my walls, Wanda was the first to offer artistic filling. She sent me a print of her Girl in White Dress painting. I finally framed it a couple of weeks ago and she is hanging in my living room. When I get a functional camera, I will share her glory with you.
A few months ago, one of my other ABCs (Awesome Blogger Chicks) posted a picture post about things she found beautiful. I fell in love with a cow picture she had and asked her how much she'd charge for the digital image. Being that she's one of the Awesome, she just gave it to me. Because, like Wanda, Allie rocks.
Today, I just got my 11x14 print of her cow picture in the mail - I ordered it through Shutterfly. And I have to tell you, I was not hopeful that I would get a good quality print for such a tiny amount of money. I was happily proven wrong. They gave me a wonderful quality print. So now I can't WAIT to take it to the framer's.
Between all you amazing chicks here on my blog and that wonderful little Swedish shop I adore so much, I'm filling up the gaps on my walls.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Gotta Love Them Fire Ants
I have a renewed regimen of walking. I've gained about 15 of my 25 divorce diet pounds back. Poo. I knew it would happen but I hate feeling this unhealthy. With the stress of work and the general yick that still hangs on with the whole divorce thing, being overweight ain't helpin' things much.
So last Thursday night, I took the boys walking in the wagon. Nothing better than walking with weights. So towing a 4 and 7 yr old must be good, right? And cheaper than buying those hand weights. And cuter.
Friday, I walked to their school with the wagon to pick them up. Lil' Bro was thrilled and all his classmates were impressed. Pokemon Boy was a bit apprehensive. I'm sure he was wondering what people would think. Let 'em think what they want. When I'm skinny and healthy, I'll be the one still laughing.
So tonight, we wagon'd out to the swings. A short walk for my taste but I have to keep my free walking weights happy. As I stood behind the boys pushing them (great arm workouts, by the way), I felt a bite. Yah. Some fire ant had decided to investigate my foot. As it got under the strap of my sandals, it didn't like getting squished and bit its disapproval. So I packed up the boys and we headed for the little tot lot near our house. I stuck to the sidewalks because it was watering time. I didn't want to get caught lugging a wagon over the grass as some sprinkler decided to start. The boys took a short cut up a hill. I was walking along looking at their cute figures standing on top of the hill, back lit with the setting son. I thought to myself, this is why we moved down here. Good stuff.
As I rounded the corner, both boys came barreling down the hill toward me, each claiming to have won the race. Suddenly, Pokemon Boy started hollering about ants being all over his legs. He had stood in one place the longest - probably right on top of a nest. Lil' Bro, being 4, had kept moving. I dropped the wagon handle and ran over to find little red beasties all over his sneakers socks and lower legs. ARGH! Have you ever tried to get those things off a kid? You have to just start brushing at them. And that pisses them off. I was brushing and slapping while he was freaking out and trying to hop away. I'm sure we entertained a few people from their windows.
It's one of those mommy moments where you suck it up, accept that you have to take some pain and just save your kid. I had to get him to stop hopping around, I had to undo his shoes and peel off his socks. And with each step of this process, I had to keep shoving him forward away from the little pile of ants we had just dumped on the sidewalk. Finally, I got his feat stripped of socks, shoes and ants. He has a bunch of welts in a little line around each leg starting just above the sock line. Poor thing. Amazingly, I didn't get bit on my hands during that whole thing.
I piled the socks & shoes in the wagon and made the boys head home. They went inside while I used a small hand broom to clean the remaining ants off of his socks, shoes and from in the wagon. Those are tenacious little buggers. I stomped every single one. Bite MY kid, will yah?!
So that was our big adventure tonight. I'd rather take those ants on than a bunch of wasps or bees. But Pokemon Boy will probably have some nasty scars from some of those welts. Although, he says they don't hurt all that bad. The few times I've been bitten, it burned like crazy and I got huge welts that lasted for weeks and then scarred. There went my foot modeling career!
Mmmmm....anty....
Oh...and the ones all over Pokemon Boy were probably like the ones at about the 5:00 position on this picture. Small but still pack a mean punch.
So last Thursday night, I took the boys walking in the wagon. Nothing better than walking with weights. So towing a 4 and 7 yr old must be good, right? And cheaper than buying those hand weights. And cuter.
Friday, I walked to their school with the wagon to pick them up. Lil' Bro was thrilled and all his classmates were impressed. Pokemon Boy was a bit apprehensive. I'm sure he was wondering what people would think. Let 'em think what they want. When I'm skinny and healthy, I'll be the one still laughing.
So tonight, we wagon'd out to the swings. A short walk for my taste but I have to keep my free walking weights happy. As I stood behind the boys pushing them (great arm workouts, by the way), I felt a bite. Yah. Some fire ant had decided to investigate my foot. As it got under the strap of my sandals, it didn't like getting squished and bit its disapproval. So I packed up the boys and we headed for the little tot lot near our house. I stuck to the sidewalks because it was watering time. I didn't want to get caught lugging a wagon over the grass as some sprinkler decided to start. The boys took a short cut up a hill. I was walking along looking at their cute figures standing on top of the hill, back lit with the setting son. I thought to myself, this is why we moved down here. Good stuff.
As I rounded the corner, both boys came barreling down the hill toward me, each claiming to have won the race. Suddenly, Pokemon Boy started hollering about ants being all over his legs. He had stood in one place the longest - probably right on top of a nest. Lil' Bro, being 4, had kept moving. I dropped the wagon handle and ran over to find little red beasties all over his sneakers socks and lower legs. ARGH! Have you ever tried to get those things off a kid? You have to just start brushing at them. And that pisses them off. I was brushing and slapping while he was freaking out and trying to hop away. I'm sure we entertained a few people from their windows.
It's one of those mommy moments where you suck it up, accept that you have to take some pain and just save your kid. I had to get him to stop hopping around, I had to undo his shoes and peel off his socks. And with each step of this process, I had to keep shoving him forward away from the little pile of ants we had just dumped on the sidewalk. Finally, I got his feat stripped of socks, shoes and ants. He has a bunch of welts in a little line around each leg starting just above the sock line. Poor thing. Amazingly, I didn't get bit on my hands during that whole thing.
I piled the socks & shoes in the wagon and made the boys head home. They went inside while I used a small hand broom to clean the remaining ants off of his socks, shoes and from in the wagon. Those are tenacious little buggers. I stomped every single one. Bite MY kid, will yah?!
So that was our big adventure tonight. I'd rather take those ants on than a bunch of wasps or bees. But Pokemon Boy will probably have some nasty scars from some of those welts. Although, he says they don't hurt all that bad. The few times I've been bitten, it burned like crazy and I got huge welts that lasted for weeks and then scarred. There went my foot modeling career!
Mmmmm....anty....
Oh...and the ones all over Pokemon Boy were probably like the ones at about the 5:00 position on this picture. Small but still pack a mean punch.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Another Friday Night Date
Be jealous. Be very jealous.
Last night, I went to the movies with two of the arguably cutest boys on the planet. I took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda at the theatre that is spitting distance from our house.
It is SO fun to see a movie in the theatre with your kids. It's NOT so fun to see it in a theatre with someone ELSE's kids. Fortunately, God gave me the grace not to strangle said other kids and we enjoyed the movie.
I have to say, this movie totally rocks. Totally safe for all ages, in my opinion. And Jack Black freakin' ROCKS. I don't care if he's live or animated - that man can crack me UP! The movie was a blast and totally worth the total price of over $38 (tickets + candy + water). My dates were worth it.
My sensitive little Pokemon Boy had trouble with one sad scene. Not during the movie but out in the car, afterwards. He has that trouble with all movies that have a sad scene - if the scene is done well - to tug at your heart strings. So he got it cried out and then we went home to bed.
Next week, the boys are asking me to take them to the new Disney-Pixar movie WALL-E. It looks great but I hate seeing movies on opening weekend. I won't brave those kinds of crowds with two little kids. But I will take them because I have more fun seeing a movie with them than with most adults.
My dates ROCK.
Last night, I went to the movies with two of the arguably cutest boys on the planet. I took the boys to see Kung Fu Panda at the theatre that is spitting distance from our house.
It is SO fun to see a movie in the theatre with your kids. It's NOT so fun to see it in a theatre with someone ELSE's kids. Fortunately, God gave me the grace not to strangle said other kids and we enjoyed the movie.
I have to say, this movie totally rocks. Totally safe for all ages, in my opinion. And Jack Black freakin' ROCKS. I don't care if he's live or animated - that man can crack me UP! The movie was a blast and totally worth the total price of over $38 (tickets + candy + water). My dates were worth it.
My sensitive little Pokemon Boy had trouble with one sad scene. Not during the movie but out in the car, afterwards. He has that trouble with all movies that have a sad scene - if the scene is done well - to tug at your heart strings. So he got it cried out and then we went home to bed.
Next week, the boys are asking me to take them to the new Disney-Pixar movie WALL-E. It looks great but I hate seeing movies on opening weekend. I won't brave those kinds of crowds with two little kids. But I will take them because I have more fun seeing a movie with them than with most adults.
My dates ROCK.
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