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9月30日 Good to have prioritiesWe had a wonderful Sunday, relaxing. Shawn beat Halo yesterday, so the kids had control of the TV today. They watched a Disney video of Halloween sing along songs and then A Shark Tale. I had every opportunity in the world to use my new vacuum cleaner, the upstairs carpet is begging for it. I also had plenty of chances to use my new dust mop and murphy's oil wood floor cleaner. Instead, I finished a wonderful book by Jimmy Buffet (yes, the singer) called A Salty Piece of Land. I loved it. I'm going to read it from cover to cover again tomorrow. And maybe the next day too. After a while, Shawn went to see a movie and I called my mom. Mom was looking at the new Stampin Up! catalog, so I hopped on line and checked it out on their website. You can flip page by page and I stuck with her up into the 90's (it's over 200 pages long!) but lost interest after seeing the Christmas card making stuff. Just so happens that when I was unpacking my crafts I came across a stack of Christmas cards that we had received a couple of years back and since I didn't have a place to put them they were conveniently sitting right next to my keyboard. With the Stampin Up! ideas fresh in my head, I immediately set to work cutting up the old Christmas cards and making new cards out of them and some card stock I had handy. It says a lot about my priorities when I am making Christmas cards in September instead of spending 45 minutes or so on my floors. The funny thing is, if I had just said that I did my Christmas cards today, everyone would think that I am totally on the ball and how organized and together I am. Blogs are funny that way. I can say something that is perfectly true all by itself and create a totally different picture of what I am like than what you would see in reality. The more I think about it, I say you should still think those things about me, just don't look down at my floors in the mean while! LOL Love, Jen 9月28日 Ancient Mommy WisdomMother who does not wish to share her pizza rolls, must not consume them in front of her children. 9月27日 BlahHaving a rough day. Wesley would NOT sleep last night. I was up till after 4:30 in the morning with him. I feel like I am hung over.
I am debating the wisdom of having had children.
I pray to God that they sleep tonight, and let me sleep tonight. The only time I get to sleep straight through the night is when I am not staying under the same roof as my kids. They are 4 and 2 now, WELL past the time of being physically able to sleep through the night.
Sharing the car with Shawn is not working. He works till at least 8:30, but often as late as 10pm. It's 9:17pm right now and the kids are in bed and Shawn is at work, no end in sight. I'll be waking the kids up and we will go get him at some point when he is finished. Getting a second car right now is not possible, especially one that Shawn will drive. I am going to see if someone from Colleen's preschool will drive her home each day. Or maybe I can arrange for a transportation service to bring her back home. Shawn can take her on his way to work. I can't walk it because even though it is only 3 miles away (a 6 mile round trip), every street is at least 45MPH, and the main one is 55MPH. These are old rural roads and I have never noticed a sidewalk. Even if I thought I could actually hoof it 6 miles every day pushing a stroller full of nap-deprived kids, I wouldn't do it in such a dangerous situation. Shouldn't admit this, but I seriously thought about taking her out of the program, but she loves it and it is preparing her for Kindergarten next year. I know it is hard on Shawn too, not being able to get in the car and go when he is ready to, and feeling bad when we have to come get him so late.
All I know is that something's got to give. I feel like a dry rotted old rubberband, the kind that have turned gummy with age. Even the slightest bit of stretching is going to snap me. 9月26日 Pet PeeveI am a member of this online group called FreeCycle. The idea is: One man's trash is another man's treasure. If you have an item that you view to be trash, you can post it on FreeCycle and if someone wants it, they will email you back and presto... trash is gone! The goal is to keep crap out of landfills as much as possible.
You can also post a "wanted" message. This works great if you are looking for parts for an old car, or scrap crown molding for a small project, old paint... something along those lines. Once a college student posted that her vacuum had broke and she needed one to get her through the school year. I had an extra one, she came and got it, worked out well. As with most great ideas, this one has a downside... there are often more "wanted" posts than "offer" posts and the things people ask for are outlandish. I actually saw where someone asked for a boat. There's lots of requests for couches, kitchen tables, dining room suites, etc. Athough these posts are annoying, they are more a source of laughs than my actual pet peeve.
What really gets my goat is when people sign off on their communications with over the top religious messages. I've had people reply to my offer posts and devote more time to praising God than to working out the particulars of the swap.
I'm all for loving God and expressing that love (see: My MSN Spaces "About Me" blurb), but it is obnoxious as all get out to have to wade through all of the "In His Name"s and "Saved by His Glory"s, etc etc when all you are trying to do is figure out if someone wants to drive to your house or meet you in the Target parking lot in order to receive your unwanted junk.
I feel better having got that off my chest. My first instinct was to email it to the Freecycle group email address, but I don't want to get kicked out of the group! And this way, at least Spice will come up with some funny over the top way to praise God and leave it for me in a comment. If he does, or actually, if anyone does, I promise to use it in my next Freecycle post. :)
Hugs, Jen 9月25日 Latest projectAnyone who knows me knows that I have to have a project. And if it puts off housework or other "not very much fun" chores, all the better.
Shawn very generously provided me with my latest project. Inspired by my mother, who is constantly dropping hints of wanting to keep the kids for a week (aka Granny Camp), Shawn proposed a vacation for just the two of us.
We had fun for a couple of weeks, dreaming up our destination, talking about when to go, and what kind of experience we wanted to have (relaxing, educational, full of activities).
I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, and this seemed like the ideal time to go... at least until I started to think about travel times. It takes a long time to get to Hawaii from Ohio (we will be taking the kids to my parent's house before heading out on our own). And, God forbid, something happen to one of the kids while we are away, it would kill me to be so far away and to take so long getting back. I don't want to go out of the country for the same reason, so goodbye any other tropical locale.
So... where in USA could we go that is tropical, relaxing, a short flight from Ohio with lots of fun activities to choose from?
Two weeks ago, I got to talking with another parent in the waiting room at Wesley's physical therapy appointment about "kid free vacations" and she mentioned what a great time she and her husband had at Walt Disney World on their "kid free" second honeymoon.
Lightbulbs turned on, apples fell on my head, fireworks and confetti exploded in colorful chaos... and when all of that was over, I knew where we were headed.
So now Shawn and I are booked on a short 2 hour flight from Ohio to Orlando, Florida. We are staying at Disney World's wonderfully tropical South Seas style resort, The Polynesain, for 6 carefree, KIDfree days, and 5 relaxing, full-night-of-uninterrupted-sleep nights. We have some fun and exciting activities and tours to look forward to, with plenty of downtime thrown in for good measure.
I was charmed by the lady's mention of a second honeymoon, and it just so happens that Shawn and I have a wedding anniversary coming up in less than 7 months... so we decided to make this our second honeymoon. We won't be at Disney for our actual anniversary date, but close enough!
And now comes Project Time: I have had so much fun picking out the tours, restaurants, and other fun activities. I made a list of all of the fast pass attractions at each of the parks that we want to ride, as well as the "can't miss" points of interest. Don't tell Shawn (because he already thinks I have picked out what I am ordering at each restaurant and will just roll his eyes even more), but I have mapped out a "most effective" route for touring Animal Kingdom and Disney/MGM Studios so that we get to see as much as possible without a lot of backtracking. I have noted the Extended Hours days for each of the parks and planned our evening activities accordingly. We will not watch the fireworks from the same place twice (to be fair, we are missing one night to go to Cirque du Soleil, La Nouba, in Downtown Disney).
I am beside myself with excitement for our trip, which is the first "real" vacation that we have taken since our honeymoon eight-and-a-half years ago (we always end up visiting family on Shawn's time off). All of this planning is right up my alley. We have talked to the kids a bit, they know that they get to stay with their beloved Mamaw and Papaw and frankly, they think they are getting the better deal. Let's just say that my kid's loyalty and excitement can be bought with a few Dum-Dum suckers, temporary tattoos, and the promise of lots of outdoor play.
I will do my best not to bore everyone to tears with my talk of our vacation plans in the coming days/weeks/months. I tried to put a countdown ticker on this website, so that we all knew how many days until Shawn and I get to put on our Mouse Ears and behave like kids again, but I couldn't figure out how to do it on MSN Spaces. Anyone who knows my MySpace URL can mosey over there and check it out. The ticker is very "Tiki" and I have taken to calling it my Tiki Ticker. da dum CHING! As Mater would say, "I don't care who you are, that's funny!"
HUGS, Jen 9月22日 Horoscope Those who know me very well will understand how apt this one is.
Look up and enjoy the world around you, dear Cancer. You are often so caught up in the details that you forget to examine the big picture. So often you have your head to the floor looking for the dirt in your house that you fail to see the smiling faces of the people around you who love you. Take this day to have fun and put aside your small worries. Concentrate more on the whole room. 9月19日 Cat updateThis past weekend I was sitting out on the back patio reading a book and the next thing I knew, orange kitty jumped into my lap. Funny thing is, no front claws came out... I felt... no claws. Shawn felt... no claws. It was then that I was certain that this cat had been someone's pet. You don't declaw an animal for the hell of it and then just let it loose. It costs a lot of money to declaw a cat, plus if you plan on it being an outdoor cat, it needs it's claws for defense.
I decided to work in earnest to find this little kitty a home. I can't let her stay out there without any claws.
Come Monday morning she brought me a gift... a very large, very dead wood rat! :) I thanked her for her gift, then thanked God that it was garbage day and that the trucks hadn't come yet. LOL
I started calling around to no-kill animal rescues and when I wasn't stuck leaving voice mail messages I got the same song and dance from them... We're full, no room for another cat right now, if she is that great, why don't you keep her as a pet, etc etc.
One guy mentioned that if she had been declawed there was a chance she was also microchipped. So I took her to the vet in PetsMart to have her scanned. No microchip, but the vet tech confirmed that: She is female, her front paws are declawed, and she has fleas! Her beauiful green eyes and furry orange ears are clear. The vet tech surmised that the cat was a young adult, and that she has likely had her shots (because no vet will declaw a cat that is not current on their shots first). The vet tech also thought that she felt the scar from the kitty being spayed, but we couldn't keep her on her back long enough to actually see the scar (we were right next to where the dogs were getting groomed and kitty was NERVOUS about it!).
I'll tell you, that cat let me put a leash on her without batting an eyelash, let me put her in the pet carrier without so much as a meow (my cats turn into raging balls of flying fur at the sight of the pet carrier, they are ruthless!). She cried during the car ride, but in her defense she was sliding around in the pet carrier in the back, I'd probably cry too. She let both me and the vet tech feel all around on her belly without so much as a hiss (my cats will latch on with their paws and bite the person that rubs their belly uninvited). I bought her some of those flea drops that you put on the back of their neck and gave her the first treatment yesterday.
I've put Found Cat notices out, and I've checked the Missing notices. I really want to find her a home before it turns cold.
Besides the fact that we need another pet like we need holes in our heads, I know that she is not meant to be mine because I can't settle on a name for her. Besides, I'll bet that she already has a name. Hopefully we'll find the person that named her soon.
Hugs, Jen Wesley: Foot updateWesley went to see Dr. Frick yesterday.
Overall a good visit. The doctor is pleased with how well Wesley is walking, and even running.
He has lost some flexibility with his dorsiflection, and due to the way his foot always curves up and rolls in when it is relaxed he would have been recasted for a relapse, except he walked so darn good! His foot hit the ground evenly, I want to say "flatly", but that may confuse club foot searchers... he doesn't have a flat foot. What I am trying (poorly) to say is that he is not walking on the side of his foot and that spared him from being recasted.
He hasn't worn his "sleeping boots", The Ponseti/Mitchell brace, since he cut his foot over the summer. I let him not wear them for a week and a half while it healed and he has never worn them successfully since. The doctor adjusted the width of the bar between the boots and I put them on him last night. He lasted an hour before total melt down. I tried to let him cry it out, only to discover after I gave in and went to him that he was so upset because he had fallen out of bed and couldn't move around in the brace well enough to right himself or try to get back to bed. Poor little guy.
I am going to continue to work him back into the brace. It is still a possibility that he will need the tendon transfer surgery (although right now he is looking good, it is possible that he will not need it). I don't want brace wear (or lack thereof) to be the deciding factor. Little man needs to wear his sleeping boots!
We go back in 6 months. Woo hoo! :)
Hugs, Jen 9月11日 Awfully busy for someone who doesn't have a life We are back from Cincinnati... over all the visit was a good one.
Shawn fed the "stray", but we are now convinced that she has a home and just comes to mooch food off of us. Once I bought her a bag of cheapie food and quit giving her the expensive indoor cat food that I give my two kitties she started turning her nose up to it. She is not skin and bones any more and we are pretty sure that someone takes her in during the day now and just lets her out at night. As long as she comes by for a visit I will give her a little something to eat, but the burden of worrying about her long term future doesn't feel so heavy on my shoulders any more. I wonder if somehow I knew this all along, I thought it was funny that I couldn't settle on a name for her.
Picture day was just one super fun time after the other (eye roll). I am NEVER doing it again. Ever.
The wedding was amazing. The bride and groom are both fun loving laid back people and the wedding reflected their personalities perfectly. The ceremony was outdoors and the weather was perfect, temperature was just right and the breeze was cooling but not strong enough to mess up anyone's hair, flowers, etc. The reception was one heck of a party. Shawn and I are normally uncomfortable at parties (I'm not sure why this is, but it's true) but we had a lot of fun talking with people, having our picture taken at the big Bride and Groom cut out. We had a great time and I am so glad we went and so thrilled for Jennie and Jamie, their marriage is going to be a comfortable, happy one.
Colleen started preschool yesterday and she is loving every minute of it. I'll have to take my time and write a post dedicated to her first week so that we will have a record of it. The older she gets the more we know how lucky we are to have her in our life. She brings unbridled joy and enthusiasm to our lives, her pure and honest soul keeps us smiling and makes us so proud. Sometimes I still don't believe that God trusted me with such a precious bit of His work.
Wesley went to a program at the library yesterday as well. It is called Two Time and he goes for 45 minutes every Monday. It is just a little something so that he doesn't feel so left out by Coco getting to go to preschool. He wants to go to preschool quite badly (although, once he realized that I leave and he stays, his tune would change). He was intimidated by all of the other children and the noise and the new environment and he stayed in my lap almost the whole time, usually with his head buried in my chest. Who knew Wesley had a shy streak? :)
OK I have to run for now because I have to go to the grocery store before it is time to pick Colleen up from school.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Hugs, Jen 9月6日 Vacation? The kids and I are in town visiting my parents. A dear friend from high school is getting married this coming weekend, which was the inspiration for the trip. I am looking forward to being there for her big day.
Things are very busy here. No matter how long the trip, we never manage to see everyone and it always feels rushed and hectic and stressful.
I'm happy to be here, but I am counting the days 'till I get to see Shawn again. He's holding down the fort at home and working his tail off at work, which has been crazy-busy lately.
Well, gotta run, it's almost 2 am and I had better get some sleep to brace myself for tomorrow. All I have to say about it is: Going to Sears to have a picture of all 5 grandchildren together. 3 of them are coming straight from school. Let me tell you how fun it is going to be. Pictures never killed anyone, right?
HUGS, Jen |
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