Goodbye, dear friends

Well, patient Reader, I took a little hiatus from my musings to take care of some life. Nothing bad, just the normal holiday blitz. My dearest friends on the whole of this Earth left this evening after 5 wonderful days of visiting. The entire family (the couple, their 2 daughters, and Diane's mother) stayed here. You wouldn't believe that I could put a family of 5 up without moving one person from their normal sleeping vessel, but it was done. I really find that amazing. The only down side to them staying here is the extra laundry. And the leaving, which goes without saying. It is not the chore of doing the laundry, only putting it away, which currently seems to be one of my more difficult tasks to complete. The girls all got along fantastically, despite frequent uses of ice packs for some collision or other. The dog even had one nasty accident involving Derek and Sabrina that I won't begin to describe. Just know that I am calling the groomers first thing tomorrow morning. A pleasant side effect of company is the multitude of leftovers that you can use for the remaining days they last. Thanksgiving paraphanalia, random Chinese dishes, some LaShish middle eastern food and quite a few oranges. Please don't ask about the oranges, it is a sore subject. So tomorrow it is back to the normal routine, and based on this morning when they left briefly and my children turned into Demon Spawn, it looks like a long week ahead of me. Oh, and Jim might go to Phoenix on Wednesday. Just glad I had a nice weekend.

Lunch

I went grocery shopping this morning. I avoided Meijer's, where I will browse every aisle from tires to toys and find more things to buy. So instead I went to Farmer Jack's where I last picked up a huge check for the landscaping we are doing. They have a full service bank right inside, next to the Organic Papaya juice. Odd. But I had to go see if they ever sent the checks out to go with the Home Equity stuff, and they did not. I got to talk to the Superman Impersonator again. I suspect the reason he wears the shield of Kahlal (is that the right spelling?) on his watch is actually because he has been alerted to his amazing likeness to Clark Kent. Anyhow, I went there because they have little car attachments on the front of their carts that include BUCKLES so that two children(namely, mine) cannot randomly get out and run down the aisle. So I strapped the girls in, tight in the small cab. So while Mary tried to push Emma out of the little car and Emma pulled Mary's hair to make her stop (or maybe to other way around, I wasn't paying that much attention), I bought groceries. I know I was hungry because of some of the things that I don't normally buy ended up in my cart, such as Pumpkin Pie, Whipped Cream, Doritos, Cookie Dough (that is for Emma, I swear), and a Caesar Salad kit. The salad kit was the only lettuce on sale and it was actually cheaper than buying a bag of plain lettuce. It was also at the beginning of the shopping trip, when I was not yet hungry, or so I thought. So that leads me to my fabulous lunch:

Doritos
Coca Cola
cookie Dough

I know I said it was for Emma, but that is only AFTER it is cooked. The kids had fish. I'm pretty much a stickler for someone in the house having nutritious food. Once that requirement is satisfied, bring on the Pumpkin Pie.

Mundanity

Hello to everyone who is reading this - faithful Lochmoor Mom, occasional parents and inlaws, Nemesis, Inc., dear friends in Minnesota, traveling husband, close friends and random viewers. See, I checked the counter site stats and it just confused the bottoms off of me. It was a good thing the girls were in bed. It can show me if the people who come are a "direct hit" or if they were recommended from a site. I believe the second one to mean they clicked on some link instead of choosing it from their favorites or typing it in the address bar. So I click on one of the sites, and it was some religious thing. I did not find any reference to my blog in it and cannot figure out how the two can be connected. Anyone out there know this? I was just wondering.

Well, not much to report tonight. A short night's sleep (but a good one) last night on my new 400 count sheets. Emma was up jumping off of her bed and doing various non-sleep inducing things until past 12:30 last night and she was up well before the sun. She and Mary were miserable messes today. I put Mary to bed in the guest room in her playpen and Emma in her room by herself and they are both sound asleep - it is 9:30 and I practiced piano for 1 1/2 hours and they went to sleep. Last night I stayed up WAY too late playing Alchemy, an addictive Yahoo! game. I would have played my usual Jewel Box (I think that is it) but my husband took away my regular computer and replaced it with a new one which does not carry the memories of my current saved game or previous high scores. Heck, it doesn't even have the game on it and I don't feel like paying another $20 to download it. That was another shortsightedness he had when he bought a new computer 4 days before going out of town. But, hey, it sure types fast!

Enough babble - I am off to waste another evening in front of the glowy box playing useless games. I'm just too tired to do anything else. Ciao.

Wakey Wakey Wakey

My children are awake. One is moaning and the other is calling me, "Maaaaaaaa-maaaaaa.... Maaaaaa-maaaaaaaa". This might not seem like a big infraction on your sensibilities, dear Reader, but the truth is I should have another hour of relaxation yet. I cannot imagine why the are both awake (I have them in separate rooms right now). They were up half of the night and awake again before the sun. Now, they have missed a third of naptime and I cannot comprehend WHY they want to be awake. DO they ever go to sleep? EVER? It might be the hum of machinery outside the windows - English Gardens have begun tearing up grass and digging holes where gardens will be as soon as next week. It might be the EXTRA BRIGHT SUN that keeps playing hide and seek with the clouds. It might be my hysteria is causing them to be edgy. It could also be sunspots, as far as I know. Whatever it is I wish it would go away and they would sleep. Now or tonight, preferably both, but SLEEP.

You might wonder what I am planning on doing while they are sleeping. Well, check yesterday's list and you might have an idea. I also need to practice my piano, so add that right on there. And did I mention that I have not eaten lunch yet? I have been sorting clothes and spot cleaning the kitchen floor (which, incredibly, was mopped only 2 days ago). And then my wild imagination thought a brief nap would do me some good. Well, so much for any of that. And I have not yet watched my daily Martha show - tomorrow the kid who plays Harry Potter is on and I'd like to see that. Today, however, is anyone's guess, since I have not seen it.

Well, Reader, my people call.

And Away He Goes, or, Three Sheets to the Wind

So Jim took off again today (literally), on his way to California to see his newest nephew for a brief visit and then he is off to Saudi again. He expects (but cannot guarantee) to be home before Thanksgiving. So, needless to say, I am unhappy. But, always trying to look on the bright side, I can do a lot of things between the time the girls go to bed and I go to bed.... So the real issue is, what should I do first? Here is a list of the things that I considered (after showering, which is ALWAYS the first thing when I get time without the girls):

1. Make cookies or a cake: I don't have to share!
2. Scrapbook: I've been doing that a lot lately, but I always enjoy it
3. Read: just started a new book!!!
4. Clean Master Bathroom: um...
5. Spend time on 3rd floor organizing all of our financial files: well, I am hoping to get that done while Jim is gone
6. Spend time on 3rd floor reshelving books that the girls have pulled down, dust, and put away all things out of place to make it acceptable for company staying there Thanksgiving Weekend: any organizing is FANTASTIC, in my book!
7. Blog: duh
8. Purge bedroom and sitting room of all PILES: see note about organizing, above
9. Work on making Christmas cards
10. Work on making Christmas gifts - more scrapbooking
11. Watch Martha: Behind Bars - this will feed my recent Martha Fascination and Admiration Campaign
12. Watch original The Red Shoes 1948 movie (a favorite story of mine)
13. Surf the net for interesting things

That is pretty much all I thought of for immediate choices. Until now, which is neigh on 10:00, Emma has hampered any time I might have used by being a holy terror and I have to keep going up to their bedroom to see why somebody or other is CRYING or JUMPING OFF OF THINGS or SCREAMING because she has split her head open on something she shouldn't have been near in the first place. Since I took out the changing table, at least she cannot get into Mary's crib. That doesn't keep her from throwing every item in the room into it, but it does help some. So it is 10 now and I have only managed a shower and a cup of tea (for those of you keeping track, that makes a Tea Index of 5 today: that is bad. Very bad.). I will probably either lay in bed and read or sit down here on the computer until is is much later than it should be.

On a side note, I had to go buy new sheets yesterday. Yes, Reader, HAD to. I only keep one good pair of sheets at a time. I hate linen closet clutter, so I just use one set of sheets, wash them and put them back on immediately. This helps keep the linen closet nice and usable. The labeled shelves are another nice thing about my linen closet. So our sheets - our single set of sheets that match our comforter - have been looking a little thread bare. We have had them for a few years now (5? 6?) and they could probably use replacing. I figured it could wait until after Christmas when we didn't have so many financial obligations. Yesterday I was taking them off of the bed to wash them and they ripped, right down the middle. More accurately, the fitted sheet ripped. Huh. No problem - I have an older set of sheets that I usually use for the sofa bed that should work. So I pulled those out (from the shelf appropriately labeled Sheets - Queen, which comes after the alphabetically ordered Sheets - Full) to launder them, when I discovered that they, too, were ripped. This is because the darned sofa bed has those metal parts that catch on the sheets and tear them towards the bottom. This is not an issue when they are on the sofa bed, but certainly would not work for every day wear and every week (or so) washing. So I marched off to Target to investigate the choices. MY GOD sheets are expensive. I suddenly remembered the other reason why I only keep 1 set. And when I told Jim I had found some that would work, he asked what thread count they were. WHAT? I didn't even check that myself. Now, Reader, I have a good friend who will be reading this who will argue for the REALLY high thread counts, based on a bad experience with sheets that chaffed. But I enjoy a *crisp* sheet and do not care for sheets that melt to your form. So 200 or 220 has been fine for me. Well, Jim informed me that he read an article that said a higher thread count would help one sleep better in some stress reducing topic. I really thought he was kidding. I mean, people slept on straw and feathers and even the ground for thousands of years and they achieved some great things, despite a lack of fine thread count sheets. But I am not one to argue just for the sake of arguing, so I bought 400 count sheets. A nice medium between my normal 200 and the skin melding 600 count. I have to say, Reader, those were some mighty nice sheets. And I slept. I slept well. Very well, as a matter of fact. I don't know why I didn't try this earlier. Now I can add Sheet Snob to my list of Attributes of the Spoiled Housewife.

Carbon Days

It's a rare occasion that I actual post something but I had an experience with our dearest Emma yesterday that I never really anticipated. We all have these... You say to yourself, "That will never happen to MY children. I'll (fill in the blank with your wisdom)." To be honest, I thought the same thing before this and so here goes...

I bought a new computer. Yes, I work in IT and my technology was four years minimum out of date. I have been wanting a new computer and we always seem to have some big ticket item we buy at the end of each year so this year it was a computer. I was attempting to avoid complexity in attaching our multifunction printer to it by finishing terminating and connecting the ethernet cable we have on the third floor to the basement where the printer is located. This, versus bringing the printer up to the main floor to load the drivers (a requirement despite wireless access to the printer - apparantly wireless only works after you have installed all the drivers with the printer directly attached). I know this doesn't sound easier but I was thinking of all of the benefits of having that permanent cable in place and functioning...

Anyway, My Darling Wife was preparing for a Stamping event in the basement and Eldest Daughter (ED) said she was going to go see Daddy. So, at 12:15PM my wife calls me down to ask where I am and why I'm not with ED? I honestly didn't even know that ED was supposed to be with me. ED, on the other hand, became side tracked once out of view from Mommy and Daddy and had decided that she was sick. She found and drank 1/2 a bottle of children's Tylenol without either of us knowing. In the process she dribbled some on the medicine on her Mommy's book and got paper towel; moistened with water and cleaned up the mess.

Mommy found her cleaning up the mess... We called the Doctor and I was off to the local ER with my little girl! I arrived at the ER after getting behind every slow driver on the west side. The receptionist eyed me wearily; handed me admission forms and without utter more than a few words directed me to another area to fill out the forms. What do you write when you can't contemplate the fact that your daughter might be in mortal danger? I put down, "ED drank 1/2 bottle of Children's Tylenol" filled in the other personal bio data and returned to the counter. The receptionist took the form, read the problem; sighed in exasperation and called a nurse immediately. I have to admit that this was the first time I was ever admitted immediately to the ER and I have spent way more time there than I think desirable...

The doctor - an kind, older man in his grandfather days - examined ED and determined that, based on her body weight, she had consumed a potentially threshold dose (the point at which it becomes toxic and can cause damage to the liver or worse). He ordered a charcoal drink for ED and he and the nurses warned me it was nasty. They had ED change into scrubs and had me put some on. They had me give it to ED and told me they had mixed it with juice to help reduce the nastiness. ED drank it all! She flashed several big, disturbing carbon smiles and dribbled a little of it on her but she drank it!

I was given a tub in case it came back up and told to stay vigilant (picture it, a charcoal suspension on your carpets, in your car... It's not a pretty thought) . They told me she would need blood drawn in 2 hours to determine effectiveness of the treatment. They allowed me to take her home so she could nap. Two hours later and we were back for blood work. Then sent home for two more hours while they awaited results (and in case more intervention was necessary). Finally, at 7PM we got news back that her blood levels were normal.

I hope that was our last adventure of this type and none of you Readers need to go through this.

The Allure of Awake

Darling Emma has not been sleeping much lately. We have moved to a toddler bed and the idea that she can get out whenever she opens her eyes is just too much for a little kid to handle. So she is UP. She is up until late, late hours of the night (sometimes 1 or 2 AM). She is up when she is supposed to lay down and nap. She is up from her nap before it is halfway over. She is up by 6:30 in the morning. She is, as we called her when she was an infant, WAKEY BABY. So this morning, she toddled into our bedroom at 6:20 and announced, "It's morning.". She says it with a tone that sounds like an answer or explanation. Almost as if I have already said, "Emma, go back to bed," and she has the defense attorney's answer ready to go: "It's Morning". This is the usual procedure, although some days it happens a couple of minutes later. Jim was up, getting ready for work. So he takes her over to the window and says, "Do you see the sun, honey? It's just getting up! Do you see it coming?" "YES!" I should point out here that the main argument until now has been that too early exists when the sun isn't up yet. *AHEM*.

So he takes both girls downstairs (because Emma cannot leave her own bedroom without making sure Mary knows it is time to get UP), and I grudgingly follow, still in my glasses and pajamas. On a good day, I get dressed and make the bed, then go to the girl's bedroom and get them changed and dressed before we go downstairs. Today we will be lucky to be presentable before 9:30, which is odd since we were up before 7. So I come down slightly behind everyone, and my wonderful husband has got the milk for the kids and turned on the TV. I look and notice that Noddy, Emma's current favorite program, is on. I say to Jim, "Noddy's on right now? That was fortuitous." No, it turns out he put on a recording to avoid Barney and Bob the Builder. I told him that my rule is it is too early for Noddy or Dora before 8 AM, because otherwise she is EXCITED about coming downstairs and seeing the TV, making the early morning even more thrilling. It was about then that Jim realized he had made being awake early fun and exciting for Emma. And he wonders why I wake up in a bad mood.

The Princesses and the Pee

You read that right, Internet, another post about bodily functions. That may be
the only mention of it, though, and it is specifically aimed to please one of my
constants, Mr. Nemesis. According to many comments he's left before, the posts
with such content make him turn his head. Now that's an image.

As for the princesses, the girls were Cinderella and Belle for Halloween. What a lovely time we all had! On Saturday our subdivision held the annual Spooky Saturday celebrations, with games, costumes, cider and doughnuts, free hot dogs and pizza, Pumpkin Hunts and Haunted Forest walks. What a fun time! Emma and Mary were a little young to fully enjoy the full extent of it, but Mum and Papa came down to see them in their costumes (also an annual thing, which I truly enjoy) and the girls certainly enjoyed that. The particularly funny thing about that was the Princess-Mobile. That was Cinderella and Belle being pulled around in the little green wagon, much to their enjoyment.

Monday night was Mary's first real experience with the holiday. She got the hang of the candy thing real fast - just like any little kid. What she enjoyed most was picking through the candy while she was chauffeured around, throwing some of it out (apparently the non-acceptable pieces) and chewing on the others, wrappers and all. She was also very interested in people putting things in her bucket. Many times she sat right down on the spot to examine the new booty. It was really a great time. Emma was particularly cute. After we walked away from a house, she would mutter, "say 'trick or treat', get candy." three or four times. It was as if she had discovered some great truth and she was amazed at the power it held. Then she would ask me, "Momma, we go other trick or treat house, get more candy?". It was too precious! After about three houses, she also picked up on our farewell and she began repeating it with her wonderful 2 1/2 year old version: "Hat-ty Hawo-weeeeeen!" By the GODS it was the sweetest thing I ever heard! She also spent a good portion of the evening, when we got back home and let her swim in the candy for a while, saying "Thank You Momma, Thank You Dadda". I could seriously BURST from that much love.